Everytime we had to go out of the house (from Singapore) to go somewhere else, to shop or eat, we had to take the train. And each train ride is an experience of being with a lot of foreigners. I remember regarding Singapore as a transit country. A place where people just pass by. I had this idea in mind because there was no distinctive characteristic for you to associate with a native Singaporean. Everyone looked like they were foreigners of Singapore and no one was native.
By now, I believe I can already live in Singapore without getting lost. Naks! Asa pa! (Wow! Dream on!) I usually get lost in Philippines, even in my own hometown, I cannot seem to remember a single place. But, though this is the case, I loved the trains of Singapore and its places, that is why I remember every place we've been into and the station names. Not only am I bragging about my own good memory, but a lot of jokes and laughs made me remember details of each ride we took.
I remember, the longest ride we had inside the train was around 27-30 minutes moving from one train to another. There were lots of Indians inside and most of them were quite smelly, but I do not remember having had that bad experience. Some of our companions even said that they observed that people who ride the train carry with them a 'whiteflower' that they use to rub under their noses whenever a smelly Indian would come in. I never had a recollection that I saw this even once while in the train because my honey and I spent all the time laughing and/or appreciating the view outside.
The funniest thing I remember during a train travel was about this Chinese newspaper that a man across me was reading. I had a moment of pause and was speculating this newspaper.. kinda thinking of what could be the content found in that paper. There were three big images in the front page. After a rare moment of silence, my honey asked me..
"Sa tingin mo anong headline niyang dyaryo na yan?" The first image there was on the header part. I looked at it with speculation, and tried to muster all the funny thoughts I had to give it a funny headline, but gave up a little later. All I was looking at was a guy smiling.
He said, "Alam mo kung anong headline niyan?… (Mike Enriquez tone) Lalaki.. nakangiti!" All of a sudden, we burst into uncontrollable laughter. It no longer mattered if we were damn too noisy in that train! Heck do I care, we are just in transit!!!
Of course, we looked like we were crying our hearts out from laughing, then I saw the next picture. It was a lady that was looking very perky enough in pink (also smiling). Then without warning, I asked him back, "Eh ano naman sabi ng babaeng naka-pink?"
He replied in question, "Ano?" In an almost inaudible tone (cause by too much laughing), I said that the picture of the lady in pink was in response to the Lalaking nakangiti was, "(Mike Enriquez tone) Aba'y oo nga!" And then we let out another round of uncontrollable laughter. Noisy or not, heck we're just having a good time!
And the next time, I see a man smiling, or even just a piece of newspaper, that's what I recall… The man was laughing and that seemed to be a big deal, 'coz it was in the headlines!!! Hahahaha…