Essay: Lost in a strange place

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During my school holidays, I went to stay with my cousin’s family in Penang for a week. They lived in a hut in a kampong.

One fine morning, my cousin, Andy, and I went to fish in a stream near the outskirts of the kampong. Andy caught a lot of fishes. I was not as lucky and decided to move further upstream to try another fishing spot. I managed to catch many small fishes there. When I went back to look for Andy, he was nowhere to be found. Thinking that he might have moved downstream, I followed the stream to look for him.

After some time, I realized that I had lost my way. I began to panic when I could not even find a public telephone to make a call. At that moment, I saw a signpost with a Malay world “Polis”. “Perhaps it means ‘Police’,” I thought and ran quickly in that direction.

I was right. Ahead was a police-post, I told the policemen what had happened. They listened patiently to my description of my cousin’s kampong. Then one of the policemen brought me back to my cousin’s hut. How glad I was to find myself safe with my relatives again. It was certainly horrifying to have lost my way in a strange place.”