Traveling becomes original — even in the most visited places — when we travel with and encounter different people. A place flares out its dynamics because of its people.
In this trip, I encountered mainly relatives. Everywhere I went, I heard the local dialect Hok Lo, a dialect I am familiar enough to understand the most part but unfamiliar enough to speak. It is quite comforting to hear such dialect being spoken. After all, it’s the sounds that I first heard as a little baby.
Most of the time I would attempt to answer in Hok Lo, however broken and wrong it sounded. If unsuccessful, I would answer in Mandarin. If not even, in Cantonese.
My mom was given away as a little baby girl and was adopted by another family. Her adoptive mother is still very healthy at the age of 97. It’s hilarious to meet her. I thank her for taking in my mother or else my mom would have no family at all. Grandma is far more agile than my mother when it comes to walking.
Knock knock. We did not call in advance or inform her in advance for our visit.
No one answered the door.
My mom called out loud. Still no reply.
At long last, we heard some shuffling in the main door. Grandma opened the door.
My 97-year-old gran!
She was delighted to see mom, and me and my sister. Last time I saw grandma was over two decades ago.
“Have you had lunch yet?” grandma asked.
“No,” mom and aunt lied, while blinking their eyes to each other.
“Oh, let’s go out and eat,” grandma said as-a-matter-of-factly. As far as I understand, she probably never ever leaves her home in these days. Everyday some neighbors just get veggies for her.
“Do you have any money?” my auntie asked, half teasing grandma.
“Of course I do, even just a few hundred,” my grandma said.
“Oh a few hundred. If we go out and eat, then you will have nothing left,” she seriously asked her.
Grandma got herself ready to go and said, “That’s okay.” After all, her daughter (my mom) came only every couple years, and her grandchildren (us) came only every couple decades. So she did not care much.
Of course it was all just a tease to her.
We did not need to have lunch and definitely wouldn’t ask an old granny to spend her life saving on us.
It’s lovely to see this grandma, I have to say.
We didn’t stay for too long. From my observation, my parents are not the touchy affectionate type who count spending time as most valuable way to express love. Rather, their love is expressed in terms of giving service or stuff.
Mom and sister and aunt all gave granny some money. All together it’s six hundred RMB. It’s not a lot, but boy, you should see the glow in gran’s eyes.
“Six hundred dollars, what am I going to do with it?” grandma smiled but was also a little lost.
Three generations! 
From mom, I learned that gran has been disrespected by her grandson and grand daughter-in-law, and as a result did not really feel happy. So a little gesture of love makes her really very glad.
I am grateful that my mom was raised by them. Her adoptive father died rather young. During severe starvation, my grandpa would leave a bowl of plain tree-bark boiled congee (more likely called water) for my mom to drink, even he did not have anything in his stomach. When his own brother decided to throw away his own child, and complained that my grandpa was raising a girl that’s not his real child, my grandpa said, “How can you throw a person away. It’s a life. If we die of hunger, we die together. I cannot just throw a life away.”
God bless my 97-year-old gran. I hope I will have another chance to meet her in person in not too far future.
Another relative we met was my mom’s biological brother. Despite the fact that my mom was given again, she kept connection with her biological family. After she moved to HK and when she was able to visit her hometown again, she would make an effort to visit her biological family. My mom is a very kind person. She does not hold grudges against them (or anyone per se). She knew during her childhood, famine and starvation made life decisions hard.
When I was about 10, I met this uncle once in a fishing market. He has a little store to sell really terribly small fish. My mom’s biologically family is incredibly poor (although the adoptive one isn’t much better off). My mom always tries to give some money to her two biological brothers who live in poverty.
In this recent visit, logistically it’s quite different to arrange transportation to go to my uncle’s place. We thought perhaps we could just go to the fishing market to see if he’s there.
When we arrived, I remembered the whole setting twenty something years ago. China has developed a great deal, but the fishing market hasn’t changed much. I was holding my mom’s arm walking carefully in the slippery market, while our eyes scrutinizing the faces of all the hawkers, wondering if my uncle would be among one of them.
After 25 years, you know what, I spotted my uncle and recognized him right a way.
My uncle -- my mom's biological brother
I am a person who often look at a person and use my gut feeling to feel if someone is trust-worthy. This uncle left the same feeling this time to me, same as many years ago — a sense of honesty and trustworthiness.
We didn’t talk much, but I was delighted to see him. He is still selling very small fish, but his livelihood has improved a great deal due to the economic development of China. I am glad to hear. He said he would want to visit HK in April. Imagine, my uncle has been working in the same stall for his life — that we don’t have to make any appointment and just walk into the same fishing market we can find him. It tells how dreary and monotonous life can be.
“Okay, just don’t come with too many people,” my mom said.
We gave some money to this uncle and left too. When we walked out of the fishing market, my mom murmured, a tone most softer than her previous tone with my uncle, “Well, it is good for him to see HK a bit, for he’s never had a chance to go anywhere in his whole life. I cannot take him anywhere to see anything, but even a few days may be good.”
“I can, mom!”
I hope he will come and I will have a chance to show him around.
Some of the fish that my uncle is selling
