Hotel Miramar

This is a bit of an odd post. I had a flashback pop into my mind the other day, regarding either the lobby or the basement of what I recall as The Miramar, on Nathan Road in Hong Kong. We're talking Nathan Road of the 1979-1985 era quite specifically. Here's a pic of it from just before that era below.

So I asked my journo cousin Phil about it (he of The Kowloon Kid fame), and he thought there was little importance of this place attached to our family, even though he remembered the place. I seem to remember going in there on a fairly frequent basis. To me, it always had a fairly darkened entrance/lobby, with lots of glass. Maybe we ate there? Anyway, I kept digging and came across this website - www.gwulo.com and was super impressed! It's a site about old HK specifically and has an amazing amount of content (although Phil says some of the data about our family is not correct). Definitely worth checking out if you're an old Hong Kong tragic, like Phil and me.

Anyway, I soon found reference to something in the basement of the hotel, but not attached to the hotel itself -The Miramar Arcade. Wow, that one resonated with me. But do you think I could find anything specific? Nada. So I was left wondering. The fact that the old hotel complex was demolished some time ago reminded me of the Hotel Equatorial in KL - I stayed there in the late 90's with a mate while on the way to Vietnam, and during the early days of my Penjom venture, stayed there often. I took a break from it when my now wife and I frequented The Westin instead for a while, as well as living in Lipis. So lo and behold, when I decided to venture back to the Equatorial and found it no longer existed, I was a bit shocked!.

So, not really being satisfied with what I'd found out so far, I went to that other huge deposition of old-Brown-story facts - my mother! She informed me that yes, we did venture to the Miramar basement from time to time, for dinners she thought. That SMS from her triggered another memory - I am pretty sure the memories I have of that place are of us as a family, having Korean BBQ there. I know that my childhood involved that meal, but I never knew where it eventuated. I could be wrong (family, please step in if you know better) but that's what I reckon it was all about.

Anyway, this was one of those flashback posts. It might resonate with some, might be utter nonsense to others. But hey, I call it as I see it. If, in the fullness of time, other family members read these posts, hopefully some additional information can contribute to their completeness. In the meantime, thanks for reading...