As of today, we've been based in Maritime Southeast Asia for 10 years...

The post I wrote for our seven-year anniversary gives all the details.

The three years that have elapsed since that post have been pretty tough. Way too much time and emotional energy have been spent on cancer, carbs, and covid... Especially covid... That's the little beast that's stopped us making anything like the most of our latest Asian home, Sarawak. 

Yet this is still a home that we love. I'm glad we've been around to support the community a bit with our purchases and donations. We had a helluva lockdown here, but even when compressed down to a really tight circle, this is a place that's colourful, interesting, and well-provisioned. We could have fared a lot, lot worse.

And by the time we get back from our upcoming family trip, I'm hoping things will be "normal enough" to again enjoy the place to the full, or somewhere near.

How the more distant future will pan out I'm not sure. Our region is caught up in some unfortunate geopolitics, which are not likely to improve in the medium-term.

On a smaller scale, we have also become a little more conscious of the tenuousness of our position here. Being shut out during the pandemic was frustrating, but as some countries wouldn't even let their citizens return, I couldn't get too resentful about what happened to us. But Peninsula Malaysia's determination to rethink the whole MM2H scheme does leave you feeling a little queasy, even though the more onerous provisions, we are assured, will not be applied by Sarawak.

More generally, pandemics and environmental concerns make you wonder about the sustainability of a lifestyle predicated on the need to fly...

I wish -- I really wish -- I could say, "Here's to the next 10." But I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

But the thing to do is celebrate the moment. Which, in true Southeast Asian fashion, we did by ordering some delicious food (delivered from the always reliable Lepau Restaurant):

-- Kacangma, or "motherwort chicken", is a dish that was originally intended to build up the strength of new mothers after the delivery of their baby. Now its deliciousness makes it broadly popular as a "party food".


-- Prawns with tempoyak (fermented durian).


-- Midin (wild fern) salad (shown at the top).

This was distinctively Sarawakian food, but the wonderful taste combo -- tangy, spicy, sweet, salty, and bitter -- reflects Asia much more broadly.

I hope we get to stay...