"ABOVE THE BORDER"

Educational article

Seven years ago, I wrote about an unpleasant incident that happened to me while traveling. This will be the “first” part of my article. The story goes:

I decided to tell this story intentionally, with the aim of "Knowing what happens!", as it is instructive for anyone who is interested in traveling and planning to travel across the country with a backpack.

For me, any trip is classified as long or short. A short trip lasts no more than 10 days, while a long trip lasts 14 or more days, and I plan to see a lot of strange things at once. Even for this, I spend a certain amount of time and try to prepare the necessary things in a systematic and meticulous manner. However, there are always things that can be a lesson for myself and others, and things that are worth remembering. When it comes to unpleasant things, it may be due to ignorance of the laws and regulations of a country, or it may be due to our own carelessness, but it is often noticed that they are caused by the bad habits of the person.

In the summer of 2018, several of our travelers decided to take another trip to Southeast Asia, including a trip from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and a few days back to Singapore. As we know, there are two options for traveling from Singapore to Malaysia: by plane or by bus. The plane is cheaper than the bus, and it takes just over an hour to get to our destination quickly, but this time, we chose a tourist bus, which was relatively comfortable and we preferred to see things from place to place. One of the reasons for this was that there was an international and intercity transportation agency operating next to the hotel in Singapore, and all kinds of colorful advertisements and promotional materials were also influential to some extent. Our trip went as planned, and we spent a few pleasant days in Malaysia and then got back on the same bus to return to Singapore.

Travel around beautiful places, not just tall towers and boulevards! Especially #UNESCO-listed places are a truly beautiful feeling.

Now let's get to the main point:

But this time, I don't know if the bus driver was being too strict with the rules or if it was just me, but after traveling for more than 8 hours without getting off, and we were still sitting in our seats, exhausted and sleepy, we finally arrived at the Singapore border.

Of course, it goes without saying that the bus was full of travelers from all over the world. They were also very tired and exhausted, as you could see from their faces. They kept checking their time and sighed from time to time. Some of them seemed hungry and thirsty. To be honest, this time: “They used to fly by plane!” Why hide the secret thought that arose from time to time? Because I am a person with a bad habit of smoking. While smokers want to quit smoking and make various attempts to fight their bad habit every day, I have already reached the age of forty, considering smoking as one of the pleasures of life and not despising it at all. In general, for me, the first thing I pay attention to when going on any trip is, more than anything else, whether I have cigarettes and whether I will have enough.

We arrived at the border at dawn, took our luggage off the bus, and walked slowly, my friends leading the way, and I following behind them, and just entered the Singapore border checkpoint. As is customary in many places, while tourists enter the border checkpoint, the bus went in first and waited for the tourists behind. But suddenly, a faint signal sounded, and the customs inspector pointed at my small suitcase with his finger:

- “What's inside?”

-“Open it!” he said commandingly. I said:

- “Clothes are cheap, they're temporary!” he said, opening his suitcase. In fact, he didn't remember anything.

-“Cigarettes were found on you!”

"Will you follow me?" the commanding words of a man with a serious face in a police uniform seemed to have just woken me up. Actually, when I went through customs, I would put my cigarettes in my luggage, and if I went by land, I would give them to my companions. I was relatively experienced in this regard compared to others, but this time I had completely forgotten everything. I didn't even bother to remember it! Perhaps it was because there were fewer buses at dawn and the border checkpoint was relatively light, and a few of their employees, who had less work to do, were just as eager as the old man from the building who had been doing this job faithfully all his life, as if he had caught a bigger fish or discovered drugs:

-“Cigarette! Cigarette!”

"I can still see him shouting loudly, pushing me forward and walking quickly like a madman."

I was sleepy and wanted to smoke a cigarette. It was very strange for me to get on the bus and go through the checkpoint. All the tourists had already got back on the bus, but my husband was standing alone behind the checkpoint, waiting for me. I had five unopened packs of cigarettes. I was taken to the checkpoint and questioned. According to their law, if five packs of cigarettes were counted, you would be fined about $100 (Singapore dollars).

They first checked the nicotine content, inspected the place of manufacture, and thoroughly analyzed my cigarettes, confirming that they were oral tobacco. No matter how hard I tried to explain, it was no use. They just officially determined that they were regular cigarettes, not cigarettes of any kind. They took away a mere 15 minutes from me. I thought to myself that I would rather pay the minimum penalty, the fine, and get rid of this thing, but it seems clear that they won't get rid of me that easily.

Therefore, everything is according to established law, so after that:

· Who is this person?

· Where did you enter this country with cigarettes, why, and for what purpose?

· What are you doing?

etc., and after recounting almost the entire story of their lives, I read their protocols. I also waited for permission from their superiors for another 30 minutes. After that, they began to tell me their golden lessons about smoking, one after another.

I was very worried about the long wait for the busload of tourists, and I couldn’t think of a way to get away from them, but I tried my best to hold on to one hand and not act any less. Soon, the bus driver and other tourists lost their patience, and some of them were standing outside, angry, and the driver told them that he had decided to leave. Until then, my husband and I were the only ones who could hold the driver back with all our strength.

Finally, the judges concluded their golden lesson with love:

-“Pay the fine! or “Destroy your cigarette in front of everyone!” I was given two choices, and I listened to a lot of advice, so I preferred to destroy it myself, so I did it in front of them. So I tried to leave, but it didn’t happen. It seemed like the bus was moving. For the first time, I was truly angry and disgusted with my cigarette. Finally, I, a poor person who had committed the act of destroying cigarettes, left my fingerprints and fingerprints in several places, ran out of the examination room and ran to the bus, stopped many people, begged, knelt down, and entered through the door, followed by my wife and younger brother, who were standing there, their faces as red as plums from their suffering.

Now that I think about it, I've never bowed before. For some reason, bowing in front of others is a common phenomenon among Asians, but I, a Mongolian, have come this far without the arrogance of saying, "I don't have the slightest need to do that!" But for the first time, under the hateful, hungry, and exhausted gazes of those black, yellow, and white-skinned tourists, I couldn't help but bow and ask for forgiveness, clasping my hands together.

Even when I was embarrassed and embarrassed, I couldn't even say anything. A European woman with a body that couldn't turn around when she looked at people out of the corner of her eye, a paralyzed Indian sister who was sipping water from her mouth, a hot man from somewhere with a suit that was so tight that he could barely stand up, a hot young man who said, "I'll hit you without a fight!"

In the midst of all this, I silently walked through the corridor of the auditorium, leaving my wife and younger brother behind, trying to reach my seat. It felt extremely difficult and hot, as if the narrow corridor was too long, and the dim blue light of the sky was shining directly on me.

There is a sequel..

Hong Kong 2018–08–04