Back Alley

Dear mom,

How are you? How’s your recent body check? When I scrolled through my mobile’s photo album today, I found a picture of a back alley near where we lived in North Point many years ago. I actually didn’t realise there’s such a back alley although we lived nearby for over 30 years. I only found out about this alley when I searched for a cafe to meet my friends before I left Hong Kong last year.

The old lady in the photo collecting the carton boxes makes me remember the other old people we visited with other members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul at St. Jude’s Church. Don’t know how they are doing now. Hope that they’re fine.

Didn’t know there are so many cha-chaan-teng in this alley behind the street near saam-yee-ma’s (note: my mother’s older sister who’s the third oldest among her siblings) home. I tried the one on the left. Their nai-cha (milk tea), yuan-yeung (coffee with milk tea) and sai-do-si (french toast) were pretty yum. Have you had yum-cha (Cantonese brunch with tea and dim-sum) with saam-yee-ma recently? It’s just difficult to find the same taste when I was in the UK last year. I also can’t find something similar here in Tokyo. Speaking of that, I wish I could have some wonton-meen (dumplings with noodles) and yu-dan-fun (fish-ball rice noodles) now….

Oh, the buildings in the photo are so old. Don’t know when they will be bulldozed. The air-conditioners must be very noisy….Oh dear, also so many clothes hanging outside the windows….Still remember the other old building where fei-yee-ma (note: my mother’s older sister who’s the second oldest among her siblings; nicknamed “plump aunt” due to her figure) used to live near the State Theatre when I was young. Heard that it would be demolished but somehow it’s saved and declared a historical building. Hope that it will remain there for a few more decades.

Hope that Hong Kong’s COVID travel restrictions will be further reduced. See if you, dad, ah-gor (my brother), ah-sou (my sister-in-law) and their two kids can come to visit me next year. Miss you all! I will give you a Zoom call next Sunday.

Love,

Kar Wai