Long time no blog

I’m home from my travels and wondering why it’s been so long since I wrote a blog. I have been away for five weeks, but I have no explanation for the silence before that. One of the many perks of travelling is that you return home with a fresh view on your own life. On a practical level, I’m always grateful for the sheer convenience of sleeping in the same bed for more than two nights in a row and having my clothes arrayed on hangers rather than scattered in crinkly balls around my suitcase.

As a woman, I’m thankful to be living in a European country. Women face challenges everywhere, but in some countries far more than others. I have just been travelling in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore – tropical countries that are hot and humid all the time – and wondered how the Muslim women there manage who are swathed in fabric from head to toe. I was constantly hot and sweaty in my loose, flowing clothes and felt for them in the oppressive heat. The men walking alongside them in shorts and t-shirts seemed perfectly comfortable, however. And so free.

It’s a part of the world that I’ve never visited before and I was struck by the many cultures, languages and histories that are blended together in these countries. I know that it’s not always amicable – our guide in Jakarta was half Chinese and half Malay, and he was saying how periodically resentment at Chinese prosperity bubbles up, sometimes with violent results. But the combination of Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures, with a sprinkling of European influences on top, is rich and invigorating. And completely charming.

Singapore is so multicultural that they all have to learn English and in addition choose one of Malay, Mandarin or Tamil. They even have a Creole language called Singlish, which is a combination of English, Malay, Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin and Tamil. How wonderful to be able to draw on so many languages and cultures. I am quite envious.

In fact, I’m always so taken with the colours and spirit of the places I visit that I cannot bear to leave it all behind. Of course, this is the entire foundation of the souvenir industry and that is why our house is increasingly resembling a souk. This time I have managed to come home with a set of wind chimes, two pictures of Balinese dancers and a painted straw hat. The hat is one of those round straw ones with a pointy top that you see the workers in Vietnamese rice paddies wearing. It was a challenge getting it home undamaged, but its wonderfully garish colours seem perfectly at home in its equally garish surroundings. The joy of travelling and coming home again.