After I had graduated 5 years ago, my family had plans to do a trip back to our roots. There were several opportunities to realise this dream though there was always something that hinder it from happening; be it crazy work schedules, the demise of my grandparents or my uncle.

Hainan Dao (Hainan Island in Mandarin), a sunny island located in the South China Sea, is governed under the administration of the People's Republic of China, though it is more South East Asia from the geographic perspective. During the earlier years of the 20th century, China under the Qing Dynasty was in turmoil. Facing threats externally (from the Europeans and Japanese who wanted more concessions from the weak government) and internally (from middle-class Chinese who called themselves Republicans), China was destined for a change. Meanwhile, life became bad to worse and there were mass transmigration of Chinese (mostly from Southern China) to Nanyang (literally "Southern Oceans" or South East Asia). Dreaming for a better life, my maternal grandfather, then only a 12-year old boy, boarded the ferry for a 1-week journey to the "Promised Land". This decision was to change his life; and invertainly changed mine.

Both my parents were Hainanese (this makes me a "pure" Hainanese as well) - most Hainanese at that period would prefer to marry people from the same dialect group. This is an interesting phenomenon considering that the Hainanese is a minority in the Chinese communities of South East Asia. Both my parents were born in Malaysia; Hainan is like a distant faraway land where it appears only the bedtime stories spoken by their parents. For a 4th-generation overseas born Chinese like me, the association is a lot weaker. Yes, I may still retain my Chinese looks but my command of the dialect (more a mixture of Mandarin, Hainanese and Hokkien) can barely pass the mark.

Felt a sigh of relief when our aeroplane finally took off for Haikou (the provincial capital of Hainan). My mum's mind must had been running in different directions; she is finally on her way back to her roots after spending so many years in a "foreign" land.