An article on an account of an interesting trip with friends with fun and amusing things from which we can learn some life lessons. The texts are in English. The pics serve to illustrate the texts as well as to make the presentation more interesting.

1. 1

2. 2
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."

3. 3
* 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 Lang 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,

4. 4
“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 businessmen asked nervously.
" in."

5. 5
"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?"
Breakfast 7 to 11

6. 6
* 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?”
HA! HA!
HA!

7. 7
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.
* We create the world with our mind. In the dream state, the
mind creates another world … only when we awake, do we know
it is not real. Likewise, in our samsaric world, we are ‘asleep’ or
are in a delusion. Only when we are enlightened will we be awake
to SEE the true nature of things, like the Buddha, The Awakened
One. Our mind will not be troubled anymore – Perfect Peace!
HA!
HA!
HA!