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.

Electric Vehicle Chargers Expand Across Hong Kong

There is some good news for environmentalists and residents in Hong Kong with the expansion of electric vehicle charging stations across the territory.



Hong Kong is ideally suited for the mass use of electric cars than many other countries with its small geographic size and the only external routes are cross border with China.

Road side pollution is of a major concern and even with a comprehensive mass transport system many commuters still drive around the SAR and emit toxins in to the air.

Now with up to 300 electric charging stations there is a viable alternative in the the electric car. While energy must still be produced to produce the electric fuel any emissions are not concentrated in the highly urbanised city.

The technology of electric vehicles cannot yet match the performance of fossil fueled cars but this does not matter for a country as small as Hong Kong. Travel distances are small and easily accomplished with a fully charged electric vehicle.


Even with a small number of cleaner cars on the road the charging network needs to be quite comprehensive. Hopefully the charging stations will become more abundant and then there will really be no reason not for residents not to switch to electric.

iPhone App for Hong Kong Travellers

Travelling on the Hong Kong Buses has been made easier for residents and tourists. The Kowloon Motor Bust Company has developed an iPhone application that helps you on your way.

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For residents who often work long hours for very little pay the journey home allows time for them to catch up on a little bit of rest. They can often be seen eyes closed and head dropping as they nearly fall off their seat sleeping.
Now this little application will warn them of their approaching stop with a wake up call.

For tourist the application functions as a route search, it is often the case that you know where to go but you never know how to get there. As well as indication where to jump off your bus you can be informed of where the nearest bus stop is to catch you bus and what number you should take.

There is one big problem and it is quite a big one. The glue that holds the whole system together is the GPS system built into the iPhone which appears to be quite unreliable.

Errors in the GPS of up to 1000 meters can occur and this could see you heading in the wrong direction to catch that bus or completely missing your stop if you are soundly sleeping.

Record Breaking Pulling a Jumbo Jet

The International airport serving Hong Kong was the scene of a recent Guinness World Record attempt. This task involved hauling a huge Boeing 747 airliner over 100 meters.



A team of 100 pulled the airliner which had a weight of 218 tonne across the tarmac at Chek Lap Kok. The strong team included members of the Immigration Department, Police Force and Fire Service Department as well as other Government services.

The Government of Kong Kong is making small steps to reduce pollution at the airport. It is not clear if this is an attempt to reduce emissions by having teams of residents pull aircraft around the airfield.

The record is still an admirable feat and too place as part of a celebration of 100 years of aviation in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Busses Pollution Improvement

The roads of Hong Kong are to be come a little bit less polluted with the introduction of more Euro V standard busses. There are currently around 90 Euro V busses travelling routes around the region.

Image from Kowloon Motor Bus

The Kowloon Motor Bus company is expecting the arrival of 300 new Euro V standard busses which reduce the emissions of Nitrogen Oxide by nearly 50% when compared with the Euro IV. In addition tests will be carried out in retrofitting existing Euro II and III grade busses with catalytic converters.

The European Emission Standards set the levels of exhaust emissions for road transport in the European Union. These include amounts permissible of Carbon Dioxide, Hydrocarbons and  Nitrogen Oxide.

Hong Kong has a pollution problem caused partly by traffic and on many days the levels of toxins in the air can rise to dangerous levels. This is an increasing problem for Hong Kong and of a major concern for its residents.

Railway for Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge

 
The proposed bridge over the Pearl River Delta may include a rail track in addition to road traffic.

Hong Kong loves it`s bridges and it seems every opportunity is taken to connect it`s land masses together. An ambitious project to connect Lantau island in Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai on the Chinese Mainland will be the longest yet.
Spanning 35 kilometres over the Pearl River Delta, the bridge was conceived initially as a road bridge. Now calls are being made for an additional rail track to be incorporated in to the development.
Lantau is Hong Kong's largest island and hosts the international airport.
The bridge already is estimated to cost HK$43 billion and no doubt the price will be much higher by the time it is completed in 2016.

New Hong Kong Airport Construction

 
The International Airport located on Lantau Island is expanding its capacity with the construction of a new concourse.

Plans are afoot to develop a new concourse in the middle of the Airfield that will have a capacity for 20 Aircraft. The new capacity will include facilities for the giant Airbus A380. Passengers will be able to connect from Terminal One by unmanned trains. Taking a trip on these unmanned trains is like taking off in a rocket with the quick acceleration as the journey begins.
The construction is to begin in the latter end of 2011 and will be completed in 2015. The cost here will be HK$7 Billion for the Airport Authority.
The completion of this project will see the last large scale development at the Airport without seeking out any additional land.