A long flight for a quick cuddle

A while ago it looked like I wouldn’t be seeing my mum until January, which was simply too long for either of us. It’s not my turn to have her for Christmas this year, and so we made the plan that I would pop back to the UK for a few days leaving JHubz in KL before we headed down to Indonesia. Of course having made all the arrangements Mum decided she wanted to come to Indonesia after all, which she now does in about two weeks, but I was excited about seeing the Gato, lightening my bag by offloading some more clothes (if you are planning to travel pack NOTHING, ok fine maybe some essentials but nothing else) and things we’ve bought over the last month and a trip to Boots to stock up on necessities, so came over anyway.

I arrived having slept pretty well on the thirteen hour flight at just after 5am on Saturday morning. The joy of going for a few days is only needing hand luggage, so I was off the plane and being greeted by my beaming mother in no time at all. A short drive later and we were home. Having been surrounded by the Haze caused by intentionally set forest fires in Indonesia, in both Singapore and Malaysia, for the last few weeks the brilliant blue sky was a most welcome sight. The cold, not so much! Brrr! You forget cold, yes I know that sounds silly but we have no sweaters or jeans with us, no shoes or hats because we have no need of them. We’ve lived in the balmy thirties for the last four months and It was a shock to the system to be so cold but I was soon wrapped up in jeans and cashmere and really we had the most beautiful clear skies all weekend making the cold bearable.

Cat hugged and kissed far more than she was comfortable with, we headed into the shops to fill my list, which thanks to Poundland and Boots we did most successfully in one trip! woohoo! Fudge from mum for Jhubz, four packs of our favourite sour laces now weigh my bag down, along with a new bikini, three new tops (don’t tell JHubz and for sure I will send mum back with three tops in their place honest Guv’) and a plethora of toiletries including tampons which are next to impossible to find in Malaysia and when you do find them only seem to be available in huge packs. I bought a mooncup which I am going to try, it’s much more environmentally friendly and anyway moving on from my sanitary wear…

Over the last few months I have been thinking of things that would be useful for mum to bring to Myanmar and China next year and ordering them so she would have some things to open at Christmas. Of course now she is coming to Indonesia almost all of the things I bought will come in handy for that trip too so I unpacked them all and handed them over; travel towel, travel clothes line – this little one is fantastic, two lines twisted together so you don’t need pegs, a battery Oral B toothbrush and two books, one a best selling travel picture book, you point at what you want when you don’t speak the language and How to Shit around the world, which having had food poisoning twice so far seemed pretty useful. So I’m putting my thinking cap on again as to what to give her for Christmas now *scratches head*

About a month before we left the UK I was totally bored with how dull my hair looked and knowing it would get naturally lightened as we travelled, had it highlighted. A slight miscalculation by the stylist and my hair was far far lighter than intended, hadn’t been that blonde since my early twenties! Ugh! Another trip and my hair was a lovely colour. However four months of sun had stripped off any of the toner used to darken it up and I was stupidly blonde again, this time with increasing roots. So one of the first things I did, having not been able to find any toner in Asia, no surprise there, was to tone my hair to its current light brown, am so happy with the results, thanks Clairol Nice and Easy 91!

In our last week in the UK Bel and The Dragon had just opened a bar/restaurant/hotel in Kingsclere, a village close to mums, which we visited twice and enjoyed outstanding meals at each time. Our early evening dinner on the day of my return was equally spectacular. The food is beautifully presented, so pretty that it’s art in itself and the taste is a sensation. So much so that we went back again for a Sunday Roast the next day. We’d had the roast with JHubz’s Dad and Step-mum in June and thankfully the portion sizes had very minimally downsized, having not been able to finish our plates we now both were. I think it will have to be a tradition that our first meal home each trip is there, yum!

We didn’t really do much apart from eat; french bread, bacon rolls, spaghetti carbonara, all the things I had been craving, kiss the cat, get up to see the rare Blood Moon, shop and watch Say Yes to the Dress but it was a perfect weekend. I love and miss my mum so much when we are travelling and the only thing that stopped me losing it at the airport coming back is knowing she’ll be coming out to see us in a few weeks.

It was surreal being back in the UK, wonderful to see mum and gato, but also as if the last four months hadn’t happened, everything carrying on as it had before we left, as of course life does. It made me a little melancholic but also reinforced that we do not want to return to live in the UK full time. No idea where we’ll end up or what we’ll be doing but I don’t suppose we need to be worrying about that right now. Life is short and precious and when possible I plan on seizing every opportunity to do the things that make me happy. I am now back in KL about to tuck into a pizza, because that for sure is about to make me very happy Xx