The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong has finally opened and boasts the title of “highest hotel in the world”, taking the title away from Dubai.
Originally located in the Central district, the hotel ceased operation in the beginning of the year 2008.
After three years of disappearance, the hotel is now reborn. Located at the very top of the International Commerce Centre (ICC) in the West Kowloon district and occupying floors 102 to 118.
This stylish and contemporary hotel’s major selling point is the magnificent panoramic view of Hong Kong. Guests will be welcomed into the arrival lobby on the 9th floor before being transported up to the hotel lobby on the 103rd floor where breathtaking views of Victoria Harbour and the iconic Hong Kong skyline greet them.
How mad do you need get to destroy your car? What if it was a Gallardo?
Well this Chinese owner would destroyed his Gallardo over a dispute with the dealership.
The millionaire reportedly bought a Gallardo (price up to $700,000 in China) last November. Six months later, the engine wouldn’t start. The car was transported to the dealer, in Qingdao, who allegedly didn’t fix the problem but dinged the bumper and chassis during the trip. The irate owner tried unsuccessfully to get the problem fixed, to no avail. He escalated his case all the way up to Lamborghini CEO Stephen Winkelmann, but apparently the dispute wasn’t resolved.
So on March 15, World Consumer Rights Day, the Lambo owner hired a team with sledgehammers to destroy the car in public.
You can see the destruction here:
Lamborghini later issued a statement saying: “We put customer satisfaction first at Lamborghini and think that in this case we did everything to solve the problem. We solved the problem to the satisfaction of the customer.” The statement added that for reasons that are “independent from the relationship with Lamborghini, the owner decided to take this action and smash the car.”
The media later reported that the owner was a Japanese-Chinese businessman who imported the car from Japan. The Gallardo wasn’t even new, but was eight years old and probably was valued at about $80,000.
Apparently, the Lambo owner had a problem with the car, which was promptly fixed. But the owner had a larger business dispute with the businessman who owned the Lamborghini dealership in Qingdao. The event was used for the owner to gain publicity for his own business and to discredit the owner of the Lambo dealer owner.
This explanation is more compelling given the fact the owner placed stickers on the car bearing his own company’s logo (As you can see in the photo above). He also smashed the car in front of his company’s office building, to direct more attention to his business.
I guess the answer to the opening question would be: no one. At least no one is mad enough to calmly hire a group of workers, put banners on the car, drag the car to office and wait until World Consumer Rights Day before smashing the car.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China normally evokes a strict and disciplined image. This image, however, elicits the scorn of many Chinese that is usually reserved for the filthy rich.
A Chinese netizen posted about running into the two women wearing military uniforms at the Shenzhen airport and shocked by how they were accessorized: two shoulder bags/purses, a Burberry and LV (Louis Vuitton) respectively, LV branded luggage bags and suitcases, and the black paper bag at the bottom left corner of the photo was a newly purchased Gucci.
Attentive netizens calculated how much all of the items in the picture cost: Large LV luggage bag/each = 58,500 yuan, 5 * 58,500 = 292,500 yuan, small LV bag/each = 26,000 yuan, 2 * 26,000 = 52,000 yuan, and not including the rolling suitcase and other items, the total: 344,500 yuan (~52,197 USD).
The question is whether the army personnel are that well paid or are they just carrying fakes.
Recently, the title for the “World’s Most Expensive Dog” was snatched by China – again. A red Tibetan Mastiff, named “Hong Dong”, was sold for 10 million yuan (around $1.5 million) to a coal baron from North of China. Before the sale, the World’s most expensive dog was another Tibetan Mastiff who was sold in 2009 for 4 million yuan ($608,680).
“Hong Dong”, is 11-months-old but already stands nearly three-feet-high at the shoulder and weighs more than 180lbs, according to his breeder, Lu Liang. “He is a perfect specimen,” said Mr Lu, who runs the Tibetan Mastiff Garden in Laoshan, near the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao. “He has excellent genes and will be a good breeding dog.” “The price is justified,” he said. “We have spent a lot of money raising this dog, and we have the salaries of plenty of staff to pay.”
According to Mr Lu, the Tibetan Mastiff was fed a diet of chicken and beef, spiced up with exotic Chinese delicacies such as sea cucumber and abalone. That sounds like a luxurious life even for a human. Considering that abalone is something most living in China will never taste in their entire life, I would say that most would wish to rather be reincarnated as this dog.
But is a rare breed and an opulent style of nurturing worth such a high price? The new owner definitely thinks so. The male dog can be hired out to other breeders for as much as 100,000 yuan a shot, so it can be considered more as an investment than pet.
Tibetan Mastiffs are huge and fierce guard dogs that have stood watch over nomad camps and monasteries on the Tibetan plateau for centuries. They are thought to be one of the world’s oldest breeds, and legend has it that both Genghis Khan and Lord Buddha kept them.
More recently, however, they have become highly-prized status symbols for China’s new rich. The dogs are thought to be a pure “Chinese” breed and they are rarely found outside Tibet, giving them an exclusivity that other breeds cannot match.
Since the opening of The St. Regis Lhasa Tibet in November, 2010, it has received significant attention for its original architectural design that merges traditional Tibetan elements with signature St. Regis amenities into a luxury hotel literally on top of the world.
At 12,000 feet above sea level, it is one of the highest luxury hotels in the world, with unimpeded views of the Himalayas and Lhasa Valley. The resort was designed from the ground up with sustainable features including solar panels, locally-sourced produce and herbs for the resort’s three signature restaurants, as well as an underground water recycling system.
The eight-acre-resort complex is inspired by the nearby world-famous Sera Monastery, built in 1419, a place of great architectural and spiritual significance to this region.
Traditionally, the luxury sports car market is dominated by men. However, in China, women are leading the way in purchase of exotic cars.
China’s millionaires are growing by the minute. Sales of high-end automobiles rose 60 percent last year and analysts are already pegging a 35 percent climb for 2011.
A third of China’s millionaires are women so that means the sales of exotic cars is going to be huge. Already, the percentage of women buying Maseratis in China is triple that of Europe, while the percentage buying Ferraris is double the global average. Maserati reports that 30 percent of its Chinese sales are to women, compared against just 10 percent for European sales. China is now on track to pass Italy as the automaker’s second largest market.
The rise in exotic vehicle sales has even gotten the attention of Bugatti, and the Volkswagen Group is now discussing a potential sales plan for China.
The craziest thing about this sales growth is that the cars sold in China cost typically double the price compared to those sold in the U.S.. The reason for this is the high tariff for cars assembled overseas (Almost all luxury sports cars are not assembled in China).
