如煙

The last time I went back to the rural village where my late great-grandmother spent almost her whole life at, was close to 3 years ago. It was during the June break in 2010, and we rushed back because the old lady, who was already in her late 90s, was about to leave this world.

It was fortunate that we were by her side during the last few days of her life, although she could no longer recognise anyone, not even her old neighbours who lived next door.

Less than a year after she passed away, her house, along with the yard shared with three other households, was burnt down in the middle of the night. Till today, no one knows what led to the fire but thankfully no one was hurt. Even more thankful for fact that the house got destroyed after she passed away though, because it would have costed her life if she had to witness her house being burnt into ashes (3rd last picture). It was her everything.

Anyway, it was nice to return to this place again on a sunny spring day. I can't say I have a lot of feelings for this village, but I've been coming here once every few years since young and that's enough for me to sense a bit of familiarity here and there. Pretty sad to see more and more modern houses being built there, and less and less elderly being left behind because of obvious reasons. Also because the younger generations would rather find more opportunities in bigger cities instead of spending their whole life staying there. And most of them don't come back after they left.

Climbed halfway up the mountain to pay respect to my late great-grandma and grandma (whom I never got to meet, and never will) like we did in the past. Nothing really changed I suppose, except the overgrown wild grass created some obstacles along the way, and I felt old because I found myself panting so easily. Oh no.

The little surprise of the day are the piglets! They are so adorable, hehe. Fat, smelly and in a soft shade of pinkish beige - just like real pigs. And of course they were doing what they do best, i.e. sleeping on top of each other, as if their siblings are pillows.

But I shall not judge them, because on some lazy days, I tend to lie around in this manner too.