On the 20th of December my flight back to the UK was taking off with me sat uncomfortably inside. As one tends to do at moments like these, I began to reminisce about my last two years spent here in Malaysia. And, as with all things, we tend to remember the extremes fairly well and the average day gets lost in the process. This was not unlike what happened to me while the plane took off; except for me almost all my memories were of the last two months here, which turned out to be the best period of the entire two years. I should stress that this was not due to me knowing I was coming back to England and therefore was happy to leave; this was simply because I managed to make a few more friends and have insanely cool escapades to completely fill my time up.
I will always remember Malaysia as the place where I learnt how to balance work and life into a wonderful hotpot where my experiences grew with everything I saw and did. It is also the place where my first built projects are, and this is something that I can never turn away from. But most of all, Malaysia shall always be remembered in my mind as the place where S&TA was.
To call S&TA just an office would be to do it a great dishonor, as it was with the guys and girls there that I ended up spending all my time doing anything and everything. This really reached fever pitch in the last two months when more and more activities were organized and took place with the office group. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of many of these events, and in some way I’m glad as it means that I have to take a conscious effort to remember them all. Some of the things included: Midnight dip in a jungle Hot Springs, Escaping from a locked prison cell, Universal Studios Singapore, Phuket island hopping, Pool parties, jungle trekking etc.
After all this, leaving Malaysia was always going to be tough. I thought making the decision would be the hardest part, but having to follow through on that was just as difficult. It didn’t help when everyday I was indirectly shown more and more reasons to stay. I think being stubborn definitely helped me in this case. In the end, I held not one but three separate leaving do’s close together at various places. These helped to reign in the festivities and make sure that I go to see as many people as possible before I left. However it was the final one just after work on my last day in Malaysia that hit the hardest. A simple round of drinks at our local bar ended with a lot of sentimental and heartfelt words being said, all of which I shall remember.
My lift to the airport was supposed to be with one friend doing me a favour, and ended up being a group of three lovely ladies from the office coming to say bye. As they shouted their mock-protests urging me to stay, I headed towards Immigration. This was to be my final memory of Malaysia – that of the good friends I made taking time out to make sure I left the country for good, and making me feel ever so slightly embarrassed in the process. Malaysia, I shall miss you but will no doubt return…
