#65 Ha Heung Road, Tokwawan [????- ] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

#65 Ha Heung Road, Tokwawan [????- ]

Comments

Hi T,

It's great to see you adding photos to the site. Seeing the photos of the different shophouses is much better than just knowing where they are.

Other readers: FYI you can click on the photo above to go to T's blog, and see more of his photos.

Regards, MrB

Hi there,

I am also playing with LOCR right now.  It might help a little bit to verify the notes I jot down before or after shooting the picture.  The building and the narrow streets really play havoc to my GPS logger.

I believe I have updated slightly more than 50% of the entries I posted with the photos.  I have already lost count on them.

Best Regards,

Thomas

excellent shots T, adding the photos definitely brings it all together.

I am afraid you have put me to shame with the amount of shophouses you have identified, but it has been interesting finding out about where they all still are by just looking at the places you've created.

So what is the next project?

Hi there,

Believe me, I had just been walking around in my free time.  I happen to be around for a few decades thus I already have a faint idea of which district to look into.  For those in Wanchai I basically remember where they are as I grew up in Wanchai & Causeway Bay.  :-P

Best Regards,

T

T, how about you? Given the work you've put in on the shophouses, anything you'd like help in mapping around HK?

Phil, looking at what you've been writing about lately, maybe a map of temples with links back to your articles? Or a map of the places along the unofficial Wanchai Heritage Walk?

I'd thought about starting to record all those odd marker stones dotted about the place - city boundary stones, war department, lot markers, etc.

Another idea is to take a popular book and make accompanying notes to give more history, and show can still be seen today. Reader Sophia wrote about it in a recent email: 'I recently read the Golden Boy by Martin Booth. Inspired by the book, I tried to retrace his footsteps to little avail.'That would be a great book to start with - maybe we could tackle it a chapter at a time?

Does anyone else have suggestions for articles / maps of places they'd like to see (and ideally be willing to help with)?

Cheers, MrB

Hi there,

There are still a handful of those houses that requires another walkby so I'd rather complete these first before thinking moving on.  I believe there might still be a few of those houses in the Western District slightly up the slope.

Oh, while we are at this, I am going to add some district tags to the existing houses and/or other topics so we could search for places by the district.

Best Regards,

Thomas

 

a.k.a Gwei Lo

Actually this is an idea I had been pondering previously and made a start before time got the better of me. I wonder why someone hasn't made this the basis for a book already?

Judging by today's issue of HK magazine - looks like media interest in Wanchai is high this week.

 

I've been toying with the idea of one suitable for children, i.e. the clock tower with some information on why one had clock towers historically, ice house street with the story of getting ice to HK, why are the TinHau temples inland like on Queens Road east etc. etc.  I have some ideas that I think would be publishable, if you want to meet up to discuss...

When I look at your places why do I just see maps and no photos? Am I looking in the right place?

Hi there,

I started adding photos last week.  It took me that long to find out how to do it anyway. 

Up to this moment I believe I have added photos to slightly more than 50% of my older entries already.  It's just that matching up the photos with the notes is sort of a bit slow.  My new entries are usually submitted with photos now, despite the quality of the shots remains in question.

Best Regards,

T

It is a great idea to get a few people and tackle a chapter or a district at a time.  I live on HK island and would be happy to work on the HK island portion although Booth's more interesting haunts were around Kowloon City.

Reader T, it is very helpful to attach pictures to your shop houses - it connects with the readers better  (esp. for the directionally challenged like myself)

sophia

T, no problem - just let us know if there's anything we can help with once you're finished.

Philk & Sophia, I've got an idea for how to handle the golden boy project. I'll put up an outline over the next few days, then anyone that's interested can come back and fill it in over time

Gweipo, that sounds like a good idea. I think I drove my parents mad around the 7-9 yrs age, with the question "Did you know...? followed by whatever was in that week's 'World of wonder' comic I used to get. So something like that for kids, but with an HK focus?

Any other ideas? We've tended towards historical places so far, but it will be good to see maps of other types of places appear. Gweipo's idea of places interesting to children is a good start.

MrB