Travel Writing/October Monthly Challenge/Globetrotters
Hong Kong: August 1992 and 2022
My first travel bug thirty years after
What are your beliefs about dead people? What if someone close to you has just died? Did he/she let you know about his/her death in any form or in any way possible?
I don’t really believe in that until the morning of August 24, which was 2 months ago.
On the morning of August 24
I remembered something. It was like a sharp wind that crossed my memory. August 1992, was the first time I was bitten by a travel bug. A travel bug named Hong Kong.
That was 30 years ago. The twenty-three days of August had passed and I was clueless. An important part in the history of my traveling has never entered my mind until that morning.
I felt excitement and happiness in my bones as I recalled, reminisced and flashback the memories and people who were with me.
The HK trip was supposed to be for my mom, sister, and me only. But my mom was the opposite of me. I was a secretive one, she’s a chatty one. In the end, it was like a whole village was on this trip.
Cousin A and Mom’s aunt and family had joined. And…Mom’s friend and daughters, the friend’s sister-in-law and children and the friend’s friend and family. A few days before the flight, four of my sister’s friends decided to join too.
The hotel’s coach needed a second trip to accommodate us.
I know I have a good start for a travel story. The photos are up there somewhere in my photo albums. All I need is to flip the pages of all the albums and will surely find them.
I need the exact date of our trip.
Then, I remembered the photos have a time stamp.
While I flipped the pages of the photo album, most of the photos were of cousin A.
Cousin A was one of the main characters in my travel story. He was a jolly person. He had several funny memories as a first-time traveler. Our constant laugh trip whenever we meet.
- He consumed the drinks in his room’s refrigerator. How he ran from one supermarket to another to find replacements for them before the housekeeping lady arrives.
- His towel was missing. Because it’s the same as the one in the hotel, the housekeeping lady got it, mistaken it for the towel of the hotel.
- He shared the room with my mom. Their garbage was always full of bottles of mineral water and snacks. They both loved to eat.
- We both enjoyed McDonald’s because we couldn’t believe that the double cheeseburger was way cheaper than what we have in the Philippines.
- We loved the HK$10 dumplings in the street.
- He forced me to buy something because we were heading home and I hadn’t bought anything.
- A few weeks before our flight, he kept assuring my mom if our travel was for real. The package tour was only $275 per person with Cathay Pacific and a 4-star hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, for 4D/3N stay. He thought it was a scam😀
As I looked at our photos and reminisced happily, my phone rang.
A call from another cousin…” Cousin A passed away several hours ago. We’re going to the hospital’s morgue later on.”
It was like a bucket of ice had been poured into me. In a matter of seconds, all the happy moments were frozen and vanished.
Did he do this on purpose? Spread some happiness before the dropping of the bomb?
As I think about it, maybe he just wanted to be remembered that way. Maybe it was his way of lessening the pain. He died of Myocardial Infarction. But my God, he was only 52 years old.
Then 2 days later, I saw a moth on the floor. I just let it there. It was the date of our first day in HK, August 26.
The next morning, the moth was still there but not moving. I picked it up, laid it in my hand and it moved.
After a week
A was cremated after a week. We were only allowed to view him for a few minutes before the cremation. I took a glimpse of the cremation area. Though we were allowed to watch, I can’t.
Some members of the family believe in the so-called green bone. A small one was found among his ashes and bones which were pulverized later on.
It is believed that when a green bone was found after the cremation, that person had done good deeds in his life.
The Chinese believe that it is a symbol of good luck.
In his wake, his sister asked who among us had his old photos. Most of the photos being rolled on the white screen were recent ones.
I said I have…our photos in Hong Kong.
Another sad story.
From Wikipedia:
On March 3, 2020, the Jumbo Floating Restaurant was closed due to covid.
Hong Kong of August 1992 will always be a special part of my life. I know with cousin A too. His first connection with HK was followed by a deeper one. A few years later, he got an offer to study Music there.
Rest In Peace A.
