Hong Kong Then and Now

Last year I posted photos of my uncle's adventures in Hong Kong. Slides he took in 1969 while on leave from the war in Vietnam. I'm always shocked when someone finds my posts online, and even more so when they post a comment. So to say I was blown away when someone commented with the Google map coordinates of some of my uncle's pictures would be a huge understatement. I can't thank Kevin from Hong Kong enough for taking the time to share what he knows about the places where my uncle visited. Here are a few of the photos from 1969 next to their modern locations. It's fascinating to see how much the city has changed, and yet remained the same.

1969...Hennessy Road, Wanchai. Check out the the white building on the right hand side with the red Chinese characters painted on the building wall. On Google maps below you can see the same building, painted pink. 

2016...Nearly 50 years later.





























1969...Paintings for sale at Lok Ma Chau, the Honk Kong/China border





























2016... No more paintings, plenty of parking though. 



1969...Victoria Peak lookout, Hong Kong

2014... Not much has changed, you can see the same building that overlooks Hong Kong.
Photo Credit: Michael Coghlan

1969...View of Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

2015...Buildings are a little bigger, just a little. 

Photo Credit: Rodney Topor

1969...Hennessy Road, View of the Chinese Methodist Church on the left

2016...The Church on the left has been renovated, but is still recognizable. 

10 Photographs at a Time: Photos 31-40 (Hong Kong 1969, Part 2)

My Uncle Bill in front of the HSBC Bank

These are the last of the photos from my Uncle's slides of his trip to Hong Kong in 1969 while on leave from the war in Vietnam.

Check out the first set of 1960s Hong Kong photos.

His adventures take us from primitive boat dwellings, to the then 80 year old Hong Kong Peak Tram, to a modern school surrounded by barbed wire. They are a snapshot in time of the people of Hong Kong going about their daily lives.

I love that every time I look at these photos I see details that I missed upon first glance. I only wish there were more, but unfortunately this is the last of the roll. The next photos (which I hope to post soon) are of Vietnam.

  

Originally called Hong Kong Harbour it was renamed Victoria Harbour after Queen Victoria.

Boat dwellings (also called junks) of "on-water people"or "Nam Hoi Yan"formerly called Tanka but that is now considered a derogatory term.

Close up of the picture above. I looked at this photo dozens of times before seeing the families on the boats going about their daily lives. It's been described that the "on-water people" have lived on junks in Hong Kong "since time unknown."

The Hong Kong Peak Tram has been around for 125 years. “You can’t say you've visited Hong Kong if you haven’t been up the Peak, and a journey up Victoria Peak without the Peak Tram is simply incomplete.” 

Rice paddies. Maybe viewed from the tram? UPDATE: This picture has been identified in blog comments as Lok Ma Chau, the Hong Kong/China border.

Paintings for sale by the side of the road, I wonder if Mr. Brown Pants buys one or is just posing for the camera. UPDATE: This picture has been identified in blog comments as Lok Ma Chau, the Hong Kong/China border.

Busy Hong Kong market.

Mercedes & green double-decker buses bearing Hitachi tv ads. Bus transport in Hong Kong was started in the 1920s. 

In the 60s European cars were used as taxis in Hong Kong. I think what's pictured here are Mercedes W120 Pontons. 

Tailor Tailor Tailor. 

It must have been odd for my uncle who grew up on a farm with no fences to see school children behind barbed wire.

10 Photographs at a Time: Photos 21-30 (Hong Kong 1969, Part 1)

Donald W. "Bill" McCaw Jr. (1945-2005)

I came across these long forgotten slides tucked away in a cabinet in my grandma's basement. They were taken by my late Uncle Bill, I'm assuming that he took them when he was on leave during the Vietnam war.

Of all of the family photos I've seen and sorted through these are some of my favorites. They transport me back in time to a place that is foreign and western, modern and ancient, vibrant and grimy all at the same time. 

There's no way I could limit this set to just 10 photos, there are too many great one's that I want to share. So if you want to see more, just check out Hong Kong Part 2!

The Hong Kong Festival was first held in December of 1969.
Not sure if the construction is related to that since this picture was taken around the same time. 

Much like Molly Shannon on Seinfeld this gentleman doesn't swing his arms when he runs. The randomness of this photo is great, I'm assuming he ran into the shot and this isn't the picture my uncle was intending to take which makes it even better. UPDATE: Taken at 3 Hennessy Road, showing a view of the Chinese Methodist Church that is still there but has since been renovated. 

These two appear in a few of the shots. UPDATE: Thanks to a helpful commenter who wrote "This must be the Hong Kong/China border. It was hard for a traveler to visit China at that time."

And here again walking the streets of Hong Kong looking like they stepped off the set of Happy Days. UPDATE: View of Hennessy Road, Wanchai.

Is that a 3-legged dog or is he scratching?
There's so much going on in this one I didn't even notice the dog's legs until the 10th time I looked at this photo. 

Hong Kong Harbor. At the time the population was estimated at 3 million, now it's over 7 million.

The best part of this photo is not the boy running with one hand in his pocket (and the other one carrying a ???),
it's that I'm pretty sure what's behind him is called "The Old Dragon Store". 

Sorry guys, there aren't any photos from inside the night club. 

There must be 20 slides of Hong Kong Harbor at night.
I can imagine this would have been an amazing sight to my uncle who had never left the US before this trip. 

Day Trip to the Cache River State Natural Area - Shawnee National Forest

A Day Trip to Cache River 

When I travel to Illinois to visit my family everyone always assumes I'm going to Chicago. If you've ever been to Southern Illinois where my family is from, you'd know that Chicago might as well be on another planet. Southern Illinois is both geographically and culturally distinct from the rest of the state.

Maybe I'm a bit biased because my roots go back to this land since the 1800s, but I think it's one of the most beautiful places in the world (during every season except winter).

During my visits I usually visit the Shawnee National Forest, honestly it's a bit hard to avoid. This land makes up 280,000 acres of Southern Illinois and is part of over seven different counties.



This summer we took a day trip to the Cache River State Natural Area to check out the swamp and the cypress trees.

Cache River Wetlands Center

We started at the Cache River Wetlands Center to learn more about the area. They have a great exhibit that tells the geographic and cultural history of the area as well as descriptions and samples of the flora and fauna. We were instructed to watch out for "Tick feeling the call of love" before we set out on our hike.  

Singing: Katydids

Big Cypress Tree Trail & Canoe Trail

We headed out to check out the state champion bald cypress tree, and found that exploring the river trail by canoe would have been the better way to go. Next time we'll definitely be renting canoes. White Crane Rentals will rent you one for $15 per person for 2.5 hours.

Cue "Dueling Banjos"

Little Black Slough Unit

Over the river and through the woods...

We then ventured by car over to the Upper Cache River, an easy walk took us over a bridge to the horribly named "Little Black Slough Unit".

Bridge Over River Cache

The "Unit" is what the Illinois DNR website calls "a floating carpet of brilliant emerald duckweed" and that about sums it up. There's a floating path so you can walk into the swamp and the canopy of cypress trees. The green of the duckweed and the leaves on the trees are indeed a brilliant emerald like I've never seen.

Floating Walkway

Cypress Canopy

DUCKWEED!

Wild Rose

Unfortunately that was all the time we had for the trip, but we plan to visit again, and check out more of the 20 Day Trips in and around the Shawnee National Forest. 

More photos from the Cache River State Natural Area

Ireland: Day 1 in Dublin "Dubh Linn"

After a short flight from London to Dublin we finally arrived on the Emerald Isle! The airport was small which was kinda nice after navigating our way through the city that is Heathrow airport. We rented a car, looking forward to getting a sporty European car with a strange name, like an Invicta Black Prince Wentworth but instead we got a Ford Focus. Oh well, nice to be supporting the American car industry while we're traveling abroad. 

Took us a while to find our hotel (The Drury Court Dublin Hotel), in the rain, down one way streets near Stephens Green. Took us even longer to find the hotel again once we parked. The hotel was older, but clean and the room was pretty big.

Ireland Traveler's Tip #1: When traveling in Ireland, try to find a hotel that includes onsite parking. Spend your time seeing the sights instead of lugging your stuff from your car to your hotel.

Eden Restaurant - Dublin (sans Spocoli)

We got lost a few times, next time I'll remember to pay attention to landmarks, not street signs, which are hard to find. After checking in we ventured out in the rain to try to find a "contemporary Irish food" restaurant in Meeting House Square in Temple Bar called Eden. The restaurant was recommended by Rick Steves and I swear, when we sat down for dinner and looked around, we were surrounded by American NPR listeners. I wouldn't hold that against them. Little did we know that dinner would be the best meal we had in Ireland, the slow cooked braised beef and beet goat cheese risotto was excellent. The service was even better. Luckily we went early because we didn't have a reservation.

Apparently celebrities go to this restaurant when they're in town, they told us that Sean Penn spent every night there when filming "This Must be the Place". Again, I wouldn't hold it against them.


Ireland Traveler's Tip #2: I can't recommend Rick Steves Ireland Guidebook enough. It gives you the off-the-beaten path places to visit, and also what to look out for in the touristy places.

Rave Run - Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire UK

The canal a day later,
after the storm had passed

On day 3 of our trip we headed up to county Staffordshire for a motorcycle jumble (in American that means swap meet). We stayed in Stoke-on-Trent at a friendly Travelodge that included a carvery (in American that means tasty all meat buffet).

Since my marathon was less than a month away I very reluctantly decided to go for a run. Reluctantly because it was storming outside, and not showing any signs of letting up. And not some wimpy California storm, like a real "oh yes now I understand why this place is so green and they drink a lot of hot tea" English storm. I asked the desk clerk if she could recommend a place to run and she pointed me to a path along a canal less than a block away.

Those Brits sure do have nice manners

What an amazing running route. The Worcestershire Canal (commonly known as the Staffs & Worcs Canal) is 46 miles long, and includes views of wooded paths, quaint English backyard gardens, horses and these really cool live aboard narrowboats. 

The freezing rain pelted me from every direction, I had a terrible cold and had to stop more than once to cough up what felt like one if not both of my lungs, and not long into the run I could no longer feel my fingers. But it was one of the best runs I've ever had. The few brave souls that I encountered and the dogs they were walking looked at me like I was crazy. And of course I was, but the pain and agony was worth every crazy mile. 

Narrowboat tied up to someone's backyard.

 See the rest of my Stoke-on-Trent pictures. 

San Diego to London



When we were planning our trip to Ireland we decided to take the British Airways direct flight from San Diego to London before flying on to Dublin, mostly to avoid LAX but also because who can resist a trip to the home of the Underground, Oliver Twist, Bananarama, the BBC and of course Detective Chief Inspector John Luther.

Heathrow was a buzz about the long lines (oops, I mean queue) to get across the border. Took the tube straight to Gloucester St, in Kensington.

Since we only had a day we decided to do the touristy Big Bus Tour of London. Despite the downpour it was a great way to see the city. We got off the bus at the London Eye and walked all around the River Thames to the Tower of London.

Found a great pub in St. Katharine's Dock Dickens Inn and took a few pictures along the way. Interested in seeing my London Big Bus photos? Well, here you go then.

I like it juuuust fine.

Memories of Christchurch

In 2005 we visited New Zealand, one of the many highlights of our trip was the few days we spent in Christchurch. We stayed at the Warner Hotel with a view from our window of Cathedral Square and the beautiful spire of the Christchurch Cathedral.  The cathedral and it's spire were built well over a hundred years ago, and just a few days ago were destroyed by a 6.3 earthquake.  It's still unknown but it's thought that there may be 20 people trapped in the rubble. My heart goes out to the people of this amazing city as they search for survivors. 

Christchurch Cathedral Spire - Feb 2005 


Christchurch Cathedral and Cathedral Square at Night


You can read more about the church, learn how you can help, and see pictures of the damage here:
http://www.christchurchcathedral.co.nz/

More of my photos of Christchurch

They Paved Paradise but is it Worth Wasting Film On?

El Camino College Parking Lot
iPhone Photo

Remember what it was like to wait until the specialist of moments to take out your camera and snap a picture?  If I look back at my prints they were almost all taken on special occasions or special locations.  I didn't take pictures of mundane parking lots back then, just birthday parties, weddings, graduations and summer vacations.

I've been transported back to that time with my Great Uncle Dudley's Vest Pocket Kodak Model B. After finding it in my grandma's closet I took it home and it sat on my shelf for a few years until I finally decided to see if I could buy film for it.  Through the wonders of the interwebs I easily purchased the 127 black and white film it takes and downloaded the user manual so I would have some idea of how to actually use it. 

Ironically the film and the cost it will take to develop will set me back about 3x the original $7.50 it cost to buy the camera when it was produced in the late 20s/early 30s.  But I think that's a pretty good deal to make me break from my comfort zone. 

Normally I take a ton of digital pictures, then carefully edit them selecting the very best to display to others.  When people compliment my photos I tell them my secret is in finding the few that I was lucky enough to get right.  As my grandpa says "even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while".  I didn't know that pigs ate acorns, but that's a story for another time. 

My film arrived and I successfully loaded it.  Not as easy as popping in a digital memory card, but not too hard in the darkroom G fashioned for me.  This weekend I took my camera to a motorcycle swap meet, thinking about all of the great photos I would take of the vintage bikes and how cool they would look on film. 

I took my camera out, walked around for a couple of hours, and did not take a single photo.  Suddenly nothing seemed film worthy.  Not the vintage bikes, not the rows and rows of spare parts, not the parking lot.  I took the photo above with my lowly iPhone camera. 

It seems strange to be editing my photos before I even take them, but it's a good exercise for me.  It forces me to stop and think about lighting, contrast, composition.  All those things that I learned in my high school photography classes but have chosen not to think about with the luxury of digital. 

Today I took my first photo, it was of downtown San Diego from Harbor Island.  A photo I've taken a dozen times so I know it's a good subject.  The viewfinder is a bit hard to see through, and it was hard to keep the camera steady.  So it's very likely that I will again edit the 10 or so photos that I'll get out of my roll of film.  But I'm loving the anticipation of waiting until I find the right subjects, and then again waiting for my film to be developed.  In the meantime, I have plenty of memory in my Canon for all of the parking lots that inspire me but aren't film worthy.



Three Sisters and the Blue Mountains

A few days after arriving in Sydney we were ready to venture outside of the city and brave driving on the wrong side of the road.  We headed to the Blue Mountains - which are about 70 miles west of Sydney. 

We didn't know what to expect as we headed up the mountain in our tiny blue two door speck.  It wasn't long before we were surrounded by forests of eucalyptus trees. 

The views were spectacular, like the grand canyon with trees, the most famous view being the Three Sisters.  There is a story behind the name that has to do with an indigenous Australians myth, but alas it turns out that the myth is completely bogus made up for us tourists. So basically the sisters are three very cool rock formations formed by erosion of sandstone.

From the Three Sister's Lookout we could see in the distance a tiny railroad and two sky ways - so we headed over to the aptly named "Scenic World" to check it out and take some Scenic World photos. 

Scenic World was once a coal mine and is now a world full of scenic activities, I can't do them justice if I try to describe them here, so if you're interested you'll just have to check out the rest of Katymcc's scenic world photos from the Blue Mountains with special bonus video!