Written on Sunday 8th of Feb, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Our last day in Hong Kong was spent with my mum’s family at their old house in Cheung Ngao Shan (literally Looking at Cows Hills), a very small and remote village located near the major town of Yuen Long. My grandad built this house after the war was over and he retired from the army and moved to Hong Kong. It was simple and rustic shelter – a relic of the old days along with the rest of the village. There were three small bedrooms, kitchen and dining area, concrete floor with no carpet or tiling and an outdoor water closet.
There was also another room where my Uncle 5 had constructed an elaborate aquarium. A tank of water was perched higher than smaller tanks which were all connected by constant flowing water, like a pond waterfall. Each of the tanks housed different types of goldfish, and the waterfall ran down into a man-made pond which lived koi.
Most of the family from Uncle 3’s wedding and my parent’s anniversary were there. When we first arrived to the house we payed our respects to grandma and grandad by burning incense. Then we had a BBQ while it poured down with rain.
After the food was all gone Uncle 5 dug up an old firewood box from storage. It contained the keepsakes of my grandparents such as; their wedding certificates, poems and black and white family photos. There was a photo of a naked baby who everyone insisted was Uncle 6, but he protested loudly. The photos made my mum and her brothers reminisce about their childhood. Apparently all of them were afraid of my mum when they were little since she would scream her head off telling them to be quiet. This was all too familiar.
Everyone had a funny story to tell, but we couldn’t listen to them all as we had a plane to catch. We were going home, back to Australia. So we said our goodbyes and I thought about when I might see them again.
Probably not for a few years.
We left Cheung Ngao Shan and went back to Sheung Shui to pack our luggage and then took a bus to the airport. This was also a goodbye to Hong Kong (literally Fragrant Harbour).
Our last day in Hong Kong was spent with my mum’s family at their old house in Cheung Ngao Shan (literally Looking at Cows Hills), a very small and remote village located near the major town of Yuen Long. My grandad built this house after the war was over and he retired from the army and moved to Hong Kong. It was simple and rustic shelter – a relic of the old days along with the rest of the village. There were three small bedrooms, kitchen and dining area, concrete floor with no carpet or tiling and an outdoor water closet.
There was also another room where my Uncle 5 had constructed an elaborate aquarium. A tank of water was perched higher than smaller tanks which were all connected by constant flowing water, like a pond waterfall. Each of the tanks housed different types of goldfish, and the waterfall ran down into a man-made pond which lived koi.
Most of the family from Uncle 3’s wedding and my parent’s anniversary were there. When we first arrived to the house we payed our respects to grandma and grandad by burning incense. Then we had a BBQ while it poured down with rain.
After the food was all gone Uncle 5 dug up an old firewood box from storage. It contained the keepsakes of my grandparents such as; their wedding certificates, poems and black and white family photos. There was a photo of a naked baby who everyone insisted was Uncle 6, but he protested loudly. The photos made my mum and her brothers reminisce about their childhood. Apparently all of them were afraid of my mum when they were little since she would scream her head off telling them to be quiet. This was all too familiar.
Everyone had a funny story to tell, but we couldn’t listen to them all as we had a plane to catch. We were going home, back to Australia. So we said our goodbyes and I thought about when I might see them again.
Probably not for a few years.
We left Cheung Ngao Shan and went back to Sheung Shui to pack our luggage and then took a bus to the airport. This was also a goodbye to Hong Kong (literally Fragrant Harbour).
