Sunday, June 19, 2016

Gui Lou Vs Ghost (鬼佬与鬼)


Cantonese like to call a foreigner ‘gui lou’ or ‘ghost man’ since foreigners come to Guangdong Province now and back in history. Since we have read that Asians probably can’t cope with western ghosts very well, can a ‘gui lou’ tackle Asian ghosts instead? I am sure that would be an interesting thought. Anyway, just hold on to this thought and let me continue and tell me your opinion at the end of the story:

I used to have a habit to linger in Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur while I was staying in Subang Jaya. So happened that my pal has a budget hotel in Petaling Street, so I would just spend a night at his hotel when it was too late to take a bus back. Of course I didn’t need a room to spend a night but just a couch or armchair would be sufficient.

The hotel receptionist counter was situated under a staircase and my pal was kind enough to put an armchair there for me to rest. So while I was sleeping in the background, the receptionist would be sitting in front of the counter overseeing hotel guests and visitors from entering and leaving.

One night as I was lying in the chair, a Chinese couple came to the front desk to rent a room and the receptionist gave them Room 3-11; and the couple checked in happily.

About half past one in the morning, the Chinese couple rushed to the front desk scantily cladded to complaint that there were ‘something’ running in their room. According to the couple, while they were soundly asleep, they heard footsteps of people running around their bed. The man switched on the desk light but found nothing was wrong so they continued to sleep. About half an hour later, the couple felt that their blanket was yanked by some external force. Both of the came out from their bed to investigate. And again, they found nothing… So they demanded to switch room.

On hearing the complaint, the receptionist, Mr. Ooi nodded his head and call the porter to assist the agitated couple to move to another room.

I thought the incident was over so I continued to sleep while Mr. Ooi doze off over the desk.

Not long after that, a British couple came to the front desk to look for a room. The good old Mr. Ooi gave them Room 3-11 and the couple left the front desk and headed towards Room 3-11…

After the British couple was out of sight, Mr. Ooi turned his head and whispered to me:

“Let’s see if the ‘gui lou’ have any problems!”

Out of curiosity, I asked Mr. Ooi: “What about Room 3-11?”

“Oh, someone committed suicide in the room last year and it is haunted!” Said Mr. Ooi.

I couldn’t really sleep that night, so after the British couple checked in; I started to chat with Mr. Ooi.

It was 5am and I felt thirsty and thought of going down the street to get some drinks. So I asked Mr. Ooi if I could bring him anything…

Just before I could open my mouth, the British couple rushed to the front desk and complaint about ‘someone jogging upstairs’ throughout the night… They want Mr. Ooi to ask ‘whoever upstairs’ stop exercising…

After some assurance, the British couple went back to the room.

At this point, Mr. Ooi turned his head towards me and said: “Looks like even gui lou cannot communicate with gui (ghost)… Hahaha…”

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