Friday, A Short Flight and a Quiet Room

Please click the photo above to play the daily videoThe day began where the previous one had left off — one more ward round, one more morning clinic, the last outstanding threads of the week gathered up and tied off before I could allow myself to think about being anywhere else. Handover done properly, patient sorted, nothing left dangling for whoever picked up after me. There's a particular relief in leaving things tidy behind you, the sort that lets you actually enjoy the leaving.

From there, straight to the airport, driving myself rather than being driven, which always changes the character of a departure slightly — less ceremony, more errand. Lunch was had at the lounge, unhurried in the way airport lounges manage to feel even when the rest of the terminal is anything but, a small pocket of calm before the business of flying.

The flight itself was smooth, no complaints, the kind of short hop that barely gives you time to settle before it's asking you to prepare for landing. Midflight, satay appeared, which felt like a small and unexpected kindness — proper satay, not the sort of apologetic snack one braces for on a domestic route. I wasn't expecting much and got rather more than that, which is always the better way round.

Checked into the Renai Hotel on arrival, into a square suite that had the particular tidiness of a room built more for function than flourish — nothing wrong with that, especially after a day already full enough of its own texture. There's something quietly appealing about a hotel room with clean lines and no pretensions, a blank enough canvas that you can simply exist in it without it asking anything of you.

I'd thought, briefly, about heading out — Kota Bharu has its own particular evening rhythm, and there's always some pull towards seeing a place rather than just passing through it. But the day had been long enough in its own right, ward round to clinic to drive to flight to check-in, and the idea of putting on real shoes again lost out fairly quickly to the idea of not. Ordered in instead, ate without ceremony, and let the evening close itself down at its own pace.

No regrets about staying in. Some trips are made for exploring, and some are simply made for getting somewhere, doing what needs doing, and getting some proper rest in between. This one, at least tonight, was firmly the latter. Early night, then — tomorrow will ask its own questions, and I'd rather meet them having actually slept than having merely wandered a strange city on principle.

For now, square suite, quiet room, and the particular contentment of a day that went exactly as long as it needed to and no longer