By

Craig Ennew

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Thirty-Six: All Going East!

This week: Craig and his family head off to KL, Malaysia!

Redang Island Beach: the view from the cafe

“So what’s your blog post from Malaysia going to be about?”

I blink stupidly at my sister-in-law’s question as we sip coffee looking out on an impossibly beautiful and exotic beach at Redang Island Resort, Malaysia. Truth be told, I don’t even know where to start. As someone who’s only travelled beyond Europe on one other occasion, there is so much to be overwhelmed by.

heady experiences and assaults on the senses

I tell her that, for me, a blog entry needs to have an emotional anchor- perhaps you want to make your reader laugh or think or just plain feel. But how to pack an array of heady experiences and assaults on the senses into 750 words?

I could focus on the long haul flight: being rooted in a position that probably wouldn’t win Most Comfy Airline Chair of the Year Award but that too close to contender for Most Foul-Smelling Neighbouring Passenger of the Year Award. But that would be just plain grumpy.

I could try to describe the sheer diversity of sights and sounds we’ve experiences over our first few days: from the sleek, spotless and vast designer shopping malls of Kuala Lumpur, to its towering blocks of condos with their beautiful infinity pools and the vast glass monoliths that dwarve the shabby shanty-towns of corrugated huts beneath.

Infinity: nighttime views from the pool

Perhaps I could write about family – the overwhelming generosity of my sister-in-law and niece in welcoming us into their home and sharing their lives so openly; playing hilarious board games in beach bar while white wine chills in an ice bucket; the three of us – my wife, The Boy and me – packed into a little air-conditioned room, three beds in a row: comfortable, close, content. (As I write, he’s still sleeping in that same position he always has done- on his back, arms folded behind his head).

We could go for experiences: snorkelling with turtles off a Redang Island; batik painting; watching the Wimbledon’s Men’s Finals at 2AM; crazy transfer rides on a speedboat where the driver seemed so keen on breaking his own record for reaching the island resort that the boat barely seemed to touch the water at all; spectacular fire shows across the beach at night; eating delicious grilled fish at a tiny beachside cafe. I might even detail my wife’s day of calamity: getting smacked in the face with a canoe paddle and suffering a turtle-bite to the big toe within the space of two hours. Painful but, it shames me to say, still quite funny.

turtle keyrings

There are isolated moments to dwell on too. Me fumbling with foreign currency, handling the notes like they’re slippery fish; the strange virtually worthless coins, hot potatoes. Restless dreams about hyper inflation and trundling barrowloads of banknotes into souvenir shops to buy turtle keyrings. Or more poignantly, The Boy and his cousin befriended a cafe-owners’ baby and him alarmingly yet heartbreakingly over-tipping as a result.

So many memories and only halfway through our Asian adventures. Connected by one rippling, gentle blue-green expanse of diverseness, things are so different yet somehow similar. The ocean is change.

©Craig Ennew 2025

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