Farewell Malaysia

Before we move onto our next destination, we have some unfinished business at Casa del Mar. Our hosts reward loyalty. If you spend over 28 nights at the resort in not less than four stays you will qualify as a member of the Fish Club. This is a rather lovely tradition that has now built up over time. When we were there, two couples were inducted into the fairly exclusive ranks. Once you have received your fish, in any colour of your choice, it will be taken back from you and pinned up behind the bar so that future guests will gaze upon them with reverence. One day, we will return to see what we can catch. It really is rather nice, wouldn’t you agree.

For those of you thinking, is that all I get for showing so much loyalty to the plaice, I would point out, that in the general scale of things, the financial treats outweigh the physical disappointment of being presented with a baked clay fish. Being a member of this amazing pescetarian society entitles members to such things as 10% off stays and dining and an awesome 20% off treatments. We later discovered that as members of the club they were also treated to an additional free meal on the beach, as well as bottles of wine on the house. Puts a different perspective on my Nectar card!

One gem we discovered, right opposite the hotel in Pantai Cenang, was a wonderful little museum, Muzium Lanan Padi, dedicated to telling the story of rice cultivation through time. I’m sure, if you are like me, you will remember documentary footage of mainly women, harvesting the rice in the paddy fields, and carrying it to the stores before it began its journey to who knew where. I daresay some of it ended up on our own supermarket shelves and, therefore, in our own larders.

Why are the fields called paddy fields. In truth, it is like most things we have touched around the world, we have to anglicise foreign words. The word is a corruption of the Malay word padi.

We learned about the heritage of rice on the island going back hundreds of years. Much of it involved strolling along paths constructed through age old padi fields, whilst other sections gave us a hands on feel to how things used to be. Some of the tools and equipment on show belonged to medieval history as far as we were concerned in the west, but here, in rural Malaysia, some of these techniques only hark back about fifty years or so.

It was incredibly labour intensive but as staples go, it was as cheap as chips, not that that is a very relevant idiom in 2025, have you bought a portion of chips recently? It sets you back a small fortune. Not that I am ever going to be making such a purchase anytime soon, I think the potato is the most over-rated foodstuff ever to grace our land. Give me rice any day of the week. I don’t mind a sweet potato, though. I suppose they are about as close in bloodline as grapes are to grapefruits!

This seven-hectares, or thereabouts, is still a working farm so it came as quite a shock to me when I read some reviews. One visitor claimed it was a real shame that it was outside as it was far too hot. Another reviewer, seeming to agree with the first, reckoned that if they installed some animatronic figures, it might make it easier to work out what was going on.

Equally, it was too boring for one woman’s children. Good! WTF! For you, my friends, you could have gone to the indoor bit, complete with air-conditioning and preserved the rest of us from your moaning. What bit of coming to a hot country did you not understand? Wander out to the far reach of the property and you come across a small collection of tiny farm cottages, which I thought were part of the exhibition, until Jane pointed out that the occupants had strung out washing lines, complete with hanging washing. Wow, people still lived in these huts. I would love to see it if some complainants were press-ganged into working a shift on the land before going back to their non-air-conditioned residences. It is my belief that they would not have been able to cope.

There was also an incredibly aromatic spice and herb garden where most of the exotic spices and herbs from the region can be grown. You also get the chance to eat in the restaurant which, as I understand it, is also air-conditioned. We didn’t eat as we were already booked for dinner somewhere else that evening, but should we go back it will be a must.

Do you know what I liked best about this attraction, though? It was the total lack of Disneyfication. That, most certainly, is not for me. If your thing is grown-ups dressing up in cartoon suits and eating burgers and fries by the tonne, then take your custom to the massively over-populated theme parks around the world. My view was that it was brilliantly educational and was only the better for not having milkshake and ice cream stands on every corner.

Find Out More
Rice Museum: https://www.naturallylangkawi.my

White Cane Ratings
Rice Museum: good, slightly difficult accessibility - 🦯 🦯 🦯 (3)

Festive Parkrun

If you are familiar with parkrun or, indeed, you are a regular parkrunner yourself, you will know that we are given challenges to complete for imaginary awards. Gift wrapped kudos is about as generous as it gets, some people love it. Me, to be honest, I can take it or leave it. It is important to some, though.

One such challenge is to complete the festive double. Many courses provide Christmas Day and/or New Year’s Day events. Well, this year I did it. Not only that, reached the heady heights of a Festive Triple. Yep, you did read that correctly, a Festive Triple. You see, it goes like this, my birthday falls on 27th December. No, I’m not fishing for belated good wishes, I have now had far too many of these now unwanted annual occasions, I wish they’d slow down, without actually stopping, and think they are best ignored. As it happened, though, this year my big day was a Saturday, so having marked down the two Thursdays for running, I also rocked up on 27th. 66, where did that go, but I am now among the fortunate few who are now receiving money off Rachel, although I do hand her some back or, rather, she takes it, having reached my State Pension Age, probably the most significant age milestone after 18, when we could vote for the political parties of our preference. Not really, blow that, it was the day we could drink in a pub legally, not that that was ever a problem for me, I have always looked older than my years. We were lucky, weren’t we, it was the days before age verification cards were a requirement.

That’s it, I have now ticked off the Robert Festive Triple, although you won’t find any reference to this within official parkrun publicity, websites or apps. I shall start a campaign to make sure it becomes a thing.

Christmas Day saw us at King’s Lynn, whilst my birthday found us at Sandringham and, finally, New Year’s Day was also at Sandringham, for its inaugural NYD event. If any of you are interested, the next time you will be able to achieve the Robert Festive Triple won’t be until 2031.

We are now at the end of the parkrun year, and from my own personal point of view it has been a success. How do I measure success? It’s not the challenges and awards that are ticked off, even though my PB is now down around the thirty-minute mark and I have reeled off over fifty events, I have increased my letters toward my Alphabeteer, and I have gained many good friends. Yes, that’s important, but the biggest achievement of all is making others aware that a blindness diagnosis does not mean an end-of-life diagnosis. The team, it isn’t just me, have all played an integral part in building awareness and talking accessibility matters to Event and Run Directors. To be told that I am an inspiration by so many is extremely gratifying, of course, but all I am really doing is something I love.

During this past year I have built up a strong bond with Vision Norfolk, an amazing bunch of good people who are forever striving to make the world a better place for the visually impaired community. This blog has been well supported by them and has been taken up by King’s Lynn Talking Newspaper, with talk of having it syndicated around the country and beyond during 2026. To hear my words read out by others, I have to say, is one of the biggest thrills I have experienced since I started my writing career. I will continue to write reviews of new parkruns I go to during 2026, including the fairly popular White Cane Ratings.

Here is wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year and, hopefully, everything you are dreaming of will come to fruition. Remember, whilst financial wellbeing is important, it is not the only way of measuring prosperity. Mental and physical wellbeing are equally as important, and that’s where parkrun comes in. Why not give it a go, it would be great to see some of you on the start line or read of your exploits in social media.

If you don’t make any other resolutions, just make sure that you complete at least one parkrun. Once you have done one, you will become addicted and won’t be able to put it down. A new life awaits.

Find Out More
Parkrun: https://www.parkrun.org.uk
Vision Norfolk: https://www.visionnorfolk.org.uk
King’s Lynn Talking Newspaper: https://www.kingslynn.mytn.uk