Land of The Dragon…

So, just back from a 2 week business trip to the FE and my it seems that I was away a lot longer than that! Maybe it was due to the unseasonably warm weather (27+ as opposed to -2 when I landed last night at LBA), or the time difference (going forward +7), or maybe the unfamiliarity of the massive double king size bed at the Shangri-La. I honestly couldn’t tell you why but in the 2 weeks I’ve been away I feel as if I’ve not slept (Q. Is it possible to die from insomnia?).

Anyway, being back in FE gave me a chance to ctach up with family – family I hadn’t seen for almost 6 years – which coincidently was the last time I was there! Biggest change was ‘Fay-Lo’ for non-Canto speakers it means ‘Fat-Man’ the affectionate nickname given to my grandfather who is/was a big man. I cannot honestly remember the last time I saw him as he wasn’t around when I went to visit last but my memories of him are of a larger than life in both stature and personality, loud and I was always slightly in awe of him plus the fact that he has the longest eye brows I have ever seen in real life! I suppose in some ways he was like the character ‘Big Daddy’ in Tennessee Williams, ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’. I was younger then though, barely an adult so these memories were probably still from a child’s perspective. However, he had a stroke a few years ago and when I saw him, he was in a hospital bed.

Now, the thing about me and my extended family is – we’re not that close. My grandparents live in HK and I have always live in the UK so there were no weekly visits and cards on birthdays. As it is, my extended family and I do not even speak the same language so this makes those heart to hearts pretty difficult as well. So in a way I guess considering I have probably not seen my g’dad for well over 6 years I cannot explain my tears as I visited him, lying in his hospital bed with tubes up his nose. I cannot explain the sorrow I felt seeing this Fat Man looking so small, almost half the man he was, not being able to speak and seeing me with unknowing eyes.

I guess it just shows the mere mortalness of it all.