A luxury apartment in Hong Kong has sold for a record US$ 61 million. According to local media it was the highest price per square meter paid in Asia for new developments and the second-highest in the world, after London's One Hyde Park. The apartment sold is situated on the city's Peak and is part of architect Frank Gehry's first creation in Asia, the Opus. The building, which was completed in March, has an undulating glass facade that curves and offers each floor a distinct vista of the surrounding leafy environs. The 576 square meters unit takes up the entire eighth floor of the 12-story building. The tower is comprised of 12 residential units, two double-level garden suites with private swimming pools on the lower levels, and 10 custom apartments, each occupying an entire floor with unprecedented 360dg views, ranging from 560 - 640 sqm in space. Hong Kong has seen its share of vertigo-inducing records before, including the 2009 sale of an apartment for US$ 56.6 million. And the world's most expensive apartment was sold in Monaco in September, 2010. As we reported the apartment with 1600 square meter area was sold by US$ 306.5 million.

Google announced construction of its first-ever Asian data center on December 8. The US$ 300 million facility is being built in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and will increase the company's reliability and speed in the region, reported constructiondigital. The ultra-modern center will incorporate innovative design features to make it one of the most efficient and environmentally-friendly facilities in the region. "One way we'll achieve region-leading efficiency (in Hong Kong) is by custom designing each element to operate at optimal efficiency," said Simon Chang, Google's head of Asia-Pacific hardware operations. The data center will use free cooling, adjust power usage for peak efficiency, and will run at higher temperatures than comparable centers. The center will be operational in 2013, and employ 25 full-time staff members. "We're working as quickly as we can get to this facility operational so we can keep up with rapid growth in capacity demand across the region. We're targeting early 2013 to start bringing the facility online," Chang added. As cloud-based technologies continue to expand, internet companies are looking to expand their capacity and reach. Google is also rumored to be building a data center in Singapore, and has already purchased nearly 25 thousand square meters of land - though no official construction date has been set.

World's highest hotel Ritz-Carlton opened in Hong-Kong. The hotel housed in International Commerce Centre, city's tallest skyscraper and offering unrivalled panoramic views of the world famous Victoria Harbor. With 312 guest rooms, the hotel is situated on 102-118 floors. Inside, the Ritz-Carlton Hong- Kong exudes a chic, modern vibe in the restaurants and lobby areas, with a lot of sparkling decor and chandeliers, the main color themes being black, brown and beige. Visitors can expect to find facilities that include the highest bar in the world, and a top-floor pool that will feature a 19-metre ceiling-mounted LCD screen which swimmers can watch while enjoying the warmth of the heated water. The Ritz-Carlton will also be one of the most expensive places to stay in a city already packed with luxury hotels, with the rack rate starting at $770 a night for a deluxe room. A presidential suite price is reaching for $ 12.8 thousand. According to hotel management, they are taking luxury to new heights in every sense. As reported by experts, clients aren't happy living at extreme height, but Hong-Kong's hotel owners don't have other choice. The land is very expensive, so it is more profitable to build super high skyscrapers, than low-rise buildings. The highest hotel in the world was Park Hyatt so far, which is situated on 79-93 floors of Shanghai World Financial Center. But the highest hotel title Ritz-Carlton can lose in 2014, when the J-Hotel opens near the top of the 632 meter Shanghai Tower in mainland China. Watch Hotel PhotoTour

Hong Kong is the most expensive territory in the world to buy house. According to Bloomberg referring to research of Savills Plc. real estate company, in 2010 Hong Kong prices for housing property was 55% higher than in London. According to research, prices in Moscow were 7.4% up, and in New-York 15% down than in Britain's capital. As Savills pointed out, growth in property prices in Hong Kong contributed to rather low interest rates, property shortage and the rush of wealthy buyers from China. According to another research by Centaline Property Agency Ltd., property prices in Hong Kong jumped by 55 % in 2010, and this drive would continue the next 1-1,5 years. To improve the way in property market Hong Kong government plan to build about 20 thousand new homes annually and increase property tax. As reported by m-2.ru, today the average price for the130-200 square meters apartment in Hong Kong is about US $ 21,000 per 1 square meter (US $1930 for square feet).

The wonderful decorated and lighted Christmas tree has become an iconic symbol of the Christmas spirit all over the world. We are going to represent you some of the most interesting and amazing Christmas trees of 2011. The most expensive Christmas tree is in Abu Dhabi (UAE). In the lobby of Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi is the most expensive Christmas tree in the world, with the cost of $ 11 million. A 13 meter Christmas tree is artificial, but the toys that adorn it, are very expensive jewelry from the world's leading manufacturers. There are diamonds, a huge number of pearls and emeralds on the tree in the lobby of Emirates Palace Hotel; necklaces, bracelets, earrings, watches and much other jewelry hanging on it, each worth more than one thousand dollars. However, they can't be stolen, because there is a small sensor on each of these "toys" that will alarm the security if someone tries to make jewelry from the hotel. Note that in this hotel was once installed the world's first vending machine of gold bullion! Christmas Tree in Hong Kong by Swarovski Asians are trying to keep up with the oil sheiks of the Middle East. A famous Austrian company Swarovski made a 30-meter Christmas tree in Hong Kong. Swarovski erected Christmas tree in a conical shape of a skyscraper, with gold and silver diamond-shaped sections similar to the windows are illuminated from the inside all night long. For decorating the tree 20 million Swarovski crystals were used. Swarovski also constructed a Christmas tree in one of the most beautiful and fashionable French ski resorts - Megeve. (Watch video) Christmas Tree from Tiffany in Milan. The most expensive Christmas tree in Europe from Tiffany was placed in Milan. It costs €350 000. Next to this giant tree will open a jewelry store of famous brand. Note that a certain percentage of sales will be donated to the charity fund for the fight against cancer. Shopping Cart Christmas tree, Santa Monica, California. In one of the shopping centers in Santa Monica, California, raised a miracle Christmas Tree with the height at 33 feet. Designer Anthony Schmidt used 56 shopping carts to build this tree. According to Anthony, this tree embodies the hope for abundance and generosity of the coming New Year. Tallest Christmas tree in the World, town of Gubbio, Italian Province. These World Tallest Christmas tree is 800 meters high (2624 feet), 400 meters (1312 feet) wide. On the top of the tree and at the summit of the mountain, a star over 1000 meters (3,280 feet) long sparkles in the night sky. Tree is made up from over 800 lights laid out on the side of Mount Ingino. This tradition started when people of Gubbio decided to celebrate Christmas in a different way and in 1981 the first Mount -tree was illuminated. Since then the tradition is repeated annually thanks to a special committee consisting of volunteers giving up their free time for making the biggest Christmas tree in the world. Chocolate Christmas tree, France. Patrick Roger, a chocolate artist from France, made gigantic Chocolate Christmas tree to raise money for charity, auctioning off some parts of the tree and donating proceeds to an organization which studies neuromuscular disease. Roger unveiled the massive tree in his studio in Sceaux, Paris. The 32-foot-tall, 4-ton Chocolate Tree took a whole month to work on and as talented chocolatier said, making this was a great challenge for him. The Chocolate Christmas tree, hailed as a structural wonder, used $45,000 worth of 65% dark chocolate. (Watch video) The Largest Floating Christmas Tree. The Bradesco Seguros Christmas Tree, according to the Guinness Book of Records is the largest floating Christmas tree in the world, has been adorning the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon since 1996. It is a picture perfect site in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is now on display for its 15th straight year. (Watch video) Although the Christmas trees in Yerevan are not the most expensive and the tallest, for us they are the most dearest!