the highest bar in the world (May 13, Mother's Day)

For Mother’s Day Harold took me to Hong Kong (in a manner of speaking).  As a Mother's Day bonus, we went to the highest bar in the world — the Ozone Bar on the 103rd floor of the Ritz Carlton, a part of the International Commerce Centre, the 12th tallest building in the world. The prices were as high as the bar, but the view was spectacular.

The Ritz-Carlton is in Kowloon, and our hotel is on Hong Kong Island so getting there took some manuvering.  We first took a taxi to the Star Ferry Terminal where we bought tickets for the ferry to cross the water to get to Kowloon.  Then we got into another taxi which took us to the Ritz-Carlton, a part of the International Commerce Centre.  For the return trip, we got a taxi and went back to the Star Ferry Terminal, got our tickets, took the ferry, then grabbed another taxi to get us back to our hotel.  Whew!  All went smoothly though :-).

The Hong Kong Ritz Carlton is quite spectacular as you can imagine.  We were there a bit early, so the concierge (one of several) suggested we go to the shopping mall connected to the hotel and to the commerce center.  Wow -- what a place.  Three stories and HUGE, with EVERY conceivable store with every conceivable expensive brand from every part of the world. After wandering around a bit and having a coffee and a tea at Starbucks, we were ready to ascend.

The elevators were fast!  We got to the 101st floor and then got into a different elevator to take us to the 103rd floor, the home of Ozone, the tallest bar in the world with equally tall prices.  I had a glass of champagne, Harold had a glass of red wine, and the bill was around $75 (US dollars, not Hong Kong dollars).  The view made it worth it though even when you add in the price of four taxi rides and two ferry tickets to get there and back.

While we were there, a couple of construction workers were being raised up to the top of the building to work on something.  It's not a job I would want!

The views were wonderful, and we were fortunate to have somewhat clear skies (in this case meaning no fog).  Apparently, the fog sets in at night and you can't even see outside the windows, and at times, there is considerable fog during the day too.  We were lucky because we could see quite far -- both across and down.  The apartment buildings that look so tall from the ground seem quite small when looking down on them.

It was a fun adventure, but I'm glad we weren't there for a full night of drinking.