Thursday, February 4, 2016

The Hitchhiker II: Motorcycle Vs Car (顺风车)

May I ask you?

“What is the difference between a motorcycle compare to a car in view of ghostly passengers?”

Still cannot get the joke?

“Well, a motorcycle can only carry one, but a car can carry many!”

If you still do not believe me, then below are two stories about ghostly hitchhikers, the first is mine and the later told to me by another taxi driver:

Story 1: Free Ride On Honda 70

When I first graduated from a technical college in Ipoh some 20 years ago, I got a job in Ipoh Industrial Estate as a project coordinator. I rented a house in a housing estate off the Perak state ministry of education. At that time, I couldn’t afford a car, so I bought a second-hand Honda 70 motorcycle as my transportation.

Every day I would need to pass through a small road between a secondary school and a Malay cemetery before turning into the Kuala Kangsar Road proper. Everything was just routines except that I didn’t like the feeling when passing through the cemetery in the midst of the night especially during raining when I was on night shift. Some intelligent folks would call pass mid-nightshift as ‘graveyard’ somehow…

Everything was okay until a few months after I started my work. The experience always happened at night when I returned from my nightshifts and on entering the road beside the cemetery. Just a few seconds after my bike entered the road, I could feel something or someone suddenly jumped onto my back or at times my shoulders. I could feel it because I could hear a ‘tub’ sound as if something suddenly landed onto the bike or my shoulder. At the same time, my shoulder or bike would suddenly feel heavy and I would instinctively swing my bike handle to balance off the load.

At first I thought I was sick as that was the feeling whenever I am coming down with flu until one night…

That was just any other night that my bike has just ‘taken load’ and I was trying to balance the motorcycle. Suddenly, Ahmed who was the factory technician suddenly drove past me and gave me a queer glance. After that he hinted me to stop by a coffee shop for a cup of tea. It wasn’t anything unusual as Ahmed and I used to go out for lunch.

A few minutes later, Ahmed stared at me for a while as I was sipping my tea. He finally broke silence:

“Do you believe in ghost?”

“Why do you ask this in the wee hours like this?”

Ahmed continued:

“Well. One just rode on your shoulder just now. I was following your bike about 20 feet away and there was a white object just at the entrance of the cemetery. It suddenly became elongated and veered towards your bike and finally landed onto your shoulder! It was lucky that you didn’t fall.”

Apparently Ahmed’s words was a little premature, a few days later, I fell from my bike and broke my limbs. Upon recovery, I resigned and left Ipoh.

Story 2: Free Ride On A Taxi

This is a story told to me by a former taxi driver named Lee now self made Feng Shui master.

Lee was a taxi driver used to ply between Ipoh and Taiping. Unlike other taxi drivers, Lee would bring his passengers to small and isolated locations between the towns. One evening, just a few days before the Chinese ghost month; Lee dropped a few passengers in Liman Kati, Kuala Kangsar. As when his taxi passed through a Chinese cemetery, an old lady stopped him at the entrance of the cemetery and asking for a ride. She wanted to go to Kuala Kangsar town and Lee agreed and the old lady hopped on.

After driving for a few hundred yards, an old man with two small children waved at Lee’s taxi. As usual, Lee stopped for the passengers. At this point, Lee thought that it would be too cramp for 4 people to sit at the back, so he invited one to sit beside the driver’s seat; all of them somehow declined. Though Lee felt strange, he didn’t insist.

So, Lee continued to drive and started to chat with his passengers. At first the conversations were pretty good but as the taxi exit the cemetery area, Lee found that he was talking to himself; whatever questions Lee threw to his passengers, no one responded.

After a while, Lee felt strange and he looked in his rear mirror. To his horror, there was no one there in the backseat!

Of course, I didn’t believe Lee’s story but choose to share it with you. Perhaps you too have similar experiences?
  

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