Two weeks ago, I was sent up to Red Beach for my hospital placement. Prior to this, I have never heard of or been to Red Beach before. Thanks to the advance technology, I can use Google Maps to plan my journey. When I had a look at it, it says that it will take about 1 hour 10 minutes one-way. There isn't any bus stop nearby the medical centre, so I had to walk 30 minutes to the medical centre. Fortunately, my journey was cut short as my supervisor offered me a ride from the bus stop to the medical centre.
On the way home, I was confused by the bus number. There were two buses of the same number but with different places that it was heading to. The buses were an hour apart, which means if I missed one that I am supposed to ride, I will need to wait for 2 hours for the right one. What happened was that I went up to the wrong bus. Since I am not familiar with the road, I relied on my phone GPS to show me the direction. I thought I was fine because I have mobile data to chat with my friends on the bus in case I was lost!
Unexpectedly, my phone battery died. People in the bus are getting lesser and lesser. The sky was getting darker too. The road was getting hilly and narrow. I had a feeling that I am definitely in the wrong bus now. The bus eventually stopped at the final station. The bus driver asked me "are you not going to get down at this station?" I replied "I'm actually heading to Smales Farm but I think I'm lost." She was shocked. "Oh you poor thing! We are far away from Smales Farm now. We went the other way and this is the final station for this bus route." I just looked at her blankly. I was afraid. I was feeling tired as well. I was stressed with the final project work and assignments too. I can't deal with all these unnecessary stress. I just wanted to cry. At that time, I was hoping for someone to just hug me and say everything will be alright. You know how dangerous it is in Malaysia if I am in this kind of situation.
The bus driver took me down the bus and bought me a coffee. She said "everything will be fine." I am guessing that she probably noticed the word "stress" written on my face. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened my eyes, I saw this.
The sound of waves and the smell of the salty ocean is actually what I remember most from this.
After 35 minutes of wait, the bus returned to the bus stop where I got on. And she held my hand and walked me to the correct bus and notified the bus driver to drop me at Smales Farm. Although it took me 3-4 hours to get home, I have gained something. This experience made me realised that I was anxious about the future and regretted about the past events that I have neglected the present. Recalling back, I actually enjoyed the coffee and the short talk with the bus driver while having to look out at such a beautiful view. I suppose we all made mistakes, so forget about the past and move on with life. In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't make.
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