Enid Blyton and Ishigaki

On our first day in Ishigaki, after leaving our luggage at the guesthouse, we walked along a gravel path overlooking Kabira Bay. It was wonderful, but what struck me was a feeling of nostalgia in a place I’d never been before. It was along that road that I stopped to admire a scene: A small boat parked on the shore, surrounded by trees and mountains in the distance, and turquoise waters despite it being evening. It was a scene I had lived before; A remote destination, a place where adventures happen. So it hit me; ‘Five On a Treasure Island.’

The first of the adventure books I’d read when I was growing up by Enid Blyton: “The Famous Five” I felt like I was living the stories that I had read as a child! It felt emotive to me because I loved all of Enid Blyton’s novels, so much so I read all of them with my dad growing up. It’s one of the reason’s I love travelling, and the reason I love books. Novels inspire a sense of awe, and traveling makes you feel like you’re living out your own adventure. 

When I saw the many islands at Kabira Bay, my first thought was: “How amazing it would be to explore them! So full of vegetation that you can’t see what’s past them or what mysteries they hold!”

I am grateful to books for instilling in me my love for the little things. Anyone else could have missed such a moment, seeing only an old boat and a beach with too many stones for walking along. But what I see is the way the light reflects on the shore, the boat ready to be taken out by 4 children and a dog on an adventure. Feeling like a child that wants to explore, unravelling the mysteries of the world one by one, just like the Famous Five.

The Famous Five books teach you to enjoy the simple pleasures of being in the outdoors. Having picnics in the park, looking at flowers, bathing in a lake or in the sea, sharing strawberries. Such simple things that bring me so much joy.

Travelling is a riveting, beautiful thing. Ishigaki is a destination I dreamed of visiting, a landscape of nature and wildlife. But something just as beautiful, is that when I get home I get to do it all again, through a good book.

Thank you to my parents for always encouraging my passion for reading, my world is more colourful because of it.