In 2007, I accompanied my father to Hong Kong where he had a business to attend to. The business wouldn’t take more than a day, but we decided to stay a couple more to visit his brother. My father was from Hong Kong before moving to the Philippines to marry and raise a family.
I've not much of a photographer this time ;) 2007, Jan 8, Hong Kong, SAR
One morning after our “dimsum,” we started walking. Aimlessly somehow we came to his old neighborhood. He pointed at #29 Java Street. It used to be his address, he told me. Now there stood the Java Mansion. A Bank of China office is where his Chinese drugstore used to be. He knows every corner by heart even if most of the buildings are new. Though some remained as when he left, like an old egg-roll factory. I was transported back in time as he lead the way, oblivious to the new landmarks, he recalled what once stood in their places. I had the image of the city in black and white.
I may have known my father all my life, but I’ve never met him as a young man. The promenade we took that morning, he was 20 again. It was an interesting experience for me and I was happy to (literally) walk down nostalgia lane with him. He had glints in his eyes when he recounted this to my uncle later that day. And they began to reminisce and tell the same stories over and over again.
Aww… so touching Lil :)
I really enjoyed reading your submission to the Grandtourismo Travel contest. Good stuff!
Just letting you know that judging is underway for the August Grantourismo Comp. We should be announcing the winners later today and posting the September contest details as well on the site http://grantourismotravels.com/ Thanks again for your entry and best of luck!
thank you for your meaningful comments! :)
What a beautiful tale! I’ve often wished I had the opportunity to do that with my parents – it’s so nice that you could. Thanks for this entry! Best of luck!
I felt something similar when I visited Mexico with my mom and we found the house where my grandfather was born. He was not there with us, but I felt like I had been transported to a different time.
A really nice post Lilliane. What could have been a truly ordinary experience seemed to turn out to be a special moment in your relationship with your dad. Nicely done, great angle.
Beautiful experience with your Dad!
Hi Lilliane, thanks for your entry. This is so sweet and I agree it is lovely to find out more about our parents. Although we know them, we will never know everything about them and it is wonderful when we get these glimpses into their life ‘before us’. When we find out more about them as a person, who they are, over and above ‘Dad’. I asked my parents a few years ago to each write their autobiography for me, in diary form (I bought them a nice one each!). My Mum did hers straight away, but my Dad is still yet to do his. This reminds me that I must chase him up on this! Or maybe I will take a walk with him around his old ‘hood too!