At 7:45 tomorrow morning I will be leaving Chicago for Hong Kong on a jet plane. I will arrived in HK Sunday evening, have three meetings and will come home on Thursday afternoon. But I have yet to pack a thing for this hastily arranged trip. I want to lengthen this sweet feeling of anticipation. I want it quick but I also want it endure.

I have not been back to Pui Ching since that hot and windless summer day in August, l959. It was the day before I boarded the old Flying Tiger cargo plane to come to America.

I was alone then. Stepping through the Great Gate that was 80 Waterloo Road, I walked by the Front Building that was our dormitory. I walked by the Middle Building and the Flat Building where the lower-grade kids had their dormitory and classrooms. Then I stopped by the stairs beside the Back Building where I had a classroom as a fifth grader. My seat was in the middle of the inside-row right by the window that opened to a big window well. I could still smell the mildew that was so typical of a place that was wet and not reached by sunlight. I could also feel the gentle breeze through the open window. Life was like that. It took something away from you but also gave you something in return.

There under the hot summer sun, I saw with mind's eye my arithmetic teacher Wong Bao-Jin and my literature teacher Chow Shui-Ching. I smiled at the thought of En Sir who was to have a lasting impact on my life. I will always remember that, as a teacher and a parent, one can be demanding and kind at the same time. I lingered by the railing of the Back Building some more, sensing that I probably would not see them again.

I walked by the Athletic Fields. So many of my high school memories were made there. The Morning Exercise for the dorm kids. The basketball games. Oh, those basketball games. Those memories. The sweetness of memories of the years of one's youth. I knew even then, alone, under one of the basket board, that I probably would not see that place again.

I then walked up the steps leading to the New Building where I spent my Senior High days after studying for a few years in one of those "government schools." I counted each stair carefully and watched each step with my heart's eye. One never wanted to let go of something that was dear to him. Those stairs were very dear to me. And those circular stairways inside the New Building were always be remembered, I knew even then, with a special fondness that would be uniquely Pui Ching. In those days, the stairways that were circular were indeed unique and they gave those who walked on them a humble pride that was also uniquely Pui Ching.

I climbed each of those circular stairways in deep thoughts and touched the metal railing inch by inch. I was alone. I would be gone from that place the next day. But I knew I would be back climbing those stairs again and again. I knew. I just knew. Even if I had to climb them in my dream I knew I would one day be climbing those circular stairways again.

I reached the fourth floor and walked by the labs and stopped by each of the four classrooms used by the Lighters. The doors were locked. I peered through the windows. I saw the faces of my friends. I remembered thanking them, thanking them for the memories that I would be carrying with me on the jet plane tomorrow. Thanking them for the memories that would nourish me in an unknown land and in an unknowable future.

After forty-three years, I know I will be climbing those circular stairways again. I also know that I probably will be climbing those stairs with a tinge of sadness in my heart. I will be missing those dear friends who had moved on ahead of me, too far ahead of me. I am thinking of them and of the forty-three years of memories. I guess that is why I was not able to pack. I will have to pack soon. And I will be packing the memories of them also. In Hong Kong, they put me up at the Hotel Metropole. Its address is 75 Waterloo Road. Seventy-five Waterloo Road? I wonder if I can see my Old Dorm from there?