The doctor's Thursday promise held, and we were released from our "step-down" unit on Saturday. Not entirely released, as we still have two weeks' self-quarantine to complete. But we're home.


Saturday 8 August. ASEAN Day. International Cat Day. And the Terns' Homecoming Day.

We'd been away for 29 weeks and 2 days...


The flat was a little dusty and cobwebby, but not in too bad a state. My little oven has not gone rusty, which was one of my forebodings. Everything still works.


The next challenge was provisioning up. Luckily, Kuching has long been blessed with Grab food, a service that speedily and efficiently brings you dishes from your favourite restaurants. So, on Saturday evening, we celebrated by ordering up lots of items from the Hong Kong Noodle House, and variously allocating them to freezer, fridge, or tummy.

The supermarket delivery scene also seems to have really taken off here since the early phase of the lockdown, and yesterday a big pile of shopping rolled up from H&L Express (motto: "You shop, we drop"). So, yesterday evening, we celebrated with our first glass of beer since the beginning of quarantine.

The only green vegetables available via delivery are local vegetables like pek choy, sayur pahit, and kangkong. These are all tasty and nutritious, but the leaves need lots of washing and preparing, and in my laziness, I usually eat them when we go to one of the many excellent nasi campur places, and have mixed-rice-without-the-rice.

But needs must. So yesterday and today saw me in all-out vegetable-processing mode. To gain more worktop space for this and subsequent exercises, we've moved the rack from the spare bedroom (where it wasn't doing a whole lot) to the kitchen (where it now offers really useful extra preparation and storage space).


I've been in a slightly strange mood since getting home. I'm very happy to be back, of course, on familiar territory, with our stuff (such as it is) around us. And I'm hugely relieved that we came safely through the covid-positive scare.

But I'm also a little sad. I remember the high hopes and excitement with which we set off, back in January. I remember all the travel planning I used to do here. And now we're in a different world. Covid cases across the globe stand at nearly 20 million. Very few countries seem to have truly got on top of it. So we're very much grounded for the next little while.

I'm rejoicing, but I'm also grieving, if that makes sense.

But I'll rebound. We'll figure out what the "new normal" is in Kuching, and how we can best adapt to it. We'll explore more of Sarawak, which I'm very much looking forward to. We'll carry on with the pursuits that have kept us busy and interested all through lockdown and quarantine. And one day, we'll be back on the road.

It'll be OK. It will.