Why Jumpa Lagi?

Jumpa lagi means:

see you again

till next time

bye

see you later

see you soon

And so on… During one of my first jungle walks after quarantine, we stopped to buy some fresh coconuts to drink. On leaving, I called out to the guy “see you again next time, jumpa lagi!”

I didn ’t even know I still had those two words in my head – we left Miri, Sarawak in July 2005 after five years of living by the South China Sea, and now here I was in West Malaysia, in the chaotic concrete jungle of Kuala Lumpur. After just a few days the odd word of Bahasa was making its way from the back of my brain to the front. It felt good to be back!