There's an old adage, "Every picture is worth a 1000 words." On my recent trip to Hong Kong, I took somewhere close to 200 pictures, and while not every one of them is worth 1000 words, some of them are pretty darn close. As most of the pictures feature imagery without context nor explanation, I feel the best way to present my trip is resurrect this old blog, sharing a photo journal of sorts. I hope you enjoy as I recollect this journey through my parent's heritage.
First, a little bit of background information. My parents both grew up in Hong Kong, although in separate parts, and did not meet until they were both in the States. I have been to Hong Kong a couple of times, but I was 12 the last time, and as anyone would tell you, Hong Kong has changed completely since then. Needless to say, I was anxious to see how much my being adult would change my experience in Hong Kong. I don't think I could have foreseen how profoundly it would affect my views.
Naturally, this trip begins with a plane ride. 15 hours nonstop from JFK to Hong Kong Airport is a flight that almost screams "get ready to watch 5 movies!" It was made even more enjoyable (if enjoyable were a synonym for HORRIBLE), by my having mild gastroenteritis, commonly known as the stomach flu. Now I will spare you the details of said stomach flu, just know that I and the airplane toilet were heavily acquainted by the end of the flight. Despite such inconveniences, the flight was relatively smooth, as I enjoyed "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," and some random Jet Li movie. Before long, we touched down in Hong Kong, took the train to Hong Kong Island, were picked up by my Auntie Myna's driver (yes, she has a driver), and quickly went to bed as it was 8pm and we were extremely jet-lagged.
By now some of you may be thinking, "Get on with it, you turd, I wanna see pictures!!!" All right fine, I'll hit you with one.
"What's that?" you say? That is the meal we had for lunch the next day. More on why this may have been the most satisfying meal of my life in a bit.
So the next morning, we woke up at 4:30am (Hooray jet-lag!) ate some toast for breakfast (crusts cut off, because that's how Hong Kong people do it), and waited until lunchtime to go eat at...
For those who can't read Chinese nor the script English below it, the name of the restaurant is "8 Happiness." Why? I have no idea, although I'm sure my mom told me and I've simply forgotten. Now the day was Monday at 1pm, so you'd expect to see some lunch crowd, but being a weekday, I thought it would be only moderately full...
Now that's my Auntie Annie and my dad in the foreground, but in the background, you can see that the place is fairly packed. Now as a gwai lo, or foreigner, this seemed weird to me, but my mom assured me that it's perfectly normal, as most people in Hong Kong go out to eat for the vast majority of their meals. Which is pretty good for my Aunt and her family, considering they own the establishment, and many, many others. Now you know why she has a driver. Note that if you click on that wikipedia link and go down to 2000s, you'll see "Michael Wu" who is my Auntie Myna's son and my cousin.
But I digress, and back to this image...
So I said before that this was arguably the most satisfying meal of my life. This would, however, be much more about the circumstances than the actual food. The meal itself was pretty simple: you can see congee in the left foreground, my enormous beef noodle bowl in the right foreground, and assorted other mostly eaten Chinese food in the background. The food is mostly eaten 1.) because I forgot I was on vacation and was supposed to take pictures, and 2.) I prefer to wait until I actually know that I like particular food before I snap a photo of it.
Why was this meal so satisfying? Well, when you've had gastroenteritis for 3 days, during which you've managed to eat perhaps food equivalent of 1 meal over that span, as well as basically ejecting most matter which enters your gastrointestinal system, you relish the day when your appetite returns (and your body "re-regulates," if you know what I mean). This day happened to be the first time I felt like I could actually eat a full meal after the stomach flu, and oh my goodness did it taste amazing. Not only was it fresh, completely authentic, well-made Chinese food, but it also was my first taste of re-learning what it was like to be in Hong Kong before. Perhaps most of all, it will be that first taste, that first remembrance, that I will recall years from now. And maybe, just maybe, it would be the start of a journey that would open my eyes in so many ways.
-JJK
