161. Being followed around by Gintoki from Gintama
The past couple of days during my Malacca getaway were pretty relaxing and fun. The problem was that the heat was a lot less manageable. Malacca weather is certainly not the same as KL. Because KL is surrounded by mountain range, it rains every now and then during the afternoons. Malacca is dryer than KL, as it is flat city by the sea. Upon researching the weather patterns when I was there, it seems like Malacca doesn't really have any seasonality in recent years.
When I was in Malacca, there was this one guy that happened to be in the same places at the same time as me. He had bright white hair and seemed to follow me around everywhere. I didn’t think he was intentionally doing it but it’s just such crazy coincidences that I always see him.
When I was at the club, he was with a friend. The friend came up to me and tried to talk to me. After all, the best places to have a deep and meaningful conversation is inside of a loud and packed nightclub. In the middle of the dance floor, he tried to shout actual sentences into my eardrum before I asked him to write in my notes app to communicate better with me.
It went a little something like this:
My french friend waved her arms frantically and led me away from the guy,
“Nooooo don’t talk to him! He’s French!” She screamed in her obvious French accent. It was so hilarious to hear.
Back when we had a couple of drinks by the riverside, I told her, while on my 2nd pint of beer, that I’ve been trying to avoid French men who are trying to seduce me these days. Good call on her part.
When I got back to KL, I've been getting updates from the friends that I had met back on my second day of my weekend trip. I saw that they were at a coffee shop right next to my apartment and I had time to spare, so I decided to drop by and say hello again before I took the train to get to my writing club.
I was welcomed by cheers and flattering comments by my friends as they saw me come down the escalator.
"Gwapaaaaa", they yelled as I greeted them with waves as I spun around in my dress. I like looking pretty for my friends.
--
When I sat down at the table, all we did was gossip about the cute barista at the counter and talk about their travel plans for the days ahead. We all went to the train station together because they were going to take a look around Batu Caves. As they bought their ticket, I see a white-haired figure in the corner of my eye. I keep seeing this guy everywhere, holy hell. Gintoki from Gintama was basically following me around, and I got kind of sick of it.
I told my friends about him being at the same places at the same time as me, at every little spot in Malacca, and now at the train station, which isn't an uncommon place to see a bunch of travelers, but it just seemed so strange and coincidental. I asked them to take a peek, without attracting any attention. He went up the escalator and out of sight.
"You should go talk to him." they instructed me. I said that I maybe would, if I see him one last time. This was about the 15th time I've seen Gintoki. It just seemed so strange to keep running (not necessarily running) into this man. After a couple minutes of chitchat and salutations, I dropped my friends off at their destination and waved goodbye to them for the last time. They were off to Penang after tomorrow.
As I was going towards my stop, I turned the corner and see this white-haired guy again. He was having trouble with the ticket machine and it seemed like he didn't know where to go. I think if you're clearly a tourist, the best thing to do is to try out the machines, look around a little hesitantly and then ask for help with panicked eyes. Luckily for him, I felt particularly bold and brazened, I just couldn't help myself and went up to him. To be honest, he seemed lost, not ill-intentioned. I figured that if I approached him, especially in a public area, it wouldn't be much of a risk.
"Hello," I greeted him, "Do you need help with the machine?"
"Are you following me?" I asked him after I helped him with his train ticket, "I was in Malacca at the same time as you and I keep seeing you around." I pulled up photos of the club that we were all at.
"No wayyyy~" He also brought up photos of the club on his phone, "That party was nice, no?"
--
He was from Aix-en-Provence and he's a wannabe travel influencer. He dyed his hair bleach white to mimic (I was right from the very start) Gintoki from Gintama. My avoiding French people streak has ceased.
I actually invited him to the pub crawl on Saturday. Let's see if he showed up?
(edit: he did show up. My other French friends were all there and everyone had a good time)
~ not paul sheldon from misery by stephen king,
<3 K