 I think time for another reading now. This features not Nick's parents, but his grandmother, Shang Suyi. And in this part of the novel, Nick has whisked Rachel off to Malaysia just to get her away from everyone in Singapore. He hasn't told her this, but they're going to stay at his grandmother's summer lodge in the Cameron Highlands. So they arrive, and lo and behold, who should have got there before him but Suyi.