Three hens unlikely to be French, admittedly, laid the eggs to make this Portuguese egg tarte (pastel de nata) that I ate in Macau today. I’ve never been keen on eggs but these are all the rage here in East Asia at the moment so it was mandatory to try one, though, like Eliza I now feel I have eaten all the egg tarts I shall ever need in my life.

We had three sets of visitors this year. Sarah and David came in March, the final stop in their Japanese Odyssey. Left leg in a brace after a skiing accident, Sarah gamely negotiated all of the steps and staircases in our house and Hong Kong and tramped around without complaint on crutches though the miserable damp weather made it hardly worth the effort at times.

Our next guest, whose holiday time coincided with the brutal apex of summer heat and humidity was Susan. Despite the heat, we got about and saw quite a bit of Hong Kong, and it was lovely just to to hang out. 

The final new visitor in this trilogy is James’s best friend Adam, who arrived with James in early October as a sort of final fling before James went off to Canada. 

Adam had not been to Asia before and the lads packed a lot into their week, though day trips to Japan and Taiwan were probably too ambitious an idea, even though we are vaguely in that vicinity. 

That’s all you’re getting from me today: I’ve only just returned from my day trip to Macau. It’s been a long day and I’m desperate for my comfy bed. Sorry it’s a bit scant.