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click to enlarge I know I haven’t exactly raved about my trip to Tahiti in the late 80s, but my grandparents loved the many vacations they took there. When I was young, I traipsed around the house wearing multiple strands of necklaces my grandparents bought in Tahiti, the tiny brown and white shells strung tightly on [...] click to enlarge When my grandma brought over a box of matchbooks from her travels last month, I found one from a Hong Kong restaurant called the Golden Crown. I’d never heard of it. With a Nathan Road address in Tsim Sha Tsui, it must have closed by the time I got to Hong Kong in the [...] click to enlarge I found this ad for Japanese tourism in a 1981 magazine targeted to American airline employees. The guy in the photo really seems to be trying: dressing in yukata, staying at a Japanese inn, and reading Shogun (on my first couple of trips to Asia, I read James Clavell novels on the flight, [...] click to enlarge I love this ad from 1959, advertising Hong Kong as a shopper’s paradise. Apart from the obligatory faux Chinese brushstroke font, I’m struck by this brochure because it reminds me of Hong Kong’s amazing history all while life on the mainland fell apart at this time. Just ten years after the birth of the [...] Rainbow's End by Lauren St John Ah, another memoir of growing up in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. I just can’t get enough. This week I read my 5th in this genre, Lauren St John’s Rainbow’s End (Scribner, 2007). St John grows up on a farm in rural Rhodesia, before the war in the late 1970s that would end white rule [...] click to enlarge I love this 1980 Samsonite ad. The suitcase is not only dated, but so are many of the shopping treasures inside. It’s so easy to forget that Made in Hong Kong used to be as prevalent as today’s Made in China, especially for electronics. I’m sure my 12 year-old son wouldn’t even know [...] click to enlarge Yesterday I posted some stamps I’d sent from Cambodia in 1991. When I linked the posting to Facebook, a friend asked to see photos. Here’s one of me standing at Angkor Wat. It was like a ghost town. Besides my small tour, made up of British, Mexicans, Germans, some Thais, and a few Dutch [...] click to enlarge On June 1, 1991, I wrote a postcard from Phnom Penh to my grandma, aunt, and uncle. I wanted to send them a Cambodian postcard, but couldn’t find any in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. Luckily I had an extra from a pack I’d bought in Vietnam (the postcard showed a temple in [...] click to enlarge I sent this postcard to my grandma in February, 1991 from Hong Kong. I’m so sorry this card is late. I spent last week in Nanjing, China for the Chinese New Year. I wanted to write to you from there, but I did not come across any postcards. So a postcard of Hong [...] click to enlarge I sent this postcard to my grandma in June, 1991. I am in a small town in the northeast of Thailand. It is a very quiet, relaxing place! The guest house where I am staying is right on the Mekong River, overlooking the country of Laos (on the other side of the river). [...] |
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Copyright © 2010 Susan Blumberg-Kason - All Rights Reserved |
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