Nest

After our move from London, we stayed for a year at our idyllic seaside home. In retrospect, it was probably the best period for me to deal with the shocks: cultural, ideological and geographical.

We arrived in January, transitioning from the deep British winter into an intense heatwave season we weren’t prepared for. It lasted for months and initially caused some health issues for me. However, I eventually learned how to shield myself from the heat and ventilate our house, which significantly improved my sleep.

I’m pleased to report that I was able to focus on gardening again and haven’t lost my touch. I quickly learned about tropical flora with the help of my neighbours’ mother, a kind elderly lady from the east coast. I’ve truly come to love the tropical beauties like torch ginger, camellias, zinnia, cosmos, and jasmine. Although I miss my roses in London, I haven’t considered growing them in Perak. My gardening practice is about living in the present and I want to understand the plants that are growing around me.

I was never lonely in the garden because there were a pair of bulbul birds that kept following me around. I think they must’ve imprinted on me when they were young chicks. They’re not our pets, but we accepted them and never chase them away.

“My gardening practice is about living in the present and I want to understand the plants that are growing around me”.

Our life by the seaside was quiet, as we were far from close friends and London’s constant buzz. During this time, I learned that emptiness can be both a friend and an enemy, depending on what you fill it with. Thankfully, setting up a new remote office and occasional client meetings from abroad brought some excitement. I even built a new studio garden where I practiced ikebana, and my sister wrote her books.

We eventually grew accustomed to driving our mother’s old car to the seaside and taking express buses to Penang and Kuala Lumpur to attend book festivals. Before long, we started selling our own books at indie festivals. It was a simple life and an incredibly fun beginning of our Asian chapter.

Just as we began to settle into this slower pace, a career opportunity emerged, prompting us to move to Kuala Lumpur. While it’s not as vast as London, it’s certainly a fast-paced metropolis. Hello again, city life.

A few weeks before our move, we discovered a couple of new bulbul chicks nesting low outside our studio. The birds were wet and shaky, with their parents comforting them with gurgling sounds. They would have flown the nest by the time we settled in Kuala Lumpur. They give me something to look forward to when we return back to the seaside house.

“I was never lonely in the garden because there were a pair of bulbul birds that kept following me around.”