So close yet so far away

The train reached Bukit Batok LRT Station, and Stupid and I made our way out of the LRT station to my cousin’s house. We were lost and we needed to use map. And even we looked at the map we couldn’t locate the direction (ie, north, east, south, west, etc). We asked shopkeepers - 3 shopkeepers before we found our direction.

We came across a mini park which is a bit hilly and we needed to climb stairs. When we reached the top of the park, we found something is wrong. It is not only wrong, but creepy in fact – we saw a signboard of waist height in front of a pile of earth, and same kind of signboard every few meters apart. We stopped. I looked at him and so did he. Everything pointed that we were not in a park but cemetery zone.

We tentatively walked towards the signboard, and found out that it really is a signboard – signboard containing instructions for equipment in the park. We were relieved. Stupid even took few photos of that imaginary cemetery.

What a way to end a day which captured our fantasy. In very same morning, we went to Nanyang Technological University to attend its open house. The facility is great, the university is impressive and the fees are expensive too. While our local varsity has Ramli Burger outlet, NTU has McD and Subway. I had my first Subway’s foot long bread there.

On top of that, we had our own tour guide during the open day. She invited us into her hostel room, which would not happen in a million years if it is USM or UKM. We had a fair share of chatting and played a share market board game. To end our short trip to NTU, three of us had a dinner before we parted our ways.

Just now, after having dinner, I cycled back to my hostel. When I saw the images in front of me – dim street lights, big trees and stretch of cow grass, I strolled down the memory lane. Both of us now end up in local varsity and not MIT or ANU or NUS or NTU or whatnot. We dreamt big before we were brought back to ground but at least we had dreamt before. Sometimes, it seems to be so near yet so far. Perhaps someday when Stupid set his sight across the Johore Straits, he will recall back the night we stepped on the cemetery land.

P/S: Today is her birthday - the girl who became our tour guide in NTU, who biologically is no longer a kid, who physically still is and who in-person is a lovely girl. Happy birthday, Jenny!

Alone: So close yet so far away