Hong Kong’s Floating Casinos

Hong Kong is a mirror image with is sister SAR, Macau. On the former Portuguese colony casinos have become abundant. Hong Kong on the other hand has shunned this practice on open gambling.

 

While not illegal in the territory, it is strictly controlled for the local population. The main player here is the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) which offers a little thrill for a win on horse racing and the recently introduced football games.

The HKJC also runs the Mark 6 Lottery which runs every week and can make millionaires out of anybody with a lucky winning ticket. Profits from these ventures are reintroduced into the community in the for of good causes along with the promoting of sporting activities.

Gamblers who want a bigger thrill must look offshore and many venture on the short ferry (or helicopter) trip over to Macau.

However there is one alternative and that is taking a cruise. Gambling ships or Floating Casinos regularly make trips from Hong Kong's Ocean Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui to often no apparent destination. Cruise Liners depart laden with punters regularly who want to play the high roller while rolling about on the ocean waves. Once in international waters the liners open their tables and business can begin.

At one time the Floating Casinos seemed like they would sail their last trip but now business is booming. So much so that bookings must be made well in advance. The future also looks bright for rolling the dice.

The former Hong Hong airport, Kai Tak, is finally after many years being developed into a cruise liner terminal. Along with the many international voyages arriving and departing there should be a few more that will just take you on a trip to the tables.

Scarlet Fever Hits the Territory

Hong Kong is currently undergoing a slight health scare. Scarlet Fever is quietly taking out children across the region and the health authorities say it might get worse before it gets better.



Being a relatively newcomer to Hong Kong there are lot of little aspects of life that a completely new experience. Health is one of them and the step from a colder part of the world to the warm, humidity of Hong Kong and Asia is going to reveal health concern that were far from my mind.

The current health risk is an outbreak of Scarlet Fever among children and has already caused some deaths. The last death reported by Scarlet fever in Hong Kong was over 10 years ago and this year the infection rate is more than 3 times the number of cases last year. Mainland China has also seen an increased rate of infections.

Young Children are more prone to the infection which causes a sore throat, rash and a raised temperature. Luckily the disease can be eliminated with some forms of antibiotics, more so if caught early.

According to the regions health officials, this is a mutant strain of the bacteria which probably explains why the infection rate is extremely high.

Currently over 600 cases of the infection have been reported. This is nothing like the devastating SARS epidemic in  2003 which was completely unknown and much more virile.

Image: TopNews

Millionaires in Hong Kong On the Up

The Territory has seen large rise in the number of millionaires this year. A recent annual survey Citibank indicated that this year has seen the biggest jump since recording began 8 years ago.



Over half a million people now have liquid assets of over a million dollars. This is out of a population just under seven million.

The massive increase in wealth is put down to the ongoing property market and extortionate rents charged for tenants in both residential and business sectors.
Over the border in China things are looking good for a lucky few. The number there has doubled to 115 people with over a million billion dollars. China is currently sitting second after the USA in the league for billionaires. The continuing growth in China can only see this gap narrowing quickly in the years to come.

HK Government Electricity handout.

The Hong Kong Government is to credit residents with HK$150 of free electricity each  month. This will benefit 2.5 million homes in the territory.

Each residential home will gain a HK$150 credit on their electricity bills each month for a whole year. This will give a total of HK1800 over the course of the scheme. The benefit to low income families could see them pay no charges at-all.

Around 20% of homes in Hong Kong, on average, use less electricity than the 150 dollar credit. Any excess credit remaining each month can be carried forward and for some this will mean they will have free power from more than a year.


The last time the Government of Hong Kong offered such a scheme was in 2008 and I can tell you it was a nice little extra bonus not that we personally needed it.

A side effect of free electricity is that residents might just use more. That in turn would mean more power generation and more pollution which Hong Kong can do without. This air quality in some parts of the territory is a major cause of concern for health.

Even with the pollution aspect, the subsidy is a welcome bonus to those who need it the most. Others may just see it as a bonus paid to to the power companies.

There are two Hong Kong Power Companies, Hong Kong Electric and China Light and Power which supply the needs of Hong Kong mainly through Coal and Gas power stations.

Cost of Living in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is becoming an expensive place to live. While some can afford a million dollar home or two there are still many people who just manage to scrape a living.

A frequent site on the streets are old ladies gathering scraps of paper or soda cans to sell for a few Hong Kong Dollars. Others sell vegetables by corners of streets. Sell is not the right word here as it is illegal for money to exchange hands
without them being licensed. Shoppers can place a few coins down on a mat pick up the food and catch the eye of the elderly seller, deal done.

Those who are a little bit more well off are having to cope with the increasing cost of living. Having a home on Hong Kong island or Kowloon is just too expensive and have to live further afield in the New Territories or on on of Hong Kong's many islands. Even with Hong Kong being quite small there is still and hour or so commute back and forth to work.

The cost of transport is cheap but steadily rising and for those commuting every day those small rises can add up at the end of a month.


House prices are out of control and very few people can now afford to buy a home of any decent size. This turns most not on the housing ladder in to renters that are constantly on the move. There is a tendency for contracts to be for 1 or 2 years then followed by a sometimes massive rent rise. The unfortunate tenants often pack their bags and downgrade to sometime just bigger then a cupboard.

Not only are homes subject to larger rises in rent but also businesses. One unfortunate health club in "Central" was paying HK$1.8 million a month for rent. They have been notified of a rise to - HK$3 million. Often places you frequent for a drink or mean will just vanish from their location. There is no doubt prices are out of control and eventually something has to break.

Image Via Virtual China

Increase in Hong Kong's Tobacco Tax becoming Law.

Hong Kong Smokers lived in hope that the rise in tobacco tax would be overturned.

Smoking can damage your health and pocket

 

A few months have passed since the Government increased the tax of cigarettes that came in to effect immediately. This was quite massive tax hike of 41%  which saw the price rise to HK$50 for a packet of twenty cigarettes. %70 of that price is now Tax.

June, saw the Legislative Council finally pass the legislation and there is now going back now. I caught some of the debate but got totally lost when member Leung Kwok-hung, the otherwise known as "LongHair", invited the whole council to visit Bhutan.

As a smoker myself, I always feel a little bit persecuted for my pleasure. Like many other smokers in Hong Kong the rise seems unfair when. This will no doubt cause hardship among many elderly and those with low paid jobs.

Tropical Storm 06W Haima

The typhoon season is under-way here in the Western Pacific with Hong-Kongers keeping a close eye on the current Tropical Storm, Haima. Storm signal is at level 1.



This is number 6 of the season and does not look like it will give the population what that want. That is a day off work.

Currently the storm is classed as a Tropical Depression which will come close to Hong Kong and no doubt cause a few heavy downpours of rain as it passes over.

The all important eye of the storm is about 350 kilometres south of Hong Kong island and heading roughly north west. In all the storm will pass by and we should not be affected by any strong winds.

The people here are used to the storms and mostly taking it all as a nearly normal occurrence. Wind damage and flooding can occur but residents see it as a chance of getting a day off work.
Images from HKO

Residents of Hong Kong are up for a Free $6,000

 
Every resident of Hong Kong will soon be able to collect a HK$6,000 payout that was promised during this years budget.
 

Everybody to Grab $6.000

When the payout was first proposed by the Financial Secretary, John Tsang, it was to come about as an injection into everybody's pension fund. The citizens realized they would not get their hands on any money until they retire and made for a few sad faces. A change of heart then came about to allow everybody to feel the cash between their fingers.

With the pension idea out of the window, each resident will now have a payment made to their bank accounts in phases. This is not the first time Hong Kong has operated on a system like this. When the Territory was introducing new electronic Identity cards where residents were processed in batches over some months according to their date of birth.

This time the lucky ones will be the elderly who can start applying in August and shortly after will have the bonus deposited in their bank accounts. Those of us a bit younger will have to wait longer.

Altogether around HK$36 Billion will be paid out to Identity card holders. Those who can decide to wait a bit longer to register which would reduce the workload in processing, can receive and extra HK$200 payment. The initial scheme is due to end in March 2012 which would give plenty of time for those who have somehow not heard of the news.

Energy Drinks Pulled Off Hong Kong Shelves.

 
The Territory is under threat from more toxic substances, this time it appears to be Energy Drinks.
 

Europe is having its own scare with deadly life threatening E-Coli laden cucumbers bean sprouts and no doubt the USA is having some routine recall of meat or vegetables. Hong Kong, not to be outdone, has it’s own periodic little contamination scare and this time it is some thing called DEHP.


DEHP is a plasticiser - yep I have no clue what it is either - and has been found in energy sports drinks that apparently have come from Taiwan. Our Centre for Food Safety has slapped a ban on these drinks and whipped them off the shelf to keep us from harms way.

They say drinking high levels of this substance can cause problems in the kidney and liver area. Just to cause a little more alarm it can potentially cause cancer. Not quite sure what a high level is but it seems were not having any of it any-more.

So were safe - That is unless you take medication.

Not only are sports drinks contaminated but plasticisers are being found in medications. DEHP is joined by another chemical, DINP. These, like the sports drinks, originate from Taiwan.

DINP is used in drinks to make the liquid cloudy, which is intended to trick the consumer into thinking they are made from more natural ingredients and not just a bunch of chemicals in water.