Sorry, not interested

I reached the Woodlands checkpoint today all bleary-eyed and half-conscious. The express bus driver had sped the entire journey thru, bringing the 10-hr journey to less than 8 hrs. I barely slept at all as I could feel the frightening speed of the bus even as I was drifting to slumber. It was so scary I thought he might skid off the road anytime.

Instead of reaching the immigration at 9 am, I had to join the long queue at 7 am. Arrghh, because the bus sped, we reached in time to join the many workers rushing across the Causeway. Bleh. So, dragging my large luggage with me, I waited (not so patiently) for my turn. I thought I could easily clear the customs, but apparently the officer was suspicious of this puny girl lugging such a huge baggage into Singapore. So I may not look totally innocent, but hey, would a puny, bleary-eyed girl carry weapons or drugs across the Causeway? Of course, I let the officer opened my luggage and check to his heart's content. He was a nice person though, making friendly conversation while I explained the things I stuffed in my bag. After he okay-ed my baggage, I had to cram the contents back in and zip the overflowing luggage shut. I was a bit amused at the irony: last night after my dad helped me cram my stuff in the bag, I had insisted to try zipping the bag myself while telling Dad that just in case the officers check, I would need to know how to shut the overflowing contents back in. "Although, usually they will never check my bag", I told Dad. Hah. I was so wrong :P

After clearing the customs, I walked across the pedestrian bridge towards the taxi stand at the other building of the checkpoint. Because the luggage was heavy and bulky, I opted for the elevator over the escalator. So, I was alone waiting for the ride, when a man joined me at my wait. He was a middle-aged man, definitely not local (Sg/Msian) but from his looks, is probably an European or Middle-east kind of person. He had not-so-pleasant facial features and carried nothing with him, except for passport in his hands. So, standing opposite me, he started to make conversation. Diverting his eyes to my large luggage, he asked "From K.L?". Out of courtesy, I replied, "No, Penang." Then he said something like "Ohh, Penang...bla bla...". I couldn't hear very clearly because he was speaking quite softly, and I didn't bother to clarify as I wasn't interested. So I just smiled politely and nodded my head. Then the elevator arrived and I went in after him. After coming out of lift, he slowed down to walk next to me and indicated if I needed help with my luggage. "No thanks," I smiled. (I have this principle of not asking help from someone I cannot trust on first sight). I had thought that he would walk away but he kept to my pace and kept on talking to me. I think he was saying something about the weather being warm and stuff like that; I wasn't really paying attention, so I just uttered umm and yea at appropriate intervals out of politeness... until he said, "Can I have your contact number?". The automatic umm/yea was on the tip of my tongue when the alarm bells in my head started clanging like mad. For a moment I was stunned. A torrent of thoughts thrashed in my brain. Omigod, he's hitting on me just like this? This suspicious guy probably wants to screw any girl he picks up by chatting about the warm weather. Shit, how do I get out of this?? He could be a serial killer or kidnapper waiting to rape or kill me!! Okay, so I may have some extreme thoughts, but in my defense, these cases do happen. There had been numerous news about naive girls falling into such traps and never saw the light of day ever again. I sure do not want to be part of the statistics.

With my inner voices screaming inside my head, I finally decided to play dumb and uttered, "Huhh?", in pretence of having not heard his words and hoping that (somehow) he would forget about it. But crap, he asked again, this time adding something about forming friendship and stuff. By this time, my warning meter is close to explosion and I bluntly replied, "I'm sorry but I'm not interested." I heard myself saying it quite firmly, so I quickly added "But it was nice to meet you" in order to be polite. He then smiled and continued talking about something, but I wasn't really listening. In fact, I was feeling pretty scared already. When is he gonna leave me alone? My inner voice screamed in my head. I tried to slow my pace but it didn't work. Finally, I reached another elevator, silently praying that he would take the stairs this time. Thank goodness for the blessings from the Goddess of Mercy, he really did opt for the stairs and bid goodbye as I rushed into the elevator and punched the door-close button. Thinking it was over, I emerged from the lift and walked towards the taxi stand - just to find him there also walking towards the waiting taxi. My heart dropped to the ground as I contemplated to turn around and run in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, he saw me... but fortunately, he just said byebye and got into the cab and left. I breathed a sigh of relief. That was quite an unpleasant encounter. I don't mean to be paranoid or judgemental, but there are some people whom I cannot trust at first sight and gives me jitters. And to hit on someone after a small talk about weather is waaaay beyond my liking or logic. What appalled me was that I was hardly appealing to be a pick up target at all: bleary-eyed, clumsy and reeking of the I-spent-one-night-without-sleep-and-am-cranky-now aura, anyone normal would not come any nearer than an arm's radius to me.

I got into the cab, relieved but weaken. My heart was still racing a bit but I breathed easier. I think I must have held my breath the entire time he was walking next to me. So, I thought I could ride in silence and calm my nerves... but fate has it, the taxi driver was the 2nd eccentric individual I had to put up with today. Mr.-Taxi-Driver is apparently a sage on road safety. He suddenly started complaining to me about the dangers of riding motorbikes and how the bike riders are oblivious to the dangers of their driving habits. He had analyzed the subtle differences between Malaysian and Singaporean motorists and draw his conclusions to why bikers on the outer lanes will more likely die in accidents than bikers riding in the inner lanes. Then he went on to relate his experience as a biker and the accidents he had encountered. He gave his very vocal presentation to me all in a super loud and sharp voice. I didn't really care, especially after the restless bus ride and the disturbing encounter with the suspicious guy. So I just littered mmm, ohhh, yes, aiyo, and tsktsk at the appropriate intervals of his presentation. I had hope that at my obvious disinterest he would stop yakking, but Mr-Taxi-Driver was oblivious to my monotone and persisted with his lecture all the way till I reached my destination.

I think I have enough kowai incidents for one day. Anymore will really freak the bejeezers out of me.

～みはる～