Nervous Trip to Macau

Chefs awarded three stars have their pictures taken in the Grand Hyatt Macau

Today was pretty nerve-wracking for me -- I had to go to Macau to cover the Michelin Guide announcement on who got stars and how many in Hong Kong and Macau. However, with President Xi Jinping coming over tomorrow to mark the 20th anniversary of Macau's handover to China, security measures have stepped up significantly these few days.

And on top of that last Friday a man was detained while trying to go to Macau via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge. It turns out he was arrested on charges of phone smuggling in 2012... and they caught him now?

On the way to Macau with Lamma Island in the distance

There were also reports of people being turned away from the border to Macau too for not carrying their passport with a China visa in it. Chinese security insist these measures are temporary, but why should we be carrying our China visa with us if we're going to Macau?

Whatever happened to "one country, two systems"?

I took the 10.30am ferry to allow for enough time to get prepared for the 2pm announcement and already at Shun Tak ferry terminal. As soon as we passed immigration, we were subjected to a security check. Several booths were set up for our bags to be manually checked, while each passenger got wanded over.

Then we were allowed to go to our ferry.

Macau and China flags decorate the city for Xi Jinping's visit

On the other side, as soon as we walked into the Cotai ferry terminal we had to wait in line, first to have our bags screened by an X-ray machine while we went through a metal detector, and then my handbag was manually searched again. If people had luggage, they had to be checked over in the customs declaration area before they left the terminal.

It turns out I was lucky to be allowed in without an incident.

At least three reporters were barred from entering Macau today to cover Xi's visit. One from the SCMP who took the ferry was detained for three hours, and then asked to fill out a form including not only his personal details, but that of his parents, marital status and the purpose of his visit, even though he had received accreditation for the visit before he came to Macau.

This reporter had also been detained last week while on assignment, questioned in the same room, but let go after two hours.

A lot of people were on hand for the Michelin announcement

On today's occasion, they sent him back to Hong Kong with a written statement that there were "strong signs" he was trying to engage in activities that would "jeopardize the public safety and public order" in Macau.

Separately two reporters from Now TV who took the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge were also detained and were not given an explanation why they were not allowed to enter Macau.

Why were these reporters not allowed into Macau? They are only doing their jobs, to cover Xi's trip to the city.

Meanwhile for me, leaving Macau was no problem and I even managed to catch an earlier ferry, and get to Sang Kee in Sheung Wan for the last bowl of fish congee before it closed at 8.30pm.

What a day.