PIG's Life 2

Hi guys!

Right now, I am going to share with you part 2 of my story, PIG's Life 2.

PIG's Life was actually an introduction of my family's background.

This time, you will know more about my life. I will tell you on how I ended up staying in Singapore.

"N, do you want to travel to Singapore?" "Do you want to study there?"
Without any hesitation, I excitedly said, "Yes!"

Then, my mum turned to my younger brother and asked the same question. The only thing he did was looking at my mum with his "puppy eyes" while "wiggling his tail". You know what the answer guys.

While my mum was sitting down on the sofa at the living room, there was a figure standing right behind her. It was my dad. His face was red as tomato. He clenched his fist and glared at my mum. My mum knew that she was in deep trouble. Both of them went into their bedroom in silence. After that, I heard both of them shouting at one another across the room. I was 8 while my brother was 6 years old then.

Suddenly, one day my mum packed my younger brother's clothes and mine. I didn't know where were we going. My younger brother and I dare not speak a word. What we thought of was, "as long as we are with our mother, everywhere we go is safe". Anyway we were so young, so we didn't give much thought.

I remembered we have to travel a 2-3 hour ride from Samarinda to Balikpapan (my mum's town). During the journey itself, I found it usual to travel to Balikpapan. It is because every year we would go there to visit my grandma. So, there was nothing suspicious. I fell asleep in the middle of the journey.

Once we arrived, I realised I was in front of a harbour terminal NOT my grandma's house! Was I even dreaming? I never had taken a large ship then! I was excited and nervous at the same time. When I turned and looked at my brother, he too, looked excited but, ONLY excited. He was too young to know anything. He was only 6 years old. Actually, I can not remember the name of the terminal at all. What I could remember was, an old terminal decorated with Indonesian sculpture. It did not take a long time for us to wait before entering into a huge ship the ship. That ship had a picture of Panda. It was really HUGE! The ship horned. It was time for us to continue our journey again. It was totally not the cruise you are thinking about. There are no cabins, no personal or private room for us to sleep at. Once you entered the ship, the only thing you see was actually beds. Beds that were arranged side by side in rows. I didn't know how many of them!

All I could see was actually people were scattering around. Honestly, I didn't even know how my mum knew which bed we were supposed to occupy. May be there was a number sticked to the bed?
When my brother and I saw the bed, we immediately jumped on top of it. However, there was a squeaky sound. We stopped jumping. We climbed down from the bed. We realised there was a large drawer under the bed. It was meant for us to put our bags and luggage there. Out of the curiosity, we pulled it.

"Cockroaches!", we shouted

There were like 5 cockroaches. We stared at them for few seconds. Then, my mum from our back, pushed the drawer back into its original position. Both of us were shocked and looked up. My mum was actually glaring at us with her fury eyes. I didn't know what was the reason of her "glared" but I definitely felt that there were many eyes looking at us. From that incident, my brother and I called that ship as a "cockroach's ship", in bahasa "kapal kecoak". We would never forget about it up till today!

Suddenly, there was an old lady in her 50s, wearing a cream coloured hijab, chewing on a fruit. Her lips and teeth were red. She called my brother and I to come over. We did.

"Hey kids, I have some fruits with me. I just want to share them with your mum. Give it to her."

Without even thanking her, we grabbed the plastic bag which was full of fruits, and hurriedly handed it to our mum. My mum was surprised and asked us where did we get it from. We told her. She rushed over to the old lady. There were an exchange of words. Soon, my mum came to us. Honestly, we have no idea who was that old lady.

What did we eat during the journey? Our meals depended on instant food like "indomie" (instant noodles) or "pop mie"(cup noodles). These noodles were sold on the deck. To get hot water, we had to go to a room to get it. I never enter to that room before, because I was scared to go alone, especially with strangers around. I was a coward. So the person who actually went there often was my brother.

The journey took longer than expected. It took 3 days to reach our destination. and FINALLY we reached! So I asked my mum where were we then. She told us that we were at Batam. Batam is a city in Indonesia located at Sumatera island, which is near Singapore. Then, a car awaited for us upon our arrival. We boarded the car. Through the journey, I imagine that we were going to a resort and have some fun at Batam. I was excited and hummed while looking out of the window. I realised that Batam was a city that has a vast of red land and hills. My mum told me the reason why it was that colour was due to much sodium in the soil. Honestly, I have no idea if that was the cause of the "red" land. LOL.

Anyway, my whole imagination going to a resort was all crashed. We ended up at a ferry terminal. I was like, "AGAIN?!" I was totally tired to continue the journey. Even Though I was tired, I did not even complain to my mum (actually I am surprised why I didn't complain). The ferry shook right and left badly. I remembered I had a seasick! I turned pale. My mum took a glimpsed at me and put my head on her shoulder. She was aware that I was really lifeless due to tiredness. However, when the ferry started to speed up I was actually feeling much better. And I found it fun!  It took 45 minutes to travel from Batam to Singapore. Suddenly, an announcement with a hoarse voice was made, "We had reached our destination".

P.s. It may sound like I am old, but I am NOT. I am from a middle income family. So it was cheaper to take a ship and sailed all the way from Kalimantan to Sumatra, from one island to another. Air Tickets were so ex then. I went to Singapore in 2004 which was after the SARs disease broke out.