WAWAS! - "Thank God We Are Safely in Singapore!"

--19 of 19--

We are now at Woodlands Checkpoint, Singapore, waiting in line for Customs checks. Due to the impossibly large size of my accordion bag, I cannot go through the self-service passport check line (it's more fun scanning your passport yourself, what with the thumbprints and gates).

Imagine my horror earlier when I got off the bus and saw my accordion bag deposited upside-down on the road beside the bus! It had fallen out of the luggage compartment when the uncle opened it, I gather. It was nobody's fault; the uncle was already on the other side when it fell, attending to the luggage compartments there (I suppose). I was the first person off the bus. No serious damage was done, just a dented grille, which would require some knocking inside with a hammer. What a souvenir to bring back home after 9 days in KL!

After heaving our bags through Customs, we go through the corridors to the taxi stand. Before that, we bade farewell to some of us who would follow the bus to Beach Road, going home by themselves.

There was a bunch of keys hanging from a road sign by the taxi stand. Whatever were they for? Hadis put forward a lot of absurd suggestions, the most implausible being that they were for some rich driver who owns all the cars parked on this road--just take one and go! We never knew the real explanation for them.

Soon, Aidil's parents came in a van, helping to send home those of us who lived near his area. Our props go into it as well. One by one we left, in our respective vehicles, until only a handful of us remained. My parents came, my accordion bag and luggage was somehow fitted into the boot of our car, and we said goodbyes to whoever was left of the SSP WAWAS! contingent waiting by the roadside. "Send our regards to your parents!"

And so we departed.

"Thank God we are back home!"

WAWAS! - "Tooooo the Lion City!" and Reminiscences

--18 of 19--

And now it was finally time to make our way to the bus stop and board our bus. Laden with our bags and our shopping, we crossed a bridge to the other side of the road where a simple bus was waiting. We had great expectations, but this would do. At least the bus had 3 seats per row, a benchmark of quality.

There were complications as to the arrangement of luggage in the bottom compartment, but we managed to settle it in good time. I sat in the second row along with Zalinah and Haddad. We bade goodbye to Encik Harun and Cikgu (she studies here) and the bus glided into traffic. We were on our way home!


I had time to scribble a few sentences in my black book until dusk set upon us, rendering me unable to see. We shared tidbits, drinks and even ice-cream!--from Zalinah, and we three in the second row passed it among ourselves, making sure the bus driver did not see, because as far as we knew, only mineral water was allowed in the bus. By tacit consent, it was made sure no one behind us saw either, else the ice-cream would finish in a blink.

Some two hours later we reached a resting point. Within it was a tidbit supermarket, filled to the brim with crackers, cuttlefish, fish snacks, drink, and sweets! Its sole purpose was to provide customers with tidbits, and tidbits only, so no detergent or diapers here. Most were sold in gigantic packs. No such thing as "take a little bit" here. You take all or you take none.

After toilet breaks, burgers, drinks and tidbits, we were off again.

I remember some of the things we did which I did not have space for in this chronicle. Call this an Appendix if you will!

Let's see what we have here. I recall with some amusement the "Thank God!" affair with Adillah, when she was spotted in her room speaking on the phone, with a photo of her boyfriend in front of her, on which was written the words "Thank God I found you!" She was playfully reminded of it to no end!

We had the rare opportunity of playing a gamelan set in the middle of our rehearsals, thanks to Encik Harun, who granted us permission to do so. It was located in the foyer of the Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka itself, right in front of the hall doors.

Then there was Jeff, who burst out into laughter in the middle of his prayers at a comment made by Didi. He recovered and resumed. Suddenly he dropped out of his prayers *again*! Seeing as we were watching a video of the second performance on Haddad's laptop, he simply could not concentrate on his prayers!

There were also spoonerisms reported, concerning Mai and Jad (short form for Jihad). They were mispronounced as Mad and Jai.