School Stories * Travel Tales * Hotel Happenings

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Preface
Most people have their interesting share of stories about their life experiences from the time of their school
days, their careers, their hobbies, their families, their travels and so on. The unfortunate thing is many
cannot recall in detail the events and happenings which could serve as valuable life lessons to others.
Some find it difficult to put their experiences in words.
School Stories . Travel Tales . Hotel Happenings is a collection of 56 narrative accounts or stories of
the interesting things that happened in the author‟s life. The true stories span over 50 years from the
author‟s school days to his present retirement. There are stories of the hilarious type, the strange and
bizarre, the adventurous, the scary and the thought-provoking. The book is divided into three sections,
namely,
School Stories – There are 20 true life stories pertaining to school, students and teachers.
Travel Tales – 20 narrative accounts of incidents and events that took place during trips and tours locally
and in foreign countries.
Hotel Happenings – 16 stories of actual happenings at hotels, both local and abroad.
Almost all the stories in the book are based on the author‟s direct experiences and encounters. A small
handful comes from the experiences of the author‟s close friends. To protect the privacy and identity of the
persons involved in the stories, names have been changed to fictitious ones but the characters are
nevertheless real persons.
At the end of each of the narrations in School Stories . Travel Tales . Hotel Happenings, is a little reflection
on some life lessons that can be learnt from the story to help the mind grow in understanding and wisdom.
May this book entertain, stimulate and educate.
In terms of Life Wisdom may we all be more awake!
OH TEIK BIN ( [email protected])



School Stories 1
1 I Was Punished …………………………………. .2
2 Is This A Dagger Which I See Before Me? …….5
3 „Oh Danny Boy…‟ ……………………………… 9
4 4 Unforgettable Students ……………………….13
5 A Most Bizarre Thing ………………………….. 18
6 A Most Memorable Teacher‟s Day …………….23
7 An Eccentric Friend …………………………… .27
8 Of Bad Habits And Mannerisms ……………….31
9 Can You Beat That? …………………………….35
10 So Very Panicky … ……………………………...39
11 Of Dreams, Ghosts, Psychic Powers… ……… 44
12 Is There A Demon Within? …………………… 48
13 Unexpected Happenings ………………………. 53
14 What‟s Happening To Our English? …………. 58
15 These Teachers… „Why Like That One?‟ …… 63
16 Of Acronyms, Acrostics & Mnemonics ………. 67
17 Matchmakers Around …………………………. 72
18 I Remember Them… …………………………. 77
19 Difficult Ones, Defiant Ones …………………… 82
20 More School Stories ……………………………. 88

Travel Tales 93
21 A Shock At Madame Tussauds 94
22 „Crisis‟ At The Statue Of Liberty 97
23 An Unusual Couple 101
24 Oh What A Terrific Trip! 105
25 One Cool Tourist 110
26 When My Legs Wobbled… ………………… 116
27 The „Miraculous‟ Dancing Lights …………. 120
Contents

Contents
28 ‘How To Stay Here Lah?’ ………………….. 125
29 A Close ShaveAt The Paris Metro ………… 129
30 It’s In The Mind …………………………….. 134
31 At Beijing – What A Scare! ………………… 139
32 Me A Mental Case? …………………………. 143
33 Fun And Fright At The Zoo ………………… 147
34 Such Uneasy Feelings… …………………….. 152
35 Answering Nature’s Calls …………………… 156
36 Thrills And Fun Second To None …………... 161
37 What An Embarrassment! ………………….. 166
38 Tug At The Heartstrings …………………… 170
39 Of Sedan Chair, Cable Car, Stinky Tofu… … 175
40 More Travel Tales ……………………………. 179
Hotel Happenings 185
41 Begging A ‘Ghost’… ……………………… 186
42 A Scare At A New York Hotel ……………… 189
43 My Schizophrenic Friend …………………… 194
44 Incident At A 5-Star Hotel ………………….. 198
45 Something Is Pressing On Me… …………… 202
46 Where Is Father? …………………………… 206
47 Was It A Haunted Toilet? …………………. 210
48 Lily’s Encounter With A Ghost …………… 214
49 Hanky Panky In A Hotel …………………... 218
50 Ha, Ha, Ha In The Middle Of The Night …. 222
51 ‘Ghosts’ At a Holy Place? ………………….. 227
52 When My Head Began To Spin… ………… 232
53 Imagination Or Reality? …………………… 236
54 Terror At Old Hotels ……………………….. 240
55 Tragic Hotel Happenings …………………... 244
56 More Hotel Happenings ……………………. 248

A Sample Chapter

Chapter 50

Ha! Ha! Ha!
In The
Middle
Of The Night

When I was in my mid-twenties, I went on a trip to Melaka with
5 of my friends. It was a holiday and we wanted to do
sightseeing in Melaka and take it easy. We checked into a 3-
Star hotel and took three twin-sharing rooms.
Melaka is an interesting historical city with much to see,
explore and learn. Among the places we visited were St.
John‟s Fort, St. Paul‟s Hill (A‟Famosa), Jonker Walk, the
Melaka River, Portuguese Square, The Stadthuys, some
Heritage Museums and temples, the Melaka Zoo, Taman Mini
Malaysia and Mini ASEAN. At night, for our dinner we tried the
many types of delicious hawkers‟ food
including some exotic Portuguese and Nyonya dishes.
On the first night of our trip, we went back to the hotel at
around 9.30 pm. We decided to take it easy at the lounge area
before going back to sleep in our rooms. We chit-chatted and
cracked many jokes. Each of us had to contribute some jokes
covering any subject under the sun. Among them were some
hilarious hotel jokes. I still remember some of the following:

* Soh Chye checked into a hotel for the first time in his life, and
went up to his room. Five minutes later he called the reception
and complained, "You've given me a room with no exit. How do I
leave?" The receptionist on duty said , "Sir, that's ridiculous!. Have
you looked for the door?" Soh Chye replied, " Well, there's one
door that leads to the bathroom. There's a second door that goes
into the closet. And there's a door I haven't tried, but it has a 'Do
Not Disturb' sign on it."
* A man lodged a complaint at a cheap hotel. „My room is
swimming in water,‟ he said. „Does the roof always leak like that?‟
„No, sir,‟ replied the receptionist. „Only when it‟s raining.‟
* Miss Ho Oi Lang approached the reception desk of a hotel. A
hotel porter appeared and Oi Llang asked him, „Can you check me
out please?‟
The porter looked her up and down and then commented with a
smile, “Sure baby. You‟re not bad. Not bad at all …”

* Frederick was staying in a hotel with lots of good facilities. On
one occasion he was enjoying the well-equipped swimming pool.
The manager came and told him quite bluntly to get out.
“What is the reason?” Frederick asked the manager.
The manager said, "Because you urinated in the pool." "Well, "
replied Frederick, "lots of people do that."
"True," answered the manager, "but you did it from the diving
board."

* A newly-married couple was getting out of their car and walking
towards the hotel. It was their honeymoon. The new wife felt very
shy that she was on her honeymoon. She turned to her husband
and asked, “Can we do something to hide the fact that we are on
our honeymoon?” The husband thought for a second and replied,
“Honey, you can carry the luggage!”

* The country bumpkin, Ah Gong had never been to the city and he was going to stay at a 5-
Star hotel for the first time. He registered at the reception desk and a bellboy helped him to
check into his room.
Ah Gong said to the bellman, “I refuse to settle for such a small room. No windows, no bed,
and no air conditioning."
"But, Sir!", replied the bellman.
"Don't try to give me excuses," Ah Gong continued. "You can't treat me like I am a fool just
because I come from the countryside, don't travel much, and I‟ve never been to the big city,
and never spent the night at a hotel. I'm going to complain to the manager."
"Sir," the bellman said, "this isn't your room; this is the elevator!"

* Two young businessmen stayed at a large hotel while attending a convention overseas.
Since they were not used to the big city, they were overly concerned about security.
The first night they placed a desk against the door and stacked their luggage on it. To
complete the barricade, they put the trash can on top. They were thinking that if an intruder
tried to get in by breaking the lock , they‟d be sure to hear him first.
At around midnight, there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" one of the businessman asked nervously.
"Sir," a woman on the other side yelled, "you left your key in the door."

* A lady in her mid-thirties was on a business trip. Since she was so tense from all
the meetings, she decided she would go to the roof of the hotel she was staying in
and sunbathe to help her relax. She went to the top of the hotel, took off her
blouse and pants, and in her bikini, lay face down on the roof. After about an hour
of sunbathing, she heard someone approaching her on the roof. It was the
manager of the hotel. He said, " Excuse me, miss, but do you mind sunbathing
somewhere else? " "Why?" asked the lady. “I'm on top of the hotel...nobody can
see me!"
"True", the manager replied, “But you are lying on the sunroof above our dining
room!"

* A farmer once went to a big city to see the sights. It was his first time staying at
a hotel in the city. He asked the clerk at the reception counter about the time for
meals.
"Breakfast is served from 7 to 11, dinner from 12 to 3, and supper from 6 to 8,"
explained the clerk.
"Oh my God!” the farmer almost shouted in surprise. "What a stupid hotel
arrangement! How am I going to get time to see the city?"

* Husband: “Please come to our room fast. I was having an argument
with my wife and she says she is going to jump out of the window.
Hotel Manager : “Sir, I am sorry I can't help you. This seems to be a
personal issue.”
Husband : “You silly Dummy, this is a maintenance issue. The room
window cannot be opened!”

We really had a wonderful time! Some of the many jokes had us laughing
until our stomachs felt the muscle pains.
At near eleven we went back to our rooms to have a good rest and sleep. As
it had been a tiring day touring so many places in and around Melaka town, I
was soon „knocked out‟ on my bed and slept most soundly.
The next morning, my roommate narrated something that happened in the
night which I was not aware of. This was his account:

“Like you, I too slept not long after lying on my bed because I was tired. It must have been about 1.30 am when
I was awakened by some sounds of a person laughing. As the room was in total darkness, I could not see
anything. The funny laughter continued. The more I listened, the more eerie it became. Feelings of fear began
to grow in me as uncontrollable thoughts ran through my mind:
“Who could be laughing at this time of the night?”
“Is this the laughter of a human being?”
“Is this room haunted? Am I being teased by a ghost?”
“Will the ghost come for me?”
Out of great fear, I closed my eyes and drew the blanket over my head but I could still hear the laughter
sporadically. Curiosity got the better of me; I sat up on the bed and switched on the bedside lights and looked
around to see where the laughter came from. I was still trembling in fear.
What I saw nearly caused me to burst out in laughter. It was you, Teik Bin, who was laughing in your sleep. I
watched your face intently…rather distorted at times. At other times you were smiling with your eyes closed.
Laughter burst out from your mouth now and then. „He must be dreaming of hilarious situations…not surprising
after a night of joke sharing and great laughter,‟ I thought to myself. I decided not to disturb you and I went back
to sleep. I did not know how long, your Ha! Ha! Ha! lasted.”
When my other friends came to know of the Ha! Ha! Ha! hotel happening, all of us had a really good laugh.

Reflection
* Most of our dreams are associated with funny, strange or stressful or frightful happenings that occur in our
daily life.
* When the mind is trained to be calm, kind, generous and we live morally righteous lives, we will be more free
from bad dreams because the mind is not troubled by negative thoughts and feelings of regret, remorse and
guilt.

The End
May we learn from LIFE Lessons and a good story.
May we live life most happily and peacefully.
With Metta,
Bro. Oh Teik Bin