Hong Kong
Bureau

Edited by – James M. Kelly
Discover the Best Places to Visit in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is known as the city that never sleeps due to the constant hustle and bustle that continues 24×7 in the city. A popular tourist attraction, Hong Kong, offers numerous contemporary as well as traditional sight seeing opportunities to tourists that visit this magnificent city.

Following are some of the most popular and most frequently visited tourist places:

Victoria Peak – Also known as, the peak, this scenic tourist spot offers a perfect view of the magnificent city of Hong Kong. Not only is the view from top of this peak breathtaking, but the entire journey to the peak is equally scenic. You can take either a tram or a bus to reach the Victoria Peak. A tram journey allows takes you literally straight up the mountain and presents a view that has to be experienced to believe.

Nathan Road – Nathan Road, also known as the Golden Mile, is the oldest road in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The main attraction of this road is the plethora of neon signs that surround the street. Apart from enjoying the brightly lit street, you can enjoy a host of shopping and eating opportunities that cannot be found in any other area of Hong Kong.

Repulse Bay – Repulsive Bay is the most spectacular bay in Hong Kong that offers luxurious dining, residential and aquatic activities. Swimming and barbeque are the most preferred activities in this area and the scenic beauty offers a perfect location to take photographs.

Temple Street night market – this is one of the busiest flea markets of Hong Kong and is a popular destination for tourists who are searching for a glimpse of Hong Kong’s nightlife. Starting at dusk, this market offers cheap merchandise and food items, and is also known as the men’s market.

Macau SAR – Macau is a city of contrast, with its colonial Portuguese style churches and fortresses on one hand, and the Las Vegas style gambling arenas on the other. For people interested in gambling, gold shopping and sight seeing, Macau is a must visit destination.

Reader
Contribution

Edited by James M. Kelly

30 Million Year Old Mega-Dung Fossils Disclose the Secret Ecology
Studies have revealed that 30 million year old fossil ‘mega-dung’ sourced from the giant size extinct mammals in South America, disclose facts about the complex ecological connections and hazards of dung-beetles’ food stores by other animals.

It is evident from the facts that absence of dung-beetles would have bee filled with animal droppings of herbivores such as cows, elephants and rhinos as they eat and produce more.

Dung-beetles bury wastes in the soil and thus, improve the quality of the soil by making it more fertile. Moreover, these dung-beetles lessen the number of flies that would lead to infestation of the dung.

Paleontologists have found out that around 30 million years ago, South America was home to the mammals known as South America Megafauna. It included some of the most giant herbivores that are extinct, such as bone covered armadillos that, six meters tall ground sloths and elephant-sized hoofed-mammals.

The presence of such diverse megafauna would have led to the production of mega-dung, which called for the presence of creatures like the dung beetles for cleaning it. The results are preserved in the form of fossil ding balls, some of which are almost 40 million years old.

According to the studies made by paleontologists in Argentina, the dung balls are a great source of information about the lost world’s ecology.

In a report published in the journal Paleontology, Graduate Student Victoria Sanchez and Dr Jorge Genise mention traces of other creatures found within fossil dung balls.

Dr Sanchez explained, “Some of these are just the results of chance interactions”. She further added, “Burrowing bees, for example, dug cells in the ground where the dung balls were buried, and some of these happen to have been dug into the balls”.

On the other hand, traces confirm the behavior of other animals stealing the food gathered by dung beetles.

As Dr Sanchez commented, “Although none of these animals is preserved in these rocks, the fossil dung balls preserve in amazing detail a whole dung-based ecosystem going on right under the noses of the giant herbivores of 30 million years ago”.

Rewards
Group

Edited by James M. Kelly
The Fundamentals of Growing Teak are Getting Even Better

· Supply is in rapid decline.

· Prices continue to rise.

· Worldwide demand remains strong.

Rewards Group Ltd, Australia’s largest Teak grower, is pleased to note the recent developments in the global Teak industry by Teak producer, Floresteca, the world’s largest plantation Teak manager. Floresteca is selling second and third thinning material in the form of sawn Teak boards directly into the European timber markets at prices of up to US$7,000 to US$8,000 per cubic metre.

The sawn material has been derived from ‘Saw Quality Grade 3’ (SG-3) logs, which are approximately 30cm in diameter when felled and are more than 2.4 metres in length. These growth parameters match the growth profile of Rewards’ projections for the second and third thinning of Teak logs.

Teak log sales from Burma’s native resources have seen the average price for SG-3 Teak logs increase from A$610 per cubic metre in 2000 to A$1,740 per cubic metre in 2008. Teak logs of all sizes have experienced dramatic price increases over the past 15 years with prices climbing at an average rate of 7% per annum compound, due to rapidly dwindling supply. The price chart below say it all. Please note that all prices are in A$ and in cubic metres.

Average Teak Prices (A$) per cubic metre for SG-2, SG-3, SG-4 and SG-5.

Supply and Demand
With the supply of old-growth native Teak logs from Burma in drastic decline, plantation Teak has become more important than ever, according to R.T Somaiya. Mr Somaiya is India’s consultant for the International Tropic Timber Organisation or ITTO and one of the largest Teak traders in the world. “The demand for Teak in India is far greater than the supply being imported in,” said Mr Somaiya.

“There was only 500,000 cubic metres of Teak logs being imported into India in 2008. 90% of this was plantation Teak. Indian imports of native Burmese Teak logs have fallen to only 50,000 cubic metres.” said Mr Somaiya. “Native old growth Teak logs from Burma are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The West African production of plantation Teak logs has fallen off a cliff in the past 4 years. The future is in plantation Teak from Brazil and Australia,” he said.

Mr Somaiya said that from 1998 to 2008 the supply of Teak logs from Burma declined by half “from 500,000 cubic metres per annum to 250,000 cubic metres per annum”. A number of West African nations supply 25% of India’s total Teak log imports, but Mr Somaiya said that the supply of West African Teak to India is declining every day. “Supply has dropped off because of the lack of re-planting on Teak estates,” said Mr Somaiya. “The supply of West African Teak to India is expected to cease in 5 years time”.

The Future
Australian plantation Teak will play a vital role in meeting the world’s demand for Teak logs and sawn Teak boards. “The future is very bright for Australian plantation teak. It’s like growing gold in the ground,” said Mr Somaiya. “If you can copy what Floresteca has done in the sawn Teak board market in Teak markets around the world then the financial outcome for all concerned will be spectacular”.

Hong Kong
Staff Writer

Edited by: James M. Kelly

iPhone 3GS proves to be better from all its Apple predecessors

The iPhone has its new version launched. The libidinous new iPhone 3GS has an additional letter “S” to its previous name. The added letter “S” stands for speed and the new version promises an experience which will never fail to set every heartbeat pumping. Besides an upgradation on speed, the new Apple phone has a lot more to it, being called “The fastest and most powerful iPhone yet”.

Looking at the front of the new version, one would not find a difference in the looks from its predecessor models. One needs to pay attention to the fine print on the back of the phone’s body. And once you power up the iPhone 3GS, the changes are all on the inside.

When trying on the new applications, one can see the obvious difference in the speed of downloading, both the stories and the categories. The new iPhone 3GS is much faster than the previous version. The news apps which offer videos such as the Channel NewsAsia and AP News app, load up really fast and plays smoothly.

The iPhone 3GS has switched to WiFi, offering an even better experience. It was faster in launching the internet browser Safari and had no problems in loading image rich pages. The iPhone 3GS upgrades to a 3megapixel camera, but lacks behind other manufacturer’s higher megapixels cameras. In an effort to make up with the lack of flashlight in the device, the phone offers auto-focus and macro shots options.

Another feature of the camera which is not available in the earlier iPhone and most other mobile devices is the video capture and trim-edit function which allows users to easily share their clips.

Since Singtel is offering new bundled deals on the iPhone 3G, one can make do with the earlier version of the iPhone since no one can really tell apart the 2008 and 2009 models.