It had been a while since I’d ridden my mountain bike on the hills of Bukit Kiara, here in Kuala Lumpur and involves riding of bicycles off road, enjoyably on narrower trails, over and around rocks and roots and whatever comes in your path.

Back to this ride I was on. By the time we made it up to the first unofficial meeting point aka ‘pondok guard’, all I wanted to do was throw my bike down (gently, gently) and lie down on the grass. It felt exceptionally hot and humid that particular day. And I was exceptionally embarrassed; embarrassed at my lack of Malaysian-ness in dealing with the heat and humidity.

It was my first ride in Bukit Kiara since I returned permanently to Malaysia, after years of studying and working overseas. I had been in the country for only a couple of weeks and still had some residual fitness from living a relatively more active lifestyle overseas.