In 1984 or 1985, Dad developed a leg disease. There was a sharp pain in his left leg. Whenever he walked, the pain made him suffer a lot. It was so excruciating that he managed to move around with the aid of a walking stick slowly, with a hobbling gait. Generally a man of good health, he expected to shake off the pain in a short time. The condition prevented him from working on the farm and from practising his carpentry.

So anxious to get better was Dad that he consulted some local quacks in the neighbourhood. All the remedies he was prescribed failed to cure it. Someone recommended a herbalist to him, but the place where the herbalist lived was about 10 kilometres away from our village. Dad decided to pay a visit to the herbalist. Mother suggested that we ask some neighbours to port him there on a cart but Dad rejected the idea.

So he set out alone in the morning on the walking stick. It being summer, the sun was beating down around midday. Because of his pain, he limped ahead extremely slowly. It took him a whole day to reach the herbalist. He stayed overnight at the herbalist’s. The family put him up.

After the herbalist examined him, Dad got a prescription for herbs and some dried insects such as scorpions and centipedes commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The next day he hobbled home alone. On the way back he passed a farmer family who were having a new cottage built. A veteran carpenter, Dad offered them some advice on the feng-shui of the construction site. The family treated Dad to the midday meal as a way to show their appreciation. After the meal, Dad continued on the way. By the time he got home, it was already dusk.

The herbs and dried insects were not very effective, sadly. Dad was so eager to recover that he even chewed the herbs and swallowed them after he took the potion. It took several months for the pain to finally wear off.