The tale of the golf carts

18-11-2007


I stayed over at Vincent's place on Saturday night in Repulse Bay. He has a fantastic view of the bay from his apartment, and it is a nice contrast to the busy, intense atmosphere of Causeway Bay. Vincent has a large apartment, with room in the back for the maids, which he used to make climb the ladder to their top bunk at age 70... (actually, that is not quite the real story, but it makes for a good story). If they didn't work, then he would beat them with his maid stick (actually, that is a down-and-out lie). Actually Vincent is very lovely indeed and would never do anything like that (apologies).

In the evening, Vincent and I caught up with Bean and Paul, and we took a ferry to a friends place in Discovery Bay on Lantau island. This island has the most low-rise buildings I have seen in the whole of Hong Kong. The one that Claire and Rob live in has only 5 stories! Tiny! They have 2 dogs and a large backyard. They used to live in Happy Valley, but this place is bigger and they both are very happy there. The amusing thing about this island is that the government has banned all cars from the island (except buses and taxis), which it makes it difficult to get around. However the government has introduced a loophole by allowing a maximum of 300 registered golf carts. So what do you think happens on an island of filthy rich to whom money is no object? You guessed it, the price of golf carts has shot up. Rob told me that they are currently going for around $700,000HK (about $100K AUD)! Yes, that is more than the cost of a BMW or Mercedes for a GOLF CART! Welcome to Hong Kong.

Anyway, Claire and Rob's apartment also happens to be situated directly opposite to Disneyland Hong Kong, which has a firework show every night. So EVERY night, they get to see a firework display! Strangely, they refused my requests for them to adopt me. Hmm...

And that was my final night in Hong Kong. Tomorrow I am off to London finally. Time for a little last minute shopping I think. I am sure there is a spare centimetre that I can squeeze into my bag.

baa.