:: Travel :: Dear Pontianak Bukit Tinggi, thanks for not showing your face to me ::

Azman and I went sight seeing at Bukit Tinggi in Pahang last Saturday. Following the Hijrah calendar, it was actually our anniversary! I can’t believe that I have been married for one whole year? Wow!

Bukit Tinggi is just about one and a half hour drive away KL. It lies some 2,500 feet above sea level but it was warmer that I expected it to be. After the long winding road, we reached the ticket booth and they charge RM 16 for adults and RM 8 for children below twelve. That was RM32 for the both of us.

Colmar Tropicale at the top is a bunch of (poyo) buildings from a north-eastern village in France dating back to the 16th Century. I have to admit that they were quite pretty.

The programs they offered at Colmar Tropicale were frustrating. I don’t know what the 16 bucks for. You still need to pay quite an expensive price for karaoke, bowling, even for using the battered pool table. The only thing that was free is the live band show, but the singers looked like anorexic prostitutes and they sounded like those American Idol wannabes from Seattle. I would rather not watch for the sake of maintaining my healthy appetite.

There were a few side walk cafes and restaurant but they weren’t inviting at all. There was a clown but all it could do was make stupid animals out of balloons. I mean hey!! You are a clown; you gotta do some juggling or ride a cycle or something.

We didn’t take long time strolling at Colmar Tropicale. The drive to Japanese Garden took only 5 minutes away. The garden was actually on the other side of the hill and it was surprisingly raining over there!

First we went to check out the Japanese Garden and I think it’s very unique, very different from the rest. I like the small but deep pools with colorful koi swimming around. I wish we can have something like this in our house. The Japanese Garden offered a facility for renting kimonos and that costs RM20.00 per person. There is also a spa but it was closed for the day.

The time was already 5.00pm. We were taking our time enjoying the fresh and cool air while taking lotsa pictures too. Next too the Japanese Garden, going down the slope of the hill was the Botanical Garden. I was a bit hesitant to enter but Azman was pretty keen. Both gardens were actually a small piece of land nicely landscaped but completely surrounded or fenced by dense jungle. No kidding! Just check out the tall trees in this picture.

The time that was getting late and the sky that was drizzling lightly; making the atmosphere very misty, almost romantic. It was getting darker. As we walked down the cobblestone steps admiring some exotic plants; we heard a short rustling sound in the heavy shrubs about 5 steps down ahead of us. The shrubs were stirring lightly. Assuming that was perhaps caused by a monkey shocked by the two Homo sapiens, we proceed happily.

But there was this green twig; horizontally about 2 feet long; with about 6 or seven large leaves growing from it had grabbed our attention. It was swaying tad too violently.

In fact it had been shaking violently non stop for a full one minute. No other leaf or flower or branch around it was moving and the wind was not blowing at all. The twig kept on swaying. Azman and I completely stopped at our track and just stared at the freaking twig. I was searching for the cheeky monkey. Nope, no monkey around. The twig continued to move. Left right left right; it never loose its momentum. Can a plant be so flexible? Can it be so bouncy? The twig was still shaking. The magnitude of its movement did not decrease even the smallest degree.

So we stand there staring at the dark bushes waiting for the twig to stop shaking. Or at least just appear to stop shaking. But it didn’t. Three minutes had passed. That’s when I should just slap Azman on the mouth. He said

“Why is the twig not stopping? Hey, I think it’s a ghost over there!”

like, why are there so many reporters? Hey, I think its Britney Spears over there.

I didn’t say a word; I just stared at the frail little branch and its leaves. And the twig swayed continuously. I hate the fact that what Azman said was begining to insanely making sense. Yes, Supernatural is my favorite TV program but I believe in science and can somebody pls tell me how can that thin twig kept on swaying so aggressively when the whole thick equatorial jungle around it was standing still???

Right when Azman expressed his very smart opinion one more time, I shrugged, told him he was being ridiculous and continued walking while the twig continues shaking nevertheless.

Four to five steps down, I looked over my shoulder at the spot and the tiny branch had joined the rest of its leafy friends being still. It has stop moving. Totally. Not an inch. Not even a little jiggy-jiggy. Freaking weird.

I don’t know about Azman but while we walked through Botanical Garden, I just couldn’t get my scientific mind to stop analyzing the situation. On the steps while we were climbing out of the garden suddenly I heard praaakkk! A very loud sound from atop the trees and all I realized was Azman pulling my hand to run before a huge, yes this time it’s a huge wooden branch fell almost on the spot that we were walking.

Could have fallen on top of our heads.

Not until when we were in the car, driving back home, the discussion about the shaking twig was brought up. I was surprisingly not afraid, maybe because my husband was beside me; but Azman was still in need of a good slap on the mouth. He was bitching on and on about forgetting to video tape the whole thing and it could have been really good to feature the video on our blog.

On Monday at the office, I told my mates about my xfiles experience and my boss casually told us that at the Japanese Garden, sighting of a pontianak happened once too many times. Only at that moment, the hair behind my neck raised eerily.

I am quite a skeptic but I honestly cannot figure out the incident and I just wanna take the opportunity, to say that

“Dear Pontianak Bukit Tinggi, if you happen to read this that means my blog’s rating is getting higher and I thank you very much for not showing your face to me. And if you were the one intended to drop the heavy branch on top of my head the other day, I hope you won’t do that anymore, it’s not very nice”