those hitch-hiking days of yore (iv)

the humorous side of hitch-hiking. once, we stopped a merc. both of us rushed forward for the rear doors and threw ourselves onto the back seat. the driver did not have any front passenger.

we realised we would be treating him as our chauffeur, so one of us quickly moved to the front.

at times, when lifts were few and far in between, we would throw pebbles at roadside trees or improvised lallang leaves as projectiles.

once i was stranded in segamat and spent the night at the railway station. could not sleep at all because of the rumbling of the trains at odd hours in the night. the station master was very hospitable; he not only provided me with a small room but also 'belanja' me breakfast the next morning.

on that trip, when i arrived at segamat, i had slightly more than a dollar with me. had to scrimped and saved because i knew that when i got back to singapore, the chances of getting a lift would be very slim. i needed the few cents to take a bus to somewhere near my home.