Hong Kong Part I - The Motherland

When I look at the Hong Kong Harbour today, it portrays a city of bustling life, excitement, booming business, and prosperity. To my family it has a much deeper meaning.

Both my parents' families were a part of the hundreds of thousands of refugees that fled China during the rise of the Communist Party in the early 50's. They made their way to Hong Kong, each through very different ways. My father's father, "yeh yeh", worked for a shipping company and so they stayed on a boat in the Hong Kong harbour for months after fleeing Guangzhou. Like most refugees, they had lived on the hope that they would be able to return home soon and remained in the Harbour for that reason.

Before they fled China, they had a lovely home with a nice garden.
My dad is the nugget on the right!

My mother's family was in a less fortunate situation. My grandmother was a single mom with 4 children. They crossed into Hong Kong separately in the hopes that they'd be reunited on the other side. My mom told me that my grandma had given her to a friend to take through to Hong Kong (I believe there was some rule against how many children you could take - I'm not sure) and as they parted my mom started screaming for my grandma, reaching out yelling, "Mama! Mama!" This terrified my grandma - what if this spoiled their attempts and they'd be turned away?

I'd once asked my mom if it was like the scene from Joy Luck Club; you know, the one where Suyuan Woo is fleeing the village in a trail of people with only handfuls of their belongings and she's forced to leave her twin babies by the side of the road? My mom was too small to remember of course, but she said that it was probably a lot like that, perhaps a bit less hectic...but who really knows?

Hong Kong has changed a lot in the last 60 years...

It didn't matter that my dad's family had wealth and the my mom's family didn't. They both left everything behind. When you're a refugee with nothing, the playing field is leveled. The window of opportunity to leave China was narrow but fortunately, everyone made it through and began their lives in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is the first home my parents knew and it's such a rich part of my heritage that I was so deeply excited to be able to bring Brian to visit for the first time. I'd been to Hong Kong twice before, the first time, I was 7 and hanging out in a new place was just the coolest thing. The second time I was 20 and all I wanted to do was shop. Now at 32, I was mostly focused on learning more about my parents life here before and sharing it with my new "western" husband. I don't know what it is about being a real grown up that opens you to desire learning about your history, family, where you came from - perhaps because Brian and I are building that history through our traveling and global adventures that I'm more aware of it. Part of it is also because my parents are getting older and I want to be sure I can squeeze as much as I can out of them.

As I'd mentioned before in our Bali trip post, my parents came from practically nothing. My mom's family in particular had to make some major sacrifices in order to live and I learned about more of this during our visits to some locations very meaningful to my mom. One of our first stops was the school my grandmother taught at and my mom and her siblings attended.

Mom's first school

The school was across the street from a convent-like place. My mom lived with the nuns because my mom couldn't take care of 4 kids. Her two eldest sisters were just old enough to work and my youngest uncle still needed to be cared for by my grandma. It wasn't the worst situation because at the convent, my mom was cared for but she could still see my mom and her siblings at the school.

My grandma was a devout Catholic. It's no wonder why.

We also visited the nursery school next to the primary school - but it used to be an orphanage. If you know my mom, you know she has baby fever. She's been like this since she was a child. When mom got a bit older she would spend her afternoons or recess / lunch playing with the babies in the orphanage. One day as she was getting on the bus after school, a little one crossing the street caught her eye. It was one of the toddlers from the orphanage! So she jumped out, picked up the kid and brought her back to the orphanage where they were frantically searching for the little girl. As luck would have it, the kid was supposed to be adopted that next day. So my mom saved the day like she always does.

All of my aunts an uncles started working when they were children. Yes, children. Anything that could bring home some extra money. The work usually consisted of small sewing projects they'd pick up from factories on the way home from work, or actual work in a factory. The photo below is a bakery where my 2nd eldest aunt worked as a young teenager during the summers.

During our walks to and from these places in HK I learned so much more about my family's history. Mom shared that my eldest aunt would go to these 2nd hand markets where they sold leftover crackers and cheeses etc. from planes and mom and her siblings would just LIVE for those moments when they got to eat these neat foreign treats. Thinking about this now makes my heart ache a bit - it makes me have so much appreciation for my aunts and uncles. If you've ever met my eldest aunt, Jean, you'll see within 2 seconds that her generosity and innate desire to take care of everyone is still as strong today as it was 50 years ago and I understand now why my mom and especially my eldest aunt and her daughters are so close and still take care of each other.

My parents both lived in crowded government housing until they were young adults. The photo below is the actual place they both lived in their 20's. It's now being torn down because it's in an area that is considered prime real estate and some super posh pricey condos will replace them.

The stairway behind us is where my dad used to wait for my mom so they could go to work together.

Home.

A view into the city from their old home.

We also had the opportunity to pay a visit to my paternal side's first home. Though, technically it is just a flat in building but that was a pretty big deal. 

In front of the building of my grandpa's first home in HK.

In the courtyard.

Doesn't matter how high you are, clothes get dried hanging out the window!

After visiting all of these "heritage" places, we went big time and visited one of the cheapest Michelin rated restaurants in the world! It's a famous Dim Sum place called Tim Ho Wan and has LINES of people waiting outside. The Char Siu Baos were the best I'd had in my life and I started eating them as soon as I could gobble down solid foods. I've had thousands. These are the best. The End.

World Famous!

Auntie washing utensils, cups, bowls and plates before eating. They even provide you with a rinse bowl.

My favorite - chicken and rice wrapped in a banana leaf.

Fatty had 3!

It's so good! Once it touches your lips!

Obligatory tourist photo outside of the restaurant.

This next one is great. Across from the restaurant is a small park. My dad is posing in front with his fists of fury because THIS is where my dad told us he got into his first fight! Look at him! Does he look like he could even fight his own shadow?? Apparently, his buddies all convinced him to come to this square after school one day and only when he arrived did he realize it was going to be a neighborhood scrap. So what did he do? He got the heck out. Slowly backed off from the crowd and walked away. Brains over brawn. That's my pops!

So, this is probably one of our more serious posts but I felt the subject matter warranted a more respectful tone. Lucky for you, the next post is about the touristy fobulousness of Asian countries so we can welcome the sarcasm and tomfoolery back in a few days!