Malaysia: Time for a doodle

The fresh morning provided unusually clear views of the mainland almost as if the island had moved closer to Mersing during the night.

I spent a wonderful couple of hours doodling the colourful ‘All Night Café’ next to Aseania in the shade of an old telephone booth. The senior members of the Malaysian family, still on their eid holiday, chatted in the shadows of the building while the children and their brown fluffy cat played in the tree house on the beach.

The skies once again darkened in the afternoon as another storm hovered over the island. A volleyball match between a film crew and the local porters continued throughout the heavy rain, with the Malaysian porters winning convincingly due to superior fitness and a distinct weight advantage (or should I say a lack of weight advantage).

In the early evening as the sun set and the bats left their crowded trees to stretch their wings, the smell of barbeque smoke wafted across the decking of the Aseania where we sat for sundowners. We tucked in with the entire film crew which had gathered from some of the other resorts. We expected a bit of a raucous evening, but it was all rather tame.