Hongkongers Pay the Most for Gas

Gas is very expensive thanks to the six-week war in Iran

If you thought gas in Vancouver was expensive at $2.10 per litre, how about Hong Kong?

Even though only 8.4 percent of the 7.5 million population have cars in the financial hub, many of which are electric vehicles, gas (or petrol as it's called there) is a whopping HK$32 a litre, or $5.68 per litre!

While the price of a barrel of crude oil fell slightly to US$96.70 because of a very fragile cease fire declared yesterday, the price at the pump will still be high because oil tankers aren't moving in the Strait of Hormuz.

Some Hong Hong drivers are heading across the border to fill up, where it can cost as little as one-third the price in the city.

Hong Kong pays the most for gas in the world

In Vancouver, the high gas prices has resulted in a greater demand for shared e-bikes and e-scooters than for the share car service Evo.

"People are taking e-bikes and e-scooters and replacing their car trips, often for short trips around town," explained Leanne Buhler, spokesperson for Evolve, the company's bike share program.

"Our riders report that 60 percent of them have made a choice to use an e-bike or e-scooter instead of a car for some of their trips."

Buhler adds not only are they saving money and reducing carbon emissions, but also being more physically active too.

Man Arrested for Driving Pink Jeep and Allegedly Impaired

Lincoln was stopped by an officer for driving a toy jeep

Prince George residents who were in this morning's rush-hour traffic were shocked to see a man arrested for allegedly driving a pink Barbie jeep on the street.

The police were not amused, as they were busy that day with an ambulance involved in a hit-and-run, and a prominent downtown business destroyed by fire.

An officer stopped the vehicle and found Kasper Lincoln had a suspended license and was likely impaired.

Lincoln was seen driving the toy car on the road

He was arrested for prohibited driving and given breathalyzer tests, producing two samples that police say showed he was over the legal limit.

Lincoln was issued a 90-day driving suspension and must appear in court in December.

Earlier witnesses saw Lincoln wearing aviator glasses as he drove the toy vehicle on a main thoroughfare in Prince George. Some reported him to the police, others were surprised he was arrested for driving way below the speed limit.

In an interview with CBC News, Lincoln said he was getting a slurpee with a friend, but "got lazy", and decided to borrow his roommate's child's toy car to get there, with his friend walking beside him.

"I never drove it before," he said while laughing.

However, the police didn't think it was funny and what Lincoln did was illegal.

He was arrested and allegedly impaired

He was driving an unlicensed motor vehicle -- and a toy one should not be on the road.

According to Mattel which produced the toy car, it can go as fast as 8km/hr and has power brakes.

In the meantime, Lincoln plans to fight the ticket, adding he has been arrested by the police several times before, but "this is the most hilarious one."

Only in Prince George?

Some Floral Reprieve from Madness

Crocuses are popping up on lawns these days

It has been quite the week.

On Tuesday US President Donald Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on all goods. Canada retaliated right away. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau told Trump what he was doing was "dumb".

On Wednesday Trump paused tariffs on cars for one month after the three big automakers, General Motors, Ford and Stellantis asked for a reprieve.

On Thursday the president paused tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods that were compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). 

On Friday Trump threatened a whopping 250 percent tariff on Canadian dairy products coming into the US. 

We're trying not to get too caught up in this crazy rollercoaster ride, which is why walks in nature are so important for mental health.

The signs of spring are around us, in particular crocus flowers are springing up on lawns around the neighbourhood.

And here are some for you to enjoy too.

Trump and Trudeau Talked, but Stalemate Continues

Trudeau and Trump had a phone conversation today

Canada got a slight reprieve today with cars getting another one-month extension from tariffs, but for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, it was not enough.

He spoke to US President Donald Trump today for 50 minutes with Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. 

Then separately automakers appealed to Trump to back down on tariffs and he unilaterally granted a one-month exemption on Canadian-made cars.

Joly describes situation as a "psychodrama"

A one-month extension doesn't do much -- it just delays the inevitable, leaving car companies in limbo.

Yesterday Lutnick had suggested that perhaps not all Canadian goods would have 25 percent tariffs, but he could not say for sure, because it's really Trump who calls the shots.

While the carmakers got temporary reprieve, Canada isn't backing down from its tariffs on American goods, saying all US tariffs must be eliminated first.

At a speech to a business audience in Toronto, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly described Trump as being the only meaningful "decision-maker" in the US federal government right now.

"He's the only one. And we need to be able to address that reality," Joly said.

She described the current situation as a "psychodrama" that could drag on for months.

Fox News giving a factual explainer on tariffs

Meanwhile for once Fox News has presented an explainer on how tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico will hurt American consumers. The host explained how tariffs don't hit Mexico or Canada -- it hits the US companies and people who have bought the imported goods. 

Another Fox News video clip showed a reporter at a car dealership pointing to a truck and how it cost US$80,000, but now with the tariffs it costs US$100,000.

Hope that makes Americans realise that Trump is not making America great, it's making it poorer. 

But perhaps American citizens are more concerned about losing their jobs and benefits than how much imported goods cost, with Elon Musk and his teenage Doge team dismantling all kinds of government institutions...

Trump and his Idea to Usurp Canada

Trump continues to argue the case to annexe Canada

A day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation, US President-elect Donald Trump ratcheted up the calls for America to absorb its northern neighbour. 

Today at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump was asked about how he would annexe Canada, if he would do it militarily. 

"No. Economic force, because Canada and the United States, that would really be something," he said. "You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like... it would also be much better for national security."

He also complained about what he perceives as a trade imbalance with Canada.

"In trade deficits, we're losing massive -- we don't need their cars. You know, they make 20 percent of our cars. We don't need that. I'd rather make them in Detroit. We don't need the cars. we don't need their lumber."

But does he understand the two nations are so intertwined when it comes to manufacturing cars that they depend on each other to make them?

And lumber... he may claim the US has lots of lumber, but they still need more from Canada...

Trump also went on to say the US spends "hundreds of billions" of dollars to "protect" and "take care of Canada", saying Canada should become an American state if it receives so much support from the US.

The responses came fast and furious.

Trudeau said on X, formerly known as Twitter: "There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States," he wrote. "Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other's biggest trading and security partner."

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre wrote: "Canada will never be the 51st state. Period."

And the New Democrats' Jagmeet Singh told Trump to "cut the crap". "Your attacks will hurt jobs on both sides of the border. You come for Canadians' jobs, Americans will pay a price."

Tonight Canadian media had a slew of experts on, asking if Trump should be taken seriously or not.

Who would know what's going on in Trump's head except that he sees Canada in a weak position and wants to exploit it. As for his threats being a reality, we can only wait and see...

Driverless Cars Take You Around

There's no one sitting in the driver's seat!

While we were waiting for our Uber to arrive at the San Francisco Ferry Terminal building, we saw a white car with a strange contraption on top of the car -- and no one in the driver's seat!

It was a Waymo, the world's first autonomous ride-hailing service. So basically Uber without the driver!

We saw two people get in, one in the back, one in the passenger side, and once the road was clear, it signalled to turn left into the lane and drove off!

Two brave souls got into the car...

Waymo is formerly the Google self-driving car project, which launched in 2015. The following year it was rebranded as Waymo. In 2020 it was the first company to offer a driverless ride-hailing service. 

The car, a Chrysler Pacifica hybrid, relies on artificial intelligence and Google Street View technology to navigate roads.

But is it safe?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recorded 150 crashes by Waymo by July 2021, though most of the crashes did not have injuries. In February this year, a Waymo struck a cyclist in San Francisco, and then most recently, there are complaints the Waymos are very noisy when they self-park in a parking lot near residents because the cars make a lot of noise when backing up. 

San Francisco was where I saw a robot make coffee five years ago, and now a driverless car. 

What's next?!

HK Tunnel Tolls to Change

Will there still be a lot of traffic in this tunnel after August 2?

It's going to cost HK$10 more for commuters to go through the Cross-Harbour Tunnel and Eastern Harbour Tunnel, but HK$15 less for the Western Harbour Tunnel from August 2.

The franchise agreement for the Western Harbour Tunnel ends on August 1 and returned to the government, thus finally allowing the authorities to regulate the tolls at all three tunnels.

Then towards the end of the year, the next step would be regulating the toll price according to the time of day.

Western Tunnel mostly empty, very expensive

Currently the Cross Harbour Tunnel is HK$20, and Eastern Tunnel is HK$25, but both will increase to HK$30 from August 2, while the Western Harbour Tunnel will drop to HK$60 from HK$75.

Then by the end of the year there will be a pricing system to discourage going through the tunnel at peak times:

7.30am-10.15am Peak toll charges

10.15am-4.30pm HK$30 at all tunnels

4.30pm-7pm Peak toll charges

7.01pm-7.30am HK$20 at all tunnels

Cross-Harbour cheapest of three tunnels

In a bid to prevent everyone flooding the tunnels just before the peak toll charges kick in, fees will progressively increase by HK$2 every two minutes from the peak-hour slot up to the maximum amount. The opposite arrangement will happen for off-peak periods.

It will be very intriguing to see how the public reacts to this new arrangement, and how it will be implemented.

But really, if you are a car owner in Hong Kong, paying more or less for the tunnel toll makes no difference. Because if you have to penny pinch, then you wouldn't own a car in the first place...

Vanity Plates in HK for a Price

Just some of the thousands of vanity plates in Hong Kong

If you want a personalised license plate in Hong Kong you need to bid for it, even if you're quite sure you're the only person who's going to want it.

I found this out through a friend of mine who absolutely adores rabbits and so she wanted the license plate "wabbit" as in Bugs Bunny.

Some license plates are just plain amusing...

She had to attend the auction when her license plate came up and (luckily) no one else wanted to compete against her to bid for it so she paid the HK$5,000 (US$640).

But what if it's a license place other people want? 

The other day the Transport Department held an auction the other day of lucky license plates after the Lunar New Year.

The ones up for grabs were:

1388

UU 88

TT 888

VV 8888

292

And one with just the letter "R", considered a lucky plate because it is related to racing cars and the first letter denoting the Year of the Rabbit, raked in a whopping HK$25 million (US$3.18 million).

It is the second-highest amount paid for vanity plates.

Other plates are strictly for the privileged...

Bidding for "R" started at the base price of HK$5,000 and several bidders soon pushed the price up to HK$2 million then HK$9 million. It was finally after 60 rounds that it was finally sold for HK$25.5 million, about 5,200 times the opening price.

Some people commenting on the news story remarked how this was a great way for the government to collect more coffers from the rich rather than further burdening the poor, while others pointed out the pandemic hasn't hurt the wealthy at all. 

The money apparently goes to charities around the city.

With other personalised plates like "God", "Wanker", "I Know", and "U Wish" hints the personalities of the car owners who wanted them -- at any price...

Car Museum Revs up Excitement

Car fans will enjoy wandering Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. It was formerly a department store and converted into place to display the world's largest collection of cars.

It was founded in 1994 by Robert E Petersen who made his money in magazine publishing and his wife Margie. Seven years ago it had a facelift, including a stunning facade featuring a stainless steel series of ribbons wrapped around the building.

The first electric car in 1839 made in Scotland

Inside it's a car fanatic's dream, from those interested in automotive history to racing cars, vehicles featured in pop culture and movies to electric vehicles (failures and successes).

There's an original 1918 Ford Model T car, one of less than 10 in existence, and the first electric car built in 1839 by Scot Robert Anderson.

It was called Columbia and apparently the technology improved so rapidly that by 1900 electric cars exceeded both steam- and petroleum-powered cars in popularity. And wouldn't you know, the car was highly prized by taxi companies and the wealthy because the electric car was free from noise, vibration and noxious odours. How come it took us this long to figure that out?

There is a Japanese car called Fuji Cabin that has three wheels. It was built to provide cheap, economical cars to people after the war. The three-wheeler was built on readily available motor-scooter parts, and was powered by a one-cylinder engine with a kick start. It only had three forward speeds and reverse. However in the end only 85 of these cars were built.

The Fuji Cabin was made in post-war Japan

We had fun going down memory lane with a series of cars featured in movies. These included the DeLorean from Back to the Future. It looks so old now, but at the time the movie came out in 1985 it was considered quite cool. The Batmobile from Batman Returns starring Michael Keaton is featured in the exhibition, and of course the car Lightning McQueen from Pixar Animation Studio's Cars.

Another section had a show called "Bond in Motion", featuring the official collection of cars featured in James Bond films. It was fun watching clips from the various movies with Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig that had the chase scenes with the vehicles in it. While the older films don't necessarily age well since technology has advanced so much, the dialogue and the acting are still priceless. 

There really is something for everyone at this museum. Pleasantly surprised.

James Bond looking suave with his Aston Martin

Petersen Automotive Museum

6060 Wilshire Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 

90036

323 930 2277