VIBErations podcast Ep 48 at VIBE Book & Music Shop in Mui Wo on Lantau Island in Hong Kong on 19th April, 2024 Interview with Peter Barry

One of my passions is Hong Kong History and this weeks interview very much taps into that! More than anyone I’ve met, to date, Musician & Author Peter Barry has 50 years of Hong Kong and Mui Wo experience to offer. Because of this, I’ve chosen to make this a 2-part podcast…

BIO

Born in 1939, Peter grew up on a family farm in the Lancashire Pennine hill country. A mischievous boy and a friend to all, Peter delighted in all things outside of school, not inside. Working on his parents’ dairy farm, he taught himself how to yodel, taking advantage of the acoustic echo in the dairy. Little did Peter Barry know how this would change the course of his life. From a childhood on a hilltop farm – as the landscape of rural Northern England changed forever – to building the legendary Snowy Dam in Australia, from playing gigs in Lancashire village halls to recording albums in Australia and entertaining troops in the Vietnam War, Peter Barry’s long and colourful life has bumped up against history, time after time, in a truly remarkable way.

Peter and his wife Ling first set eyes on Silvermine Bay in 1970 from a vantage point on the walk over from the Trappist Monastery. Immediately, the young couple felt that they’d be calling this place home for good. Back in those days, terrace farming rice paddy fields could still be seen, with farmers and their water buffalo ploughing the fields. 50-years on, four children, many bicycles, trolleys, guitars, songs, a few business ventures and misadventures later, Peter has taken stock of his remarkable life to share with his family, friends and those interested to join him on his entertaining life adventures via the first volume of his memoirs, For Pete’s Sake – from 1939 to 1970.

This ever-resourceful, simple dairy farmer-turned-adventurer makes every page a testament to a life lived fully.

10 Questions

1. Favourite book or authors? James Herriot

2. Favourite musical artists? Slim Whitman and Lonnie Donegan

3. Favourite films? Avatar

4. Preferred drink? Water

5. Life motto? Love and let live, always give your best

6. Favourite HK walk? Walk over the hill from the trapist monastry to Mui Wo

7. Favourite HK restaurant? Rome, Mui Wo and the Yum Cha restaurant at Silvermine Resort

8. Best advice you were given? Always be yourself

9. Finish this sentence… I live in Hong Kong because… it’s my home

10. Favourite area of Hong Kong? Mui Wo