Glad you finally got to read it.

Another book by Booth you might like, but written quite differently, is The Dragon Syndicates.

Borsch was on the menus of most "Western" style resturants in HK during the 60's and 70's. They went by the names of "ABC," "Golden Chariot," and, one of them was "Cherikoff"(?) -- on Prince Edward Road. As students, we used to get set lunch menu from such restaurants for about $2.80 HK (circa early 70's) and you either got as a first course a "Borsch" -- which meant some tomato-y broth with cabbage and onion floating in it. A big surprise to me was when I surveyed recipes for Borsch in the 80's in the US and found that most or all of them had beets in them. As well they should. And I have had beets in Hong kong, albeit canned ones. I suppose Borsch adapted or evolved or became "localized" in Hong Kong during those early years.

As someone who was born and bred in HK, I found Martin Booth's book interesting but there were certain parts that really didn't ring true. I was 3 years younger than him, having been born in 1947, and I know what it was like growing up in HK. My parents weren't British civil servants but there were certain freedoms which no "gwailo" (or his wife) would have allowed his child to have.

I think it was a great read but took it with tongue in cheek. You could see the novelist in Martin Booth coming out in the book and I guess that's what made it a fun read.

Hello,
I'm a bit late to comment on Gweilo, but thought about throwing in my penny's worth as I have been living in Hong Kong at the same time as Martin Booth did. I have published photo's and clips of my being there. I concur with the above contributors that I cannot imagine a prodigal child of hardly nine years old to come to the reflections put in his mind by the author. I cannot imagine at the time I was in Hong Kong (1949-55) to see a young blond boy wondering through the streets. I often walked to Cat Street but would have been extremely surprised to see a boy like Martin walking around there and striking up conversation with all and everyone.
Yet, I find the the book wonderful. It has revived my memories and the details he gives are extraordinary. I guess that his mother must have left a wealth of information. I also visited Sunshine island and even planned to do a movie on Gus Borgeest there. Made one of the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter, though.

I concur with most that has been posted. I was in Hong Kong and almost every page brought back memories. I too was perplexed; each evening as I put the book down at the end of a chapter, thinking about how could he possibly recall the detail. He obviously did have an incredibly retentive memory. All that matters though is that I spent 5 days reading and reliving so much that I almost want to go back and retrace those steps and do the things he did and that I missed! I would never have dared, for example, going anywhere the near the Walled City. I will however agree on one thing. My parents let me "roam" in a similar way that Martin Booth describes or perhaps it was a case of "not letting on" as most of the time my father to was on the pink gin and my mother was out and about at bridge parties et al. We children (I have two brothers) spent a great deal of time speaking Cantonese and in the company of our amahs.....well if I go on I will be writing the sequel........lol.

i am local chinese born in hong kong late 60's, just finished the chapter "sei hoi jau dim" i and my friends decided to follow martin's foot step to visit all mentioned places.
i can't find any book similar to this, it taught me a lot of hong kong history especially from gweilo's point of view.
sad thing is i can't see or visit martin and say thank you ..... :(

What a great book. I picked this up at Gatwick recently for holiday reading along with Fragrant Harbour and both have been great reads.

I first visited Hong Kong as a very young naval rating in 1966 and instantly fell in love with the place. I have also been very lucky to have visited Hong Kong more than thirty times over the following years both with the Navy - in fact I was stationed for two years at the Stonecutters Wireless Station mentioned by Martin in his book - and subsequently on business and holiday trips.

Hong Kong has never lost is fascination for me, from my first 'forays' into that world of 'Suzie Wong' that still existed in 1966, to the last time I was there in 2004 with it's majestic sky scrapers and laser light shows.

It's true that many things have change, but somehow, much has not and it still (at least on my last visit) combines that mystery of the East with the hustle bustle of a serious metropolis.

Although Martins book recalls events some 12 years before I first visited, his descriptions brought back many memories for me of places that still existed in much the way he described when I first arrived. The old shops of Eastern District, Wanchai & The China Fleet Club, Mong Kok, the Trams, many others places and particularly the descriptions of the New Territories (NT).

Later on when I was stationed there, I was involved in Orienteering and as most of it was carried out all over the NT, it showed that Hong Kong had a much more rural and somewhat surreal side to it's very noisy hub. I certainly came across similar sites that Martin described as we ran(desperately trying to catch the Gurkha's, as they always seemed to win) through various NT locations startling astonished inhabitants of various outlaying NT villages as we tried to complete the run!

Some have questioned Martins young recollections. I think that if you find yourself in an unique situation so different from what you have experienced previously, then I you are bound to absorb much more than you realise at the time and only with the aid of very good memory do you begin to remember more than you thought you ever could

This was a brilliant read, I was disappointed when I finished the last page and wish that he had written a follow up about his return visit. It was the first book of his that I have read and I will certainly buy some more of his writings.

Highly recommended.

You can visit a small website where some of us that served at the Stonecutters Wireless station share some thoughts and pictures of our time there.

www.stonecuttersisland.com.

I've just read the Readers Digest publication of "Gweilo". I couldn't put the book down. I felt sorry that his father was a stick in the mud type of person. He reminded me of my husband who never likes to stray off the beaten path. This book is a good read for all age groups

I am the third generation of Chinese born in Hong Kong. Like Martin Booth I was a child in the 50s and remember the events and things that he described very well. I thoroughly enjoyed his book. It presented a surprisingly vivid and accurate picture of the time. The colonial British really treated locals badly, and continued to do so until the 70s. On the other hand “expatriate” Brits were paid under hugely inflated terms. Hence the Booth lived on the Peak, had servants and car. I would guess Mr Booth Snr held an equivalent rank of a Petty Officer at best. People like him suddenly had an inflated ego and a superiority complex. I saw many like him even in the 60s and 70s.

While most of the book could be Martin Booth’s own experience some parts no doubt came from his research of the events. There is no way he could have ventured into scenes of the “Squatters’ Fire” for instance.

I understand there are many Brits, like Booth, who grew up in Hong Kong, spoke the language and chose to stay after the Colony was returned to China. I just hope the Chinese treat them correctly as one of them and not as a second class citizen, like the British Colony treated me.

Thanks for your review of what was truly a good read! It is indeed sad we'll never get to read a sequel. I would have loved to have Mr. Booth describe the transition of Hong Kong from what it was then to what it is today.

I have found the book has transported me back to my childhood. I was born & lived in HK from 1958. I have lovely memories of those short years , the most vivid being the last day saying goodbye to all our friends & my amaha. I can still remember the red tassled lanterns & fireworks when a ship was launched from tai koo dockyard where my Father was a marine engineer. So many special memories.

I just finished the book 2 days ago and I like it. I know all the places (except the Kowloon Walled City which I studied at a secondary school adjacent to but never dared approach) Martin described and I felt like walking the streets with him. But I cannot help thinking how he could recall things so vividly. It is also unthinkable how he dared enter the Walled City without getting bullied or harmed. As a Chinese, I never dared go near there, lest a boy of European origin. Chinese people tend to have a little inferiority-induced-resentment toward gweilos because they used to hold all the top positions, earn big bucks and scold their Chinese subordinates with a foreign language they are not apt to fight back with. A lone European boy would have been ridiculed at least, on entering the Walled City.
Martin’s boldness swearing with the dirtiest Cantonese to the tram driver was hilarious.
Martin continued to emphasize throughout that the Chinese caressed his blonde hair to attract a fortune. While there is some degree of truth to that, I think from a Chinese perspective, it was rather his small stature, street boldness, openness and down-to-earthness (as opposed to the usual aloof attitude of the typical gweilos) that made the general Chinese like him and stroke him.

I am disappointed that there are no photos showing the Booth family and friends, and old HK street scenes. I also wonder if the Chinese boy Martin carried on his back was Tuppence?

On Ling ling's comments, well, Martin's mother was kind of well-off. Or rather, her husband was submissive in a way that he surrendered his salary and subsidies, probably. So she could have tea at Penninsula and afford the occasional jewellery, pets........and stood her ground.

So there had to be some good points about her husband, anyway.

If she was an average Chinese housewife whose husband either could hardly make ends meet or simply withheld his meager earnings, she would have had no say but worked her own butts off to help out. She would have had been an overworked woman with resentment and grudges. Her kid(s)would have been victims of her disgruntled outlashes in an argumentative and dysfunctional family.

Martin and his mother, in this case, were fortunate enough (at the right time when HK needed UK officers) to have a certain amount of monetary support. Martin's mother was therefore free enough to be able to instill a certain amount of autonomy in him.

What a wonderful read! I lived and worked in Hong Kong in the 1980s and loved every minute of it This book gave me flash backs to when I was there the sights and sounds and continuous activity all day and night. I sympathised with Martin's reluctance to leave this fascinating city and I had an acute case of homesickness for years afterwards
The book was recommended to me by a friend who had also lived in Hong Kong in the 60's and with whom I have spent many hours reminiscing Its one of those books that I shall read again and again

Fab book.
Some excellent reviews. See pics mentioned.
Who's the boy piggyback? Tuppence?
What a gift to us readers.
Paul Grieve. Love Hong Kong (esp. late 80s, early 90s; miss Keith Gibbs ex Edinburgh and friends).