Travel to Hong Kong

As with any talent, some people - or cars - have it, and some just don't. The winds of fortune will all blow in your direction sometimes, and others it will be a struggle just to fit a nut and bolt together. Here we look back at ten different cars which the winds of fortune lifted up, to soar through the clouds like enormous metal eagles!

1. The Range Rover, by Land Rover, set a new standard for rough-and-ready cars, for guts and glory. Land Rover may not have made the first off-road vehicle on the market, but they were the first to do it so well. Range Rover became synonymous with off-roading, and the shape of the model is burnt into our psyches. The off road skills of the vehicle were soon augmented by comfort and drivability for everyday use, and handling was improved to make the ride easier in traffic. Soon, Range Rover became more of a luxury car, and they have found extra popularity as a luxury car in Hong Kong.

2. The XF Jaguar is a new model from the company, expected to do great things for a brand that has not made a profit for Ford, its parent company, in 20 years. Jaguar's reputation has been for luxury automobiles in Hong Kong, with superb handling and lithe styling, and the XF should deliver.

3. Hyundai's Pony is little known today, and is certainly not a luxury car, in Hong Kong or elsewhere. However, it certainly was a miracle car, and definitely changed the fortunes of Hyundai. It was the first model the company produced itself, after gaining experience assembling Ford Cortinas shipped out in kit form. The City of London, British Leyland, Mistsubishi and Giugiaro all combined forces to help make the Pony a reality - and it has been the first step for this ever more popular Hong Kong new car manufacturer.

4. The 1936 Mercedes Benz 500K was a leap forward in luxury automobile styling. It has elegant lines, a smooth appearance, yet arobust flavor. It was touted as a dream car, available to a small, select clientele, and set the standard for luxury cars the world over, including for luxury cars in Hong Kong.

5. The Ford Focus is one of the world's oldest car manufacturer's more recent success stories. Ford has had many ups and downs, and their new car market in Hong Kong has risen and fallen with the tides. However, in 1997 the Focus brought an excellent high, with its excellent, comfortable handling, versatility, and style.

6. The Fiat Nuova was another car that changed the fortunes of its manufacturer. The rear-mounted, two cylinder engine vehicle was made in 1957 and oozed Italian charm. It became the people's car, aiming to help cars be within the reach of lower paid Italian workers.

7. The Citroen BX was a model that really defined the brand. Peugeot bought Citroen in 1974 and saved the company financially, but the personality and soul of Citroen was not captured in a car until the BX of 1982. It was a high-performance, good economy, ultra modern engineering feat.

8. Chrysler's K-cars would hardly have won any awards for style or speed, but their wide appeal as cheap, economic runabouts saved the company from oblivion in the 1980s.

9. The BMW 3-series began in the 1970s, and was still being manufactured this decade. The initial 1.3 million made of the first model were all sold, and the replacement for these transformed the way that BMW operated as a luxury car manufacturer in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

10. Audi's miracle car came way back in the 1960s, with the 100 model that ousted the Beetle's right of way after Volkswagen bought Audi in 1968. When bosses saw the prototype 100s, they were so impressed that they gave the go-ahead for their building straight away.

You can drive in Hong Kong using a foreign license on a temporary basis when you arrive for a visit, but if you are contemplating to live here for more than a year, you must acquire a Hong Kong license to drive without any hiccups. For people who have overseas driving license and wish to drive in Hong Kong, a valid driving license may be attained via either apply for a complete driving license by direct issue without test or apply for a temporary driving license.

The heartening news is that if you possess a driving license from a country authorized by the Hong Kong Transport Department, it will be useful when you apply for a Hong Kong license. You will not be required to go through a driving test. And the enjoyable thing is that a Hong Kong license is valid for 10 years. If you are able to avoid the driving test there will be nothing better than that. You will have spent a considerable amount of time for it, and the complete process is a travesty.

'Driving', in the point of view of the examiners here, consists of precisely three skills: performing a three-point turn, parallel parking, and staying away from ever, ever, EVER performing a hand-over-hand turn of the steering wheel. You have to alternate your hands across the wheel to pass!. In Hong Kong people travel on the left in right hand drive cars. This is exactly what you can see in Britain as well. Besides this the traffic lights, road signs, markings, etc. are exactly similar to those in the UK. In China people drive on the right in right hand drive cars and this is similar to that in the US, which makes cross border traffic extremely interesting.

Here switching sides of the road while you are driving is not that difficult. People who learn driving in the States think that they might have to encounter a heap of trouble driving in HK. In reality this is not the case at all. Your brain adapts to the changes quite automatically. Some people even find it tougher to adapt to being a pedestrian here than to being a driver, because when you are walking along the street, you tend to forget which way you are required to check first for oncoming traffic.

The following are some tips on driving in Hong Kong for fresh arrivals in the Territory and wishing to acclimatize with the new surroundings. You should not use the turn indicator in any kind of situations. It is there for no specific purpose other than just display. Fit a fat exhaust in your car. In doing so, you may try to drive in an imaginative fashion. Even if such driving is risky it is always advisable to have fat exhaust in your car because with it you can be better than anyone else.

The hazard lights have to be considered as a multipurpose accessory and not something which should be used only under an emergency situation. You can access them whenever you need them. They can convey that: "you are turning; you are braking; you are altering the CD; you are a human; you are puzzled" among other things. If you happen to be a part of a prang with another car, never resign to the side of the road to permit free passage of other traffic. What you have to do is, leave your cars on the accident location and communicate the issue of the microscopic scratch on the bumper with the owner of the other car, even though HK laws require you to move to the side of the road. If you are circumspect and a little bit cunning you can enjoy a pleasant and comfortable driving experience in the roads of Hong Kong.