Prologue

21st November 2021

After a single failure, the MSR Whisperlight works. The unleaded fuel in the bottle burned black and dirty but eventually a clean blue flame.

Five years in Malaysia is drawing to a close. Crawling to the end.

Pandemic, two years. What can you say, we all went through it, probably not Australia, despite their complaining.

There is one week of school left, packing to be done, a few days for goodbyes and then we are on our first plane in two years. 

It surprises me how many people want to catch up and say goodbye. We are not that interesting and we don’t socialise. It might be that people want what they can’t have. I am impressed and a little flattered at how insistent people are to catch up. I am happy to say ‘no thank you’ until they stop asking.

We are not dead, just moving away.

The flat is a mess. Everything we need will fit in two medium suitcases. If it fits in these, it will fit in the paneers. The rest is for storage or given away. Storage looks like three boxes. I like that all we own can fit in five suitcases.

A friend asked if I was nervous about the trip just now. I had not really thought about it. I answered no, and asked if he thought I should be?

Last night at a farewell party for us a friend asked ‘what if you get on the bike and after a day you hate it?’ I just shrugged. I had never really thought about it. I like the question. I mentioned it to Shell this morning at breakfast. She answered;

‘I hope we don’t like it some days. What is the point if every day is just happy? Anything you do should be about challenges as much as happiness. If we are not challenged if some days are not miserable, why bother? What will we learn?’

I am now making the week's lunches for school thinking about the trip. I hope it does challenge me. I hope at the end of this journey within my journey, I have been thoroughly uncomfortable and miserable as well as filled with pleasure.

Without misery, there is no pleasure.