Annie and I were in Taipei for 8 days to attend granddad's funeral. As we walked around Taipei during the week heading up to the day, so many things reminded me of both granddad and grandma.We walked around the wet market next to home, and there was a mobile store just outside the market selling sweet potatoes. Annie couldn't resist the beautiful aroma and bought herself one. The potatoes were roasted in a big iron urn placed on the back of tricycle. It was exactly like the one that parked in front of our grandparents' place, and granddad would buy a sweet potato for us. Grandma would always nag him for buying us these as she didn't want him to spoil our dinner. Granddad would just chuckle as he enjoys the potatoes with us, satisfying his very sweet tooth... as did we.
We would get lazy sometimes after a long day's walk, so we would catch the taxi home instead of the MTR or the bus. As the taxi zooms in and out lanes on some of the big green boulevards with pretty flowers and plants between the lanes, I remembered how granddad loved plants of any shape or form. He had the greenest thumb of anyone I have ever known. He loved plants so much he would stop if he saw a sad looking plant, even if it was in the middle of a large boulevard like the ones we drove along. He would look after the plant and visit it frequently until it got better again. Granddad was well-known around the neighbourhood for his special green thumb, something that I think Grandma was very proud of him for even though she would probably never openly admit it.
There is a beautiful frangranced flower that I don't know the name of. It has ivory colour flowers in the shape and size of an almond. They are sold in small bunches and people would buy them to hang on the rear view mirrors or homes to keep the area smelling frangrant for a few days. It must have been in season because I saw a few of these plants in bloom and old ladies selling them at the entrance of MTR stations. Granddad used to have one of these beautiful and healthy plant at the entrance of their home. He would pick them and put them in small bunches around the home for grandma. She would sometimes have one or two tucked away in her hair just above her ears. It was just gorgeous and it made her smell so beautiful. Granddad would do this, just to mock her at first, but later found it quite soothing as he could smell the fragrance throughout the day and kept the habit going.
In addition to the millions of motorcycles, there are thousands of bicycles. Everytime I see an old man on an old bike, I would think of granddad. He has never owned a licence, car nor motorcycle. He cycled all around Taipei, he knew all the nooks and crannies in the city, he would be the living 'Melway' of Taipei. I remember as a small child, he would sometimes take me back to their home on the back of his bike. He didn't have a fancy bike, just a really old and simple one with a slight bit of rust. He could transport anything on the back of that bike, things that were big, odd shapped or even fragile goods. He always manages to tie it tightly on the back of that bike, it was amazing. I tried to imagine him carrying grandma on the back of that bike during their dating era, she must have had her arms tightly around his waist, what a wonderful sight that might have been.
These are just some of the small happy things that reminded me of them as we wandered the streets of Taipei. Now, grandma and granddad have finally reunited with each other. They sit in a beautiful place grandma has picked out. It was her wish to have them facing one another so they could see each other's face while they chat again, just like the old times. I hope that they are continue to be happy and enjoy the simple things in life.
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