a pit stop on our way home from india became its own small pilgrimage.

a layover that became a ceremony

we landed in kuala lumpur with nothing more than a night to spare, and something in me knew exactly where we needed to be. we stayed in chinatown, which for me has always felt like the center of tea culture, the kind of place where ceremony lives quietly in every corner shop, where the smell of steeped leaves follows you down the street like an old friend.

we wandered from matcha house to matcha house with our little ones, tasting our way through the streets. i was wearing the suka set in tierra, matcha, and something about its radiance, its playfulness, matched the energy of the day so perfectly it almost felt choreographed. my children, who usually shy away from the camera, jumped right in. they felt the same lightness the set carries, and for once they wanted to be seen.

the gratitude underneath the joy

it brought up so much gratitude. a year ago things felt heavy in ways i couldn't always name. today felt like proof of how far we've come, not because everything is resolved, but because we found our way back to lightness together, as a family, in a foreign city, over cups of matcha that none of us needed but all of us wanted.

there is a particular kind of grace in traveling with children who are old enough to notice beauty and young enough to still chase it without self-consciousness. they led, and i followed, and the suka set moved with us the whole way, the kind of piece that lets you crouch down to a child's height, spin toward a street vendor, and still look like you meant to.

coming home under a retrograde sky

here is the part i didn't plan for. we made this trip while mercury was retrograde in cancer, the sign of home, family, and roots. it stationed retrograde just before we left india, and by the time we touched down in bali, it was still moving backward through the sky, quietly asking all of us to slow down, to revisit, to feel before we explain.

i used to dread this transit. delayed flights, crossed wires, the sense that nothing wants to move forward cleanly. but this trip taught me something different. cancer retrogrades aren't asking us to push through, they're asking us to return. to family. to old griefs we haven't fully looked at. to the version of ourselves we were before things got difficult.

that is exactly what kuala lumpur gave us, unplanned and unhurried. a pause between two homes. a chance to taste something slow and ceremonial with the people i love most, while the planet of communication asked us to simply be together instead of explaining ourselves to each other.

a new day

mercury stations direct this week, and it feels fitting to write this as that shift happens. we are home in bali now, unpacked, still smelling faintly of matcha and jet fuel and india's incense. the heaviness of a year ago hasn't disappeared, but it has softened into something we can hold with open hands instead of clenched ones.

today is a new day. and i am grateful for it.

frequently asked questions

what makes the suka set in tierra good for travel?

the tierra colorway, including matcha, is designed to move easily between settings, from airport layovers to street wandering to family photos, without needing a second thought about styling.

why does mercury retrograde matter during travel?

in astrology, mercury retrograde is often associated with delays and miscommunication, but it also invites reflection, slowing down, and reconnecting with family, especially when it moves through cancer, the sign most tied to home.

With love from Bali,
Myrah