Another perspective...

Aug 14th

( cockroach )

So, I was just standing there, checking them out, listening to them talk about their day - how their bus broke down on the way from Melaka to Kuala Lumpur, the smell of burnt rubber assailing their nostrils until the bus driver finally pulled over, smoke billowing from the bus, and then how another bus picked them up, 30 minutes later...

... and took them to the exhaust-filled central bus station where someone tried to open the woman's backpack as they bought their tickets onward in advance, then got ripped off for a taxi to their hostel, which turned out to have lovely hosts but be just a shade too grimy compared to the first two, and how they'd managed to miss lunch, eat only snacks, have it pour when they were ready to go out, have taxi after taxi refuse to turn on the meter and try to charge them 15RM for what was a 8RM drive, nearly get run over walking to Times Square instead, where they finally found a Kenny Rogers Roasters for dinner, a Borders bookstore to look through and a theme park to make the little one happy - when SUDDENLY the little one turned, saw me, and screamed....

The man grabbed his shoes, put them on - I ran right there - and tried to step on me. But I was quicker. I ran up under the pipes and stayed there as I heard him go downstairs and ask the night manager to come up and get rid of me. When he brought the great big can of bug bomb up, I knew it was time to skidaddle...

I don't think any of us had a very good night's sleep :P