I was visibly glum and tired in the hot afternoon at the Aroha station in North Malaysia. Tired because it had been a long day already and Glum because I had only 4 RM in my pocket. I was hungry but I could not afford anything (I hate a hungry stomach). It was only 4pm. There was still half an hour for the train for Kuala Lumpur to arrive. I had nothing to do except reflect on my bad financial decisions in the last week.

Beer in Lekha Lekha : 20 RM ( A bottle of Chivas Regal costed only 40RM in Langkawi Duty Free *Sadness*)
Upper Birth in Train : 7 RM extra
Wrong Package offer in Genting Highland : 15RM
Taxi instead of metro from Petaling : 3 RM
(While the first two can be attributed to recklessness, the last two were purely informational errors.)

Instinctively, I took my wallet out and stared at it as if I was angry. I saw a little greenery in the innermost pocket in my wallet. Curious I looked through it. Voila! Out came a crinkled 1 US Dollar. It was followed by 2 others. Well I almost shrieked! It was unbelievable. I ran and showed it to my teammates who were excited as well. I muttered a thanks to God. What had happened was that I had brought exactly 133 USD to Malaysia. I did not have the heart to convert all my money and conveniently put 3 USD in my wallet. What a smart decision in hindsight. *Pats on back*. Well the story does not end here. To try my luck once more, I jumped in the inner depths of my wallet. And Ladies and Gentlemen there was another light at the end of the tunnel. Out came our very own Rs 100. I don't even remember when I had stored that money. And like this our little tourist was 16 RM rich and was able to buy dark chocolates.

Labels: Malaysia, Memoirs, Serendipity