February 17, 2006. At night. Not an ordinary night. Little Lion and Berry Bear were having some intense moments over the Yahoo Messenger. Words went back and forth. Heads cracking. Hearts pumping. Time was moving on. Finally, a decision was made. Bear would go to Dumai to meet up with Little Lion's parents. Yet another crazy move by the Berry Bear!
February 18, 2006. Bear drove all the way to Melaka. Bear was not that familiar with Melaka and had no idea where the ferry terminal to Dumai was. After a few stops, asking a few people, Bear eventually found the jetty. His first reaction was: "What a horrid place!" If KL has the magnificent KLIA, Bear was expecting the Melaka Jetty would not be too far away in terms of standard. The complex looked just like a godown. What a shame!
Anyway, Bear had no idea how that whole ferry thingy system works. He parked the Bearmobile and walked to the first stall that had the "Melaka-Dumai" words written. Bear simply had taken a risk to go there at that hour but Bear was blessed as the person behind the counter informed him that there was a ferry leaving for Dumai at 3:00pm. At the same time, the person was kind enough to patiently explain to Bear about the ferry service. Now Bear is an expert on ferry service to Dumai from Melaka... kind of...
The next task was to find a good parking space since Bear would have to leave the Bearmobile there for a few days. The first parking spot looked a bit dodgy so Bear drove the Bearmobile out and found an empty spot along some rows of shops. However, there was a person loitering there, glancing at the Bearmobile. Bear walked away for only about 100 meters and then decided to look for a new parking spot. Bear would not simply leave everything to chance! Finally, Bear found a spot in front of a marine police station. That should be safe enough.
The ferry that took Bear to Dumai
By 2:30 pm Bear got on the ferry after waiting under a shade provided by the godown look alike jetty in the middle of a steaming hot afternoon since 2:00 pm. The ferry was supposed to sail at 3:00 pm. That was what the person behind the counter said and that was what printed on the ticket. Nevertheless, the ferry stood still until 4:00 pm. Bear hated that seemingly never ending wait but then all the hatred went away when Bear thought of his Little Lion.
They served a little container of cold fried noodle and a cup of packed mineral water on the ferry. Bear was not hungry but then Bear did not like to waste food so the noodle was gobbled and washed down the throat with the mineral water. The rest of the 2 hour plus journey was nothing but some faded memories to Bear since he was totally engaged with dozing off to the the slight sway of the ferry cutting through the calm water of the Strait of Malacca.
5:00+ pm local time, Bear set foot for the first time on the land of Dumai. Dumai is where Little Lion was born and it was a proud moment for Bear to be there on that historical day. Shortly after Bear went passed the immigration check point, his phone rang. Papa Lion was on the other end...
Part 2 - An Evening In Dubai
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