Day 2 in Hong Kong started with an excellent buffet breakfast. For lunch in the Club Lounge, the feature was, of all the things. Spaghetti Bolognese. Not the standard SB, but good enough.   Decided then to look around the environs of the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong hotel, which is an anchor tenant with the newish Kowloon Station in West Kowloon, linked to a sprawling and grandiose shopping mall.  Hard to find total costs, but perhaps $10 billion has been spent, and another $10 billion will probably be needed to complete the development.  The International Commerce Center, which was built in 2010 with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at the top, paved the way for this all.  There is the old Hong Kong around the Peninsula and Sheraton hotels, but the West Kowloon Cultural District, with the tallest building and Kowloon Station, which opened in 2018, is already the Hong Kong of the future. A stroll around the outside. As we were about to leave, we noticed a free tram that took yo...

Finally, as the Ritz-Carlton Luminara docks in Hong Kong, China, I thought the following documentary videos were worthy of sharing. Above, the world's largest radio telescope, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telscope (FAST), also called Sky Eye.  Remember the Puerto Rico version which was used in the film,  Contact ?  That was 1000 feet in diameter.  FAST is 1640 feet wide. Shanghai 65,000 drone show to open the year 2026.    Also,  the advancements made in China . China just shocked the world with what it’s building. While other nations invest trillions in wars and weapons, China is using that same power to build the future through innovation, construction, and technology. From colossal bridges that connect entire provinces to high-speed railways crossing mountains and undersea tunnels stretching for miles, these are the China megaprojects that are redefining what it means to build a modern nation. In just two decades, China has become the w...

The   Bangkok Post  has a once a month feature segment, Elite Life, bringing the best of luxury lifestyle in Bangkok.  The front page highlight was entitled   Journey from Jura , featuring the marriage of Louis Vuitton and Chef Gaggan Anand.   In short, here is the story: Louis was born in the Jura region of France in 1821. At the age of 33 he established his eponymous brand in Paris in 1854, 170 years ago. He established his reputation by making travel trunks for Napolen III's wife, Empress Eugenie. His trunks were weatherproof and light, with an unpickable lock.  That design began then. In 1987 LV merged with Moet et Chandon and Hennessey, becoming LVMH. Today, a LV bag can cost from $1,200 to $36,000, but knock offs can be found in Thailand, China, etc. for $20 or so. You probably did not know this, but Bernard Arnault heads LVMH and, with a worth of $235 billion, is the richest person in the world.  #2 is Jeff Bezos of Amazon at $194 billion a...