VIBErations Episode 47 - David Bellis

VIBErations podcast Ep 47 at VIBE Book & Music Shop in Mui Wo on Lantau Island in Hong Kong on 10th April, 2024 Interview with David Bellis https://gwulo.com/

https://www.eventbrite.hk/d/hong-kong...

Writing about history was never the plan – David left school with a firm dislike of both English and History, he studied Computer Science then worked as a Software Engineer. But in 1992 a move to Hong Kong meant having to find a new job in a hurry and forced a switch from programming to sales. That lead to writing newsletters to keep customers updated, and as he found it was surprisingly satisfying, he also started writing a blog as a hobby. A new baby caused the next upheaval.

David quit the sales job to spend less time traveling, expanded the blog into a website, and narrowed its focus to Hong Kong’s history. He still wrote newsletters though and found that sharing an old photo from his collection and inviting readers to explore its hidden details helped make the history easier to digest. The newsletters’ photos and stories meant he had enough material to start giving talks, and as the talks were well received, he used them as the foundation for a book.

David has since published five books in the ‘Old Hong Kong Photos and The Tales They Tell’ series. Meanwhile the website, Gwulo.com, continues to grow. It now hosts over 50,000 pages about old Hong Kong, including over 35,000 photos.

David’s work on the site was recognised by a Heritage. Preservation Award from the SCMP, one of their ‘The Spirit of Hong Kong Awards’.

David gave an excellent talk at VIBE recently, on some of the historic Hong Kong photos appearing in volume 5.

This talk can be viewed on our YouTube channel at ‘Live at VIBE HK’.

10 Questions

1. Favourite book or authors? Mapping Hong Kong' by Hal Empson

2. Favourite musical artists? U2 and Smashing Pumpkins

3. Favourite films? Groundhog Day, Jerry McGuire

4. Preferred drink? London Pride

5. Life motto? 'It's a funny old life'

6. Favourite HK walk? Yung Shue Wan on Lamma to Sok Kwu Wan

7. Favourite HK restaurant? The Globe, Branto's Vegetarian Indian restaurant

8. Best advice you were given? You can't please all the people all the time 9. Finish this sentence… I live in Hong Kong because… I was on route to Australia and HK was a stop over and wanted to live here

10. Favourite area of Hong Kong? Tai Long Wan, Beach north of Sai Kung