20 Sept 2015
Back from Penang yesterday.
It was quite enlightening, this trip. What my uncle there told me was a more realistic version of what my mother told me about my father.
For one, he tried to swim over to Hong Kong twice and the first time he was stopped by the PLA coast guards. Some of his friends were shot dead on the spot while others were injured. Everyone who was alive, including my father, was arrested and sent to jail.
After he was released, he tried again, this time successfully reaching Hong Kong where he was taken in temporarily by a fisherman before finding a job in a textile factory. The part after his arrival was told by my mother so let's take it with a pinch of salt.
The other inaccuracy was that my great-great-aunt who went to Penang went there because she had a son by a Singaporean man who refused to marry her. Because that was in my grandparents' era, she had to leave the country to escape the shame and humiliation. My great-great-grandmother, aka her mother, left China with her and they eventually settled down in Penang. Being well-educated, she became a teacher of English and tailoring (instead of a midwife like my mother told me). Her son was the uncle I have here in Singapore whom I had lost contact with and whose ex-wife attended my mother's funeral.
I wonder if he ever found his father.
During her time in Penang, she got a godfather whose son was the relative I had contacted and visited in Penang during this trip. In addition, her godfather, being the 7th child in the family with 10 other siblings, had a 6th brother who had five children during his lifetime. Unable to feed all of them, he gave a daughter to my great-great-aunt to adopt, and she was the nice one who took care of her during her final days and then settled all the matters involving her passing, even though she had at least one business to run in the US.
Her son didn't do anything.
One issue that cropped up in Penang was about the name of my grandfather. On the tablet of my great-great-grandmother were the names of her children and grandchildren. My great-great-aunt was not in the tablet for some reason, shame being my guess. Anyway there were two names under the "grandsons" and I would like to know which is my grandfather. For this, this uncle in Penang suggested that I find out the contact of my great-uncle, ie my grandfather's brother, whom I recall visiting many times in Hong Kong when I was small. His door had this board placed vertically, probably to prevent minor floods, and everyone always had to remind me to avoid tripping since I was less than five years old back then.
Back to the point, surely there must be a number that my mother had noted down somewhere in her notebooks. So I searched just now, and the name of one of his daughters was there in a notebook along with a few numbers.
On Monday, I'll contact her.
Maybe eventually I could contact the relatives I also have in Medan. Maybe she would know. I recall my father's Indonesian cousin visiting us several times, including once when I learnt that while in Singapore, we call tea with sugar and milk "teh" and tea with sugar "teh-o", in Indonesia "teh" refers to tea with sugar and "teh susu" is tea with milk and sugar.
No I don't have their numbers nor names.
Quarrelled again because I forgot to download a TV show for her mum last night and earlier this morning until she reminded me. It's not like it's urgent anyway and I forget everything, not just her things. If I have to set reminders for everything, life is going to be a pain. So she says I'm the wrong guy for her because I keep forgetting and don't want to set reminders for midnight. Fine, if dating her means becoming so rigid, then staying myself alone is better.
21 Sept 2015
Yes, I'm a slacker. If I don't slack, I become a very unpleasant person.
Did almost nothing today. Fitness seems to be up actually but forgot to train my arms. Too lazy now since it's 11pm. Will swim tomorrow. Have to train my arms because she wants me to try rock-climbing. Also because I'm travelling a lot more. Having decent arm strength is useful when you're not in your comfort zone.
Wonder how much Burberry trench coats cost in the UK. Want to get one but it's S$2.6k here in the duty-free shop at the airport. Friends told me it's cheaper in the UK, plus tourists probably get no tax.
Anyway, I'm not 100% sure but it seems that shorter coats can be paired with casual clothings like t-shirts and jeans while long ones are formal, as seen in The Firm starring Tom Cruise which I'd just finished watching earlier today.
I'm definitely getting a short one to wear when visiting places where waterproof jackets are needed but a thick jacket would look out of place.
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