For the Record

The World's Most Expensive Toilet: Hong Kong jewelers Hang Fung Gold invested HK$38 million to create the greatest scatological wonder of the modern world in 2001 (turns out that was a solid investment and the room is now worth a cool $60 million). Chairman Lam Sai-wing supposedly got the idea from an iffy interpretation of a statement from Vladimir Lenin about golden toilets being the apex of capitalist waste.The floor is made of 150 million-year-old gold-edged fossils and the ceiling is a relief, decorated with gold and embedded with precious stones. But has anyone used it? “Probably Mr. Lam and some very special VIPs,” says their public relations department. Though no part of the restroom is for sale, you can purchase small miniatures of the toilet in clock form from the gift shop. Contrary to popular belief, Brazilian soccer hero Ronaldo has not purchased a toilet here.

The World's Most Densely Populated Island: Ap Lei Chau, or “Duck Tongue Island” in Chinese, lays claim to this title, with a population of 80,000 crammed into just 1.3 square kilometers.

The World's Longest Suspension and Rail Bridge: Built to connect to the airport at Chep Lap Kok, the Tsing Ma Bridge opened just in time for the handover in May 1997. Contrary to popular belief, Tsing Ma Bridge is not the longest suspension bridge in the world - it’s actually the sixth longest. But with its impressive span of 1,377 meters, it does take one title: It’s the longest suspension bridge carrying combined road and railway traffic.

160,000km of galvanized high tensile steel wire was spun to make the main cables of Tsing Ma Bridge, enough to circle the earth four times.

The World's Highest Per-capita Ownership of Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royce Vehicles is also a local claim to fame.

The World's Largest and Most Expensive Airport Terminal: The Hong Kong International Airport passenger terminal building is 1.3km long and covers 550,000 square meters, taking the title as the world’s largest single airport building. The baggage hall alone is the same size as New York’s Yankee Stadium (it could hold five Boeing 747s parked wing tip to wing tip). It has 48 aircraft parking stands with boarding gates and air bridges and the terminal has the capacity to accommodate 45 million passengers a year, arriving on 460 flights every day. There is 3km of moving walkways, 55,000 square meters of glass walls and around 117,000 square meters of carpeting. The price tag for the whole shebang was US$20 billion dollars, making it the world’s most expensive airport as well. Designed by British architecture firm Foster and Associates, the 12.48 square km of reclaimed land, the four underground tunnels, the six-lane highway, the five bridges and the 31km railway (not to mention the adjacent town that is now home to tens of thousands), all helped up the price tag.