Old Hong Kong Photos and The Tales They Tell, Volume 1

The Ablong family and collegial ex-HKers now resident in Canberra enjoyed the publication particularly the photographs.  The consensus is that it was a well presented publication.  We look forward to vol.2 and any other material (particularly photographs) that may arise.  The acid test imposed by the consensus group was the level of nostalgia and the invocation of memories long lost in the aging corridors of the mind.  Well done David.

It might be on interest to your audience that my great grandfather John Cotton built the first residence in Kennedy Town, and my grandfather John Ablong built the first residence at the Peak. During WWII my mother and I walked up and down North Point looking for my father's (Alfred Ernest Ablong) body to no avail.  He had been shot by a sniper while he and Sgt McDevitt were delivering food and ammunition to those at the Hotel.  It was some years later that we were informed that the vehicle in which they were travelling was torched by fifth columnists.

Wishing you and yours good health, wealth, peace and safety for 2018.

Thanks to Adam Wright for the following write-up on the SCMP website:

Old Hong Kong photos and the stories they tell: eye for detail marks out amateur historian’s book from the pack

The latest bookstore to carry the Gwulo book is Bleak House Books.

They win the award for "the bookstore you are least likely to stumble upon", as they're on the 27th floor of an office building, in the middle of San Po Kong. They're well worth a visit though, as they've got a good selection of new and second-hand English books:

Here are some books from their local-history shelf: 

Links:

• Directions & opening hours
• Online catalogue (they ship worldwide)
• Ask them to help find a book you're looking for

Here's a new way to read the Gwulo book - stay at The Pottinger hotel!

The Pottinger hotel has ordered enough copies of the Gwulo book to put one in each of their guest rooms. Though the hotel is in a modern building, it's location on the Pottinger Street steps puts it right in the middle of old Hong Kong. This order is part of a larger project by the hotel to pique their guests' interest in Hong Kong's history.

A big thank you to The Pottinger for their support. I wrote the book hoping it would be as interesting and enjoyable for the casual reader as it is for people who already know about Hong Kong's history. Seeing the book used this way is a thumbs up that it meets that goal.

I'll cross my fingers that the hotel's guests enjoy dipping into the book, and that it sparks their curiosity to learn more about the hotel's historic surroundings.

Thanks to the Asian Review of Books for including Volume 1 in their "list of some books we particularly liked this year".

There are lots more good books on the list, so it's a good place to find inspiration for books to read over the holidays, and in the year ahead: 

http://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/2018-the-arbs-year-in-books/

I've been reading this blog for a while, because Hong Kong is fascinating, but now that I'm actually *in* Hong Kong I decided to pop along to Bleak House Books and pick up a copy. I bought volume 1, so that I have an excuse to come back and buy volume 2. Mine is signed ("best wishes, David"). The shop is lovely and the general area is interesting. It's next to a bunch of garages where they mend those red buses, and about a ten minute walk from the Kowloon walled city park. It's fairly easy to reach via the 22 bus, which also goes to the former Kai Tak, now a curiously deserted cruise terminal stroke building site.

Thanks Ashley, and glad to hear you visited Bleak House Books. I'm making good progress on book #3, so hopefully that'll be another reason to visit them.