What a way to end my posting in Bintulu! This happened in the final week of my posting there.
After a long weekend in Brunei, I drove back to Bintulu on Boxing Day. As I arrived in Bintulu, I got a flat tyre and did not realise it until it was too late; my tyre was damaged beyond use! So shopped around for a new tyre and it was almost twice the price it would be sold here in Brunei. So I thought, no, I was not going to get it and then I tried to find a second-hand, or retreaded, tyre, but to no avail. So I thought I might take a risk and not get a spare tyre. I thought to myself, what would the chance of getting a flat tyre twice in a week be, since I had not gotten any at all while driving to and fro Bintulu every weekend.
How wrong I was later proven! And people always say do not ever tempt fate. So on my final drive from Bintulu, I got a flat tyre! On the same side, on the same wheel! Lucky that I got it where there was civilisation; if not I would have gotten it among the palm oil plantations and probably got robbed by the often illegal immigrants who worked for the plantations. As civilised as it got, the place still lacked a mobile phone reception. So here I was, in the middle of a foreign place, with no spare tyre and no means to contact anyone for help. So I thought I might try my charms and stop other drivers for help. Many cars, Bruneian ones included, passed by without any intention to stop. Great! Such a friendly place! (well, I was warned when I first started in Bintulu not to stop for anyone when someone tried to flag me down, especially when driving alone in the middle of the palm oil plantation and I would probably think twice before I stop for myself). Alas, a car full of a family stopped and advised me to go to the nearest town about 10km away. Spent another 5 minutes trying to get help before deciding to find a spot with some mobile phone reception. So there I was, driving a car with a flat tyre at 30km per hour, while hoping no serious damage was done to the car and the wheel. Saw a surau somewhere and thought I might get some help there. But the surau turned out to be just a hut and it looked like it had not been used for a while now. So continued driving till I reached some fruit stalls and asked if the people there could help. And again no help, no mobile phone reception and no spare tyre. Decided to drive further on, driving for a total of probably 5km from the spot where I got the flat tyre.
I got to a place where there was a shop and a signboard clearly seen from the road. I reasoned that if someone were to find me, it would be better to have something easy to spot. Alas, there was some mobile phone reception, but just. The reception kept going AWOL and I somehow managed to call home to summon help.
There I was then waiting for 2 hours before someone came to help. But the 2 hours did not just went pass by quietly. I was playing hide and seek with the rain; the rain came I went into the car and the rain wnet away I left the car for fresh air. And the shop where I stopped at was apparently a watering hole, so over the 2 hours many people came and left; many left slightly intoxicated. And at one point someone had to be carried away by his friends as he was probably unconcious from too much drinking. Obviously there were many curious glances towards my direction, but I tried my best to ignore them. During the 2 hours the mobile phone reception was playing hide and seek with me too. There were instances when I got 10 sms'es at once, as they were sent while the mobile phone reception was missing. And when it was available, someone would call me and I could only mutter "hello" before the mobile phone service went dead again.
My family (not all of them, mind you!) came to my rescue. It was getting dark before I continued my drive back to Brunei, under the watchful eyes of 2 cars escorting me.
Apparently, I just had to leave Bintulu with a bang!
After a long weekend in Brunei, I drove back to Bintulu on Boxing Day. As I arrived in Bintulu, I got a flat tyre and did not realise it until it was too late; my tyre was damaged beyond use! So shopped around for a new tyre and it was almost twice the price it would be sold here in Brunei. So I thought, no, I was not going to get it and then I tried to find a second-hand, or retreaded, tyre, but to no avail. So I thought I might take a risk and not get a spare tyre. I thought to myself, what would the chance of getting a flat tyre twice in a week be, since I had not gotten any at all while driving to and fro Bintulu every weekend.
How wrong I was later proven! And people always say do not ever tempt fate. So on my final drive from Bintulu, I got a flat tyre! On the same side, on the same wheel! Lucky that I got it where there was civilisation; if not I would have gotten it among the palm oil plantations and probably got robbed by the often illegal immigrants who worked for the plantations. As civilised as it got, the place still lacked a mobile phone reception. So here I was, in the middle of a foreign place, with no spare tyre and no means to contact anyone for help. So I thought I might try my charms and stop other drivers for help. Many cars, Bruneian ones included, passed by without any intention to stop. Great! Such a friendly place! (well, I was warned when I first started in Bintulu not to stop for anyone when someone tried to flag me down, especially when driving alone in the middle of the palm oil plantation and I would probably think twice before I stop for myself). Alas, a car full of a family stopped and advised me to go to the nearest town about 10km away. Spent another 5 minutes trying to get help before deciding to find a spot with some mobile phone reception. So there I was, driving a car with a flat tyre at 30km per hour, while hoping no serious damage was done to the car and the wheel. Saw a surau somewhere and thought I might get some help there. But the surau turned out to be just a hut and it looked like it had not been used for a while now. So continued driving till I reached some fruit stalls and asked if the people there could help. And again no help, no mobile phone reception and no spare tyre. Decided to drive further on, driving for a total of probably 5km from the spot where I got the flat tyre.
I got to a place where there was a shop and a signboard clearly seen from the road. I reasoned that if someone were to find me, it would be better to have something easy to spot. Alas, there was some mobile phone reception, but just. The reception kept going AWOL and I somehow managed to call home to summon help.
There I was then waiting for 2 hours before someone came to help. But the 2 hours did not just went pass by quietly. I was playing hide and seek with the rain; the rain came I went into the car and the rain wnet away I left the car for fresh air. And the shop where I stopped at was apparently a watering hole, so over the 2 hours many people came and left; many left slightly intoxicated. And at one point someone had to be carried away by his friends as he was probably unconcious from too much drinking. Obviously there were many curious glances towards my direction, but I tried my best to ignore them. During the 2 hours the mobile phone reception was playing hide and seek with me too. There were instances when I got 10 sms'es at once, as they were sent while the mobile phone reception was missing. And when it was available, someone would call me and I could only mutter "hello" before the mobile phone service went dead again.
My family (not all of them, mind you!) came to my rescue. It was getting dark before I continued my drive back to Brunei, under the watchful eyes of 2 cars escorting me.
Apparently, I just had to leave Bintulu with a bang!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment