Though it's just Malaysia which is so near to Singapore, going somewhere is better than going nowhere at all.
Off I go! Happily packed my luggage and boarded the coach at Golden Mile Tower. It's a night coach and the journey started at 10.30pm. The seats are sooo comfortable! Great for sleeping. They have the airplane kind of watch movie play games system. Pretty cool for a bus. You can even adjust the backrest and leg rest accordingly. HUGE amount of leg space. For the head rest area, there's tiny ledges sticking out on both sides so that your head can rest against it. gd gd. Very gd.
Since it's at night, of course I went to sleep. Zzz
1.30am.
I'm sleeping.
3.00am.
Still sleeping.
5.00am.
Happily sleeping.
6.30am.
Not sleeping happily anymore because...
SUDDENLY! I felt the bus skid on the road and the world seemed to turn upside down. *Knock here knock there. AHHHHH
KONSORTIUM BUS CRASHES!
into the drain when driving up the mountain. O_O Thank God it's still quite a small drain, if not the bus would have landed perpendicularly and it would be so much worse. BUT...according to the hotel receptionist at Cameron Highlands, a small drain does not necessarily mean it's not fatal.
2 years ago, a Thai Bus traveling up to Cameron Highlands crashed into a small drain as well. It was a double decked bus. All the passengers sitting on the upper deck died.
Thank God also that this side of the mountain was covered. If it was a cliff, that would definitely be the end for me. The accident happened so quickly and so suddenly. It dawned upon me that life is so fragile. You can go any moment regardless of age. There were a lot of thoughts in my mind during that short 5s of crashing. I thought of my family and friends. Not even the chance to say goodbye to them if I really couldn't make it back.
Thus the post title: Life is short, death is sudden.
When the bus stopped after it crashes, everyone was so paranoid. What's happening?! Then a thought suddenly flashed my mind. Will the bus explode?
Thank God again, it didn't.
Here is a photo of me waiting outside the severely damaged bus.
Apparently, someone in the bus witnessed what actually happened. The reckless driver was trying to overtake another car in front on the mountain bend. How dangerous is that?!
Another thing that got us so angry was that the driver did not even give us instructions on what to do after it crashes. He did not come to help us get out of the bus. Some of us are stucked in the bus. All he did was to shout at us to get out of the bus quickly. No torchlight provided even. How to get out quickly in that darkness?
Thankfully, there's this old man who came into the bus to help us get out of the bus. He gave prompt instructions on where the exit is and told us to step on the driver's seat in order to jump out. He even stayed in the bus longer to help us find our missing belongings. So..who is this mysterious helpful old man?
He is not one of the passengers.
He is not the driver, obviously.
The irony. This old man is the one the reckless driver was trying to overtake.
This old man even offered to send us to Cameron Highlands as he works there. But we decided to stay as a group and wait for the "saving us" bus.
We were asked if we want to continue going to Cameron Highlands or just return to Singapore. All of us decided to go ahead.
So what did we take out of this accident.
LOTS of Bruises.
This is Ronnie's big bruise on his hip area which probably hit the hard arm rest of the comfortable coach chair. Besides this, he got a cut near his eyebrow too, which received immediate attention by the doctor when we reached Cameron Highlands.
This is me. Sad. I got a 2 bruises on my face. One on the cheek bone which is not obvious but very painful, and the other near the side of my mouth. Pouts.
But still, we had a great holiday! Will blog about my wonderful holiday soon. :)
Wow, thankfully you were ok!!! God's protection. But since then are you not hesitant/scared/more cautious to go on bus coach trips or can/are you still as carefree and happy to keep going? I wonder.
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