THE MOMENT I CAN NEVER FORGET

The day when I left my school without the school’s permission for the first time was my most unforgettable adventure and a priceless experience. I was in my senior year studying at a boarding school in Kuala Kangsar, “The Malay College”. That day, surprisingly I felt like a daredevil and wanted to try something new.

It all started when two of my best friends, Stone and Blur suggested that we should take a break from studying for our Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations. So the three of us planned to sneak out after our Friday Prayers and take a bus to Ipoh to watch the movie “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows Part 1” at Ipoh Parade. To get back to school after the movies, we opted for the last bus available or the midnight train Ipoh-Kuala Kangsar.

On our way to catch a bus to Ipoh, we bumped into two of our schoolmates, John and Ayip who coincidentally wanted to go to Ipoh as well. They told us that they were heading to Jusco. So after buying tickets to Medan Kidd Ipoh, the five of us boarded the bus together and began our journey. After a while, I felt sleepy and decided to take a nap. When I woke up, we had arrived at our destination. I felt drowsy and accidentally took the taxi along with John and Ayip, who were heading to Jusco. It wasn’t until several minutes had passed that I realised I was supposed to take the taxi with Stone and Blur to Ipoh Parade. So quickly, I called up Blur to make a detour to Jusco.

Upon reaching Jusco, the five of us decided to hang out together and bought the 5.00 p.m. movie slot for “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows Part 1”. The movie was great and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. When the movie ended - Stone, Blur and I decided to head back to the bus station. We felt that we should make plans for transport arrangement as it was getting late and we did not want to be stranded in Ipoh for the night. But somehow John and Ayip managed to convince us to stay a little bit longer and have a game of bowling and dinner before heading back. They confidently said that the tickets for the midnight train Ipoh-Kuala Kangsar would still be available even if we reach the train station at 10.00pm.

After a game of bowling and dinner, it was already 10.00pm and we quickly headed to the taxi stand to take a taxi to the railway station. Shocked, we found that there were no taxis waiting at the taxi stand. We totally panicked and amusingly, my friends started to signal the incoming traffic franticly to hitchhike a ride. John even tried to reveal his bare legs imitating the act of a female hitchhiker. I was totally at loss and started thinking hard of ways to get to the railway station in time to buy tickets and board the last train. Suddenly, an idea struck and I suggested that we should head to the Jusco Information Centre to ask for the Ipoh Taxi Company contact number.

After about ten minutes, the taxi came for us and sends us to the railway station. We headed straight to the ticket counter and to our dismay; we were informed that the tickets for the last train Ipoh-Kuala Kangsar had sold out. John, who has occasionally rode the train before came up with an idea and convinced all of us to board the train even without the tickets. He assured us that we would not get caught as long as we act normal and we could hang around the Train Cafe to pass time. We all agreed with the plan and each of us vowed that if any one of us gets caught, we would endure the consequences together in line with our school batch stand, “Unity is Strength”.

The midnight train was delayed until 2.00 a.m. and we passed the time discussing topics of our History examination that would be held on the upcoming Tuesday. We even took some photos around the railway station to keep for memories. When the train finally arrived at the railway station, we all felt a sense of relief to be heading back to school.

Boarding the train, we headed straight to the Train Cafe and hung around. But luck was not on our side that day. After a few minutes, we were all caught by one of the ticket conductors. He demanded us to show our tickets and unfortunately, we were unable to do so. Blur apologized on behalf of all of us and explained to the ticket conductor that we did not intentionally want to board the train without tickets. He further explained that the tickets were actually sold out and we had no other means of getting back to Kuala Kangsar. The ticket conductor did not buy our excuses and demanded us to pay triple the amount of the original ticket price if we wanted to continue our journey. He told us that we should get off the train at the next stop, Tanjung Rambutan if we did not pay up. Disappointed, we found that all of our money combined, we could only pay the fare for only two people. Sticking to our vow to endure the consequences together, all of us decided to disembark together at the next stop.

Feeling frustrated, we decided to be cheeky as we reached the Tanjung Rambutan stop. When we got off the train, we thanked the ticket conductor for leaving us at Tanjung Rambutan and waved goodbye to him as well as other passengers on board. It was 3.00 a.m. We quickly started to brainstorm a solution on how to get back to school as we all had an English class at 8.00 a.m. that day. I offered that we should follow the rail tracks back to Ipoh as there were no available transports available in Tanjung Rambutan heading to Kuala Kangsar. Stone objected to my idea as he was scared of wild wolves that might pounce on us in the dark. Blur, on the other hand, was scared of ghosts that we might encounter. John and Ayip reflected that it was dangerous as one of us might get our foot stuck between the rail tracks. In the end, we decided to walk all the way to Kuala Kangsar.

On our way, we passed a Malay eatery that was still open for business. We stopped by to ask for directions to Kuala Kangsar. Instead of giving us the directions, the owner offered us to stay and rest for a while before continuing our journey at 6.00 a.m. when a bus to Ipoh will be available. We accepted his offer and after a while - Blur, John and I fell asleep. Ayip and Stone stayed up smoking. At 5.55 a.m. I woke up and shook Blur and John from their sleep. I had a hard time waking up Blur from his sleep and as a result, we all missed the first morning bus. We were all very annoyed at him but fortunately, ten minutes later, the second morning bus approached. We quickly thanked and expressed our appreciations to the Malay eatery owner before leaving to catch the bus to Medan Kidd Ipoh.

When we finally arrived at school, we scrambled through a secret big hole in the gate nearby the Hockey Field. We split up and went back to our own dormitories. I grabbed my towel and had a quick shower before heading straight to the English class at 8.00 a.m. :)