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I didn't realise there were gels and waxes you could use to control it, but I would save up and invest in a good haircut. I'd probably seen bands in them and thought, "I've got to have a pair of those!" My first pair were pale lilac, which was the cool colour of the moment, and they were made of this soft fabric, almost like brushed cotton I was so proud of them, they were fantastic In my teens my hair was very difficult. My mum would say, "Oh, my God, you're not going to wear those!", but she never stopped me. I remember, too, being absolutely desperate for a pair of loons.

Clothes and haircuts were just a part of everyday life, but at 11 or 12 those things became exciting, and I began to spend time looking in the mirror. There's a bit more competition at that age - people are buying the latest trainers, the latest fashion statement - and you become aware of self-image. If you're going out with your mates you want to look the business. When big, clumpy shoes came out - thick wedges with massive great soles - I saved up and took the train to Leeds and bought a pair I'd had my eye on They cost a fortune, but I absolutely loved those wedges. For further information, contact the Macau Tourist Office on 0171-771 7006. I don't remember being conscious of my looks when I was very young. "You fry them."You may need an iron stomach for some of the local food and nerves of steel at the gambling table, but all you really need to enjoy Macau is your eyes and a good pair of shoes.Portugal, China - who cares? As long as the music plays, the cards turn, the food and drink come, and the colonial buildings glow pastel bright in the sunshine, you can just sit there and wonder why, with Macau so close, anyone bothers with Hong Kong.Since the abandonment of TAP Air Portugal's Lisbon-Brussels-Macau service, the only direct flight from Europe to the territory is on China Yunnan Airlines from Vienna.

A more likely connection is on Eva Airways from Heathrow via Bangkok, for around pounds 600 through a discount agent. Lower fares are generally available to Hong Kong (direct from Heathrow on British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Atlantic), from which it is an easy crossing by fast ferry to Macau. Scattered with raspberry vinegar and flower petals, it was a revelation. Remembering the powdered yam balls I'd acquired rather a taste for in the previous day's Zhen Zhu milk tea, I was up for anything the locals could throw at me - that is, until I caught sight of a water- filled tank full of beetles having a paddle A queasy enquiry confirmed my worst suspicions "Sea cockroaches," I was told.

At his booth, a wrinkled soothsayer gazed at the slender piece of wood, asked whether the prediction was for myself or another, selected a sheet of paper from the wall behind him, and then quietly discussed my daughter's battle against her troubles.Reassured, I headed for Rua da Felicidade for an early evening bowl of snake soup. In place of the ants'-nest madness of Hong Kong, people here relax, whether dawdling over fried shrimp and vinho verde at Fernando's, beside the beautiful black volcanic sands of Hac Sa Beach on Coloane, or just quietly watching the chess-players in Camoes Garden or along the harbour wall.While I might not have come away with much from the Floating Casino, I did leave Macau with a fortune, courtesy of the I-Ching. Kun Iam is the ancient Buddhist temple where the US signed its first treaty with China in 1844. In its dark interior, I knelt in front of a bright red- and-gold altar, with huge coils of slow-burning incense hanging above me, and shook the fortune sticks until, after a couple of failures, just one came out. It hardly seems to matter that, thanks to a fire in 1835, there is nothing behind the facade but blue sky and a view of the city.The air of harmonious cultural fusion that hangs over Macau could be down to good feng shui, but it's more likely just an easygoing open mindedness.

At the top of a long flight of broad steps, to the left of the Monte Fort (built to a design by Louis XIV's chief engineer), stands Macau's most famous symbol, the surreal ruins of the church of Sao Paulo. The honey- coloured stone glows gently in the sun as its carved 17th-century facade spells out a warning tale of angels and devils, dragons and Portuguese sailing ships. Ahead, a Buddhist street shrine sends wisps of incense into the sky while hell money flutters to the right outside a funeral shop, and, to the left, a street food- stall does brisk business in red bean-paste doughnuts.But turn and face up the hill and the scene becomes strangely European. Mediterranean-style buildings as gaudily coloured as a confectioners' window (and there are some great confectioners round these parts) mingle with serene Buddhist temples, while alleyways so Oriental that they stood in for old Shanghai in the filming of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom lead you towards churches so baroque that you could be in Lisbon.Stand near the corner of Rua da Palha and look down the street as it winds towards Largo Do Senado - the mosaic-covered central square that's more southern Europe than southern China - and the Orient fills the foreground. The wan lighting and threadbare interior are complemented by what must be some of the world's cheeriest hookers lined up on its quayside approach. Chirping "hello, hello, hello," like songbirds as you approach, they dissolve into giggles as you pass, as if they can't believe you'd really rather lose out to Lady Luck at the casino rather than get lucky with them.But Macau's brightest pleasures are simply its wonderful juxtapositions.