Nostalgia not

The second morning in HK. Since the big HK breakfast yesterday morning, and the bad news I got a few hours after that, my stomach refuses to take in any much food.

This morning I woke up at 5:30 again. Four hours of sleep two nights in a row. Not good for the mood nor the knotted stomach.

I went out with parents and brothers to visit my great grandma's grave in the morning. Only after an hour's commute we learned that the area where the grave was located was fenced off because of recent rockfalls. We can only do the ritual 10 feet away, not even being able to see the gravestone itself. As usual I stood behind my busy parents and brothers and responded when summoned.

I still can't take the humidity, although the peak time has already passed. We then went to a restaurant in Tsuen Wan for dim sum. I ordered a rice roll with roasted pork and a congee with pork and million-year eggs. The waitress came back with a congee with dried fish and peanuts, saying that they didn't have congee with pork and million-year eggs. Unfortunately, I don't like both pork and peanuts. But father was so nice to take it, and I managed myself with a few sips of the congee. The rice rolls were crap. The skin was too thick too coarse, the roasted pork is hardly any roasted and thinner than the skin. I was also feeling cold, where mom said she was not. This was an indication that I was sick.

So I called off the dinner with Sue and came home to take a nap. I took a walk to the West Rail station through the local streets I used to take during the twenty something years I lived there. I was expecting some sort of nostalgia, but there was not. The streets had been degraded to an big open market. A nasty one.

I took to the clinic where my grandma would bring me to when I got sick. There was a small garden lined with benches patients could sit on while waiting in the line. It still look the same. But that reminded of grandma.

Next I walked pass our old home. It was torn down some 12 years ago and replaced with a brand new property with a big and modern shopping mall. It has a nice and simple garden in the middle. I didn't bother to check out the shops. As I walked I tried to figure where our old home should be located.

Then it was the city hall where grandma used to bring me to ride my bike. At that time she needed to carry the bike up the footbridge to get there. After that I arrived at the bus terminal I took bus to school during the 6 years of secondary school. I always walked pass this place with my first love. It had never been a busy bus terminal and is still like a ghost town. But at this point, I gathered that I did not miss this place at all. All I miss is the people that I had acquired and loved.

Almost everything in this trip so far goes wrong. I planned to walk this trail with someone important to me, but it didn't work out. But one thing now I know. I am ready to move on. My home is where the girl I love is. But where is she?