Books about Hong Kong
Tue, 2005-09-06 13:44 — mrb
If you are visiting Hong Kong and are looking for something to read on the plane, I can recommend "GWEILO, MEMORIES OF A HONG KONG CHILDHOOD" by the late Martin Booth. I've just been lent a copy, and am enjoying it very much. It recalls the author's time in Hong Kong in the 1950's, when he arrived as a young boy with his parents.
You can read reviews at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553816721/104-6876973-8475100?v=glance. For some reason Amazon says the book isn't published yet, but plenty of other online bookstores have it.
MrB
Gwielo: memories of Hong Kong
This is an excellent book for those of us who knew Hong Kong in the 1950's.
The author has recently died, but the book is very good.
His memories are similar to mine from those days.
I would echo the reccomendation from mrb as a good read about those days.
Photgraphs of Hong Kong in the 1950's
Greg has very generously sent along some photos from that time, so you can see the Hong Kong that the book describes: http://www.batgung.com/articles/oldhk/fripp1.htm
Greg, thanks again for those. It can't be long until your visit? Travel safely,
MrB
From routes to roots
I was just in a nearby public library during lunchtime, and came across a book on moving to HK as an expatriate called 'Routes to Roots', by a relocation expert named Icy Kwok. Don't know if anyone has actually shelled out cash for this book, but from my brief browse through it, I would advise rather sharply against it!
My favorite (weathergeekish) bit: Ms Icy divides HK's seasons into the following:
Winter: January to March, average temperatures 15 C
(Okay, that's not exactly accurate, but we can live with it)
Spring: April to July, average temperature 20 C
(I couldn't keep reading at this point, as guffaws of laughter needed to be suppressed. If you go look at the weather records at the HK observatory website, you'll find that in July not only is the average temperature nowhere near a mild 20 C, it's never been that cool here in July EVER. )
I noted many other data that were either overgeneralized, vague, or just wrong, too. Another bizarre one: in a section on finding housing, our expert characterizes accomodations in Shatin as 'houses, low-rise'.
Buyer beware -- stick with batgung.com!!
Imagine
[quote]This is an excellent book for those of us who knew Hong Kong in the 1950's.[/quote]
:X Now imagine if the world was like that.:I