First of all there is a lot more crime in Malaysia we did not take any jewelry with us, watches, wedding rings etc... were all left in Singapore. Our passports and Singapore ID cards were securely locked and on our bodies at all times. The cash we brought with us was divided between Scott and I so if one got robbed we would still have some.
We have been warned about Malaysia and the crime so we decided not to drive ourselves. It is well known that the police in Malaysia sometimes target Singapore plates and give you a ticket but if you pay them like $300.00 they can make the ticket go away. We did not want to deal with anything like that so we traveled in a group by taking a bus.
The thing is.... once we got to our town, Kuala Rompin we were the only people to get off the bus, so there we were, four very white, very non Muslim looking people in the middle of this little town and not a cab was in site.
Scott asked the bus driver if there would be a cab coming by and the driver pointed to a square slab of cement and said the cab stand is there and yes, a cab will come, you just have to wait.
So we waited but we definitely stood out and were feeling a bit uncomfortable just knowing all the stories we have heard.
It was not long and a man approached us, instantly I did not feel comfortable with him, he just gave me the creeps, but we thought maybe he was the cab driver, he asked us where we were heading, Scott told him. The man said, "oh no problem, I have a car right over there, you can just follow me and get into my car and I will take you to your destination for only $20.00."
At this point we realized this is NOT a cab driver, all sorts of things were going through our heads, but we knew we were in a public place, there were about 40 people waiting for buses not far from us. We simply told the man "no" we will not get into your car, we will wait here for a cab.
The man then told us that no cabs would come here and that we needed to walk to a different cab station so why don't we just get into his car and he will drive us to our destination. While Scott and the boys were assuring this man that there was no way we were going to walk to his car, I saw a nice looking woman with a bright pink shirt and a white head covering, she looked safe to me so I approached her. She did not speak much English but did understand "taxi" and understood that I was asking her if one would come to where we were, she said yes they will come just wait.
Well the guy got the message and decided to walk away from us, about 10 minutes later a taxi did come. It is amazing this thing even ran, lets just say it was a very interesting ride to the resort but we were happy to get away from the man with the golden bug eyes. Before our family got into the cab, Scott took down the license plate on his Black Berry and e-mailed it to my parents "just in case".
As you can tell we were nervous. When we arrived at the resort, it wasn't exactly what we were expecting, with some mold growing and we were all on edge. It took us a bit to settle down and relax and actually enjoy ourselves.
Before going home we had the hotel call us a cab to get back to the bus station, we were pleased that a nice cab came to pick us up and were feeling better about our trip. The bus station was full of people waiting and then we spotted him, the man with the golden bug eyes was back! He was passing out cigarettes to the young boys at the station and he waved to our family and approached Scott to ask if we had a paid ticket. When he found out that we had a paid ticket he basically left us alone.
I so badly wanted a picture of him as he and his ride offer was such a big part of our trip. Then we saw his car, the boys started cracking up as it is totally not like any of the other cars and just added to the creepiness of the situation. When we got on the bus, I had an opportunity to take some pictures from the bus window.
Here is his car.
WOW! My false anxiety levels were rising just reading this. The whole time I'm thinking, there is nothing I can do to help them! Glad you all are safe. :)
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