Emergency numbers and help in Macao

The numbers

• Three emergency numbers work, which is unusual and useful: 999 is local, but 112 works from a European phone's muscle memory and 110 from a mainland Chinese one.
• The Tourism Hotline is staffed and genuinely helpful for the large category of problems that are not emergencies - a lost booking, a dispute over a bill, a missed ferry.

If something goes wrong

• Get a police report for an insurance claim. Police stations are marked and staffed around the clock.
• Lost passport: report to the police, then contact your consulate. Most countries have no consulate in Macao - they cover it from Hong Kong, an hour away by ferry, and you will need to go there. This is the main practical difference from Hong Kong.
• Keep the arrival slip with your passport. Without it, proving how long you have lawfully been here is difficult.
• Hospital emergency departments treat first and bill afterwards. Have the insurance details on you.

During a typhoon

• At Signal 8 the bridges close. If you are on the peninsula and your flight leaves from Taipa, you are on the wrong side and there is no way across.
• Ferries to Hong Kong stop earlier than flights do.
• Stay in the hotel. Resorts are built for this, keep their restaurants open and will not turn you out.