A Forgotten Island Romance

A forgotten Island Romance

We are sitting inside IceIceBaby, next to Starbucks, thanks to Shereen. We have no internet connection.

the other one is taking the photo

Who are we? We are a group of investigators, searchers of lost stories. We find them out, and then we tell them.

We also help souls who have lost part of themselves, find them.

Today we have a story for you. It is a love story. A story of Prince Charming and a Lady of the Waters. It is a true story, as are all our stories.

Batu Feringgi Beach

he had trekked a long way (reproducing the scene)

It happened four years ago, this romance which lasted half that time. And where? Along the white beaches of Batu Feringgi, near the cold rocks and warm sand. He met her sitting upon the rocks, watching the gloomy wet sky. Weary from camping and seeking solitude, he had trekked quite a long way.

When he saw her, it was love at first sight. It was the long hair that did it. Our handsome prince had a thing for long hair in girls, the longer the better. Hers was one of the longest he had ever seen, all the way down to her heels. I’m kidding. Maybe to her waist. But whatever it was, it was love at first sight. Also, she was not very tall. She had to be a bit short, being that our prince was not particularly tall himself. And her eyes! Large as goldfishes! He fell for everything about her.
When he saw her, the gloomy skies cleared. The sun came out, and it set! The gods must be looking kindly down at them. How more romantic could it get?

striking a 'manly' pose

She saw him, and he struck a ‘manly’ pose. Or so he thought. Luckily her eyes were brimming with tears, so she did not see him very clearly.

“Oh! Why are you crying, lady?” our Prince Charming asked, Charmingly (that was his surname lah). “Would you like to see me dance?”

And so he jumped and pranced (for that was his specialty) and she laughed! She laughed, a lovely tinkling laugh. And he was smitten then. He knew his heart was forever taken from that second onwards.

romantic dinner at The Ship

He asked her if she would have dinner with him…and lo, she agreed! With a happy heart he took her hand, and together they walked to The Ship for a romantic dinner, with the (rather cute) waiters in sailor suits. There, she also started falling for him, because he was such a kind, nice Prince. They then went for a night stroll under the starry night sky…

“Isn’t it romantic?” said our Prince. (The song Starry, Starry Night started playing, I don’t know how). “To walk along this beach, just you and I, and the universe above our heads? Who knows what creature lies within these waters, these mysterious waters of the sea?”

“Oh but I know…” she said…but she said nothing more. He was too entranced by her beauty to notice.

An old Indian man with a turban looking like he had just stepped out of the Arabian Nights suddenly appeared next to them and asked them if they wanted to go parachuting. Prince Charming politely declined and continued walking. However, the Old Man was persistent. Prince Charming couldn’t say no. Nay, he was too soft hearted. But he was getting irritated, and as his temper rose the Old Man’s face began to change. Then the Old Man transformed into a horrible, fire breathing monster.

The Lady who was walking behind in her own reverie, looked up and her heart was moved. She could not stand such injustice, and immediately also, she transformed. Prince Charming had never seen such a thing in his life, so he promptly forgot this happened. And the fire breathing monster disappeared into ash, having faced justice, burned itself up.

She had saved his life. Prince Charming, if he had not fallen before, was now head over heels in love.

“Shall we meet tomorrow,” our prince asked. “I will bring you to eat the best Pau on Penang Island. And not only that. I will bring CAMRY (A beautiful black horse).”

“Yes we shall,” said the Lady.

he is very excited when she said yes...(reproduction of scene)

Dancing all the way back to KELISA (his pet mule) Prince slept early that night, so that he could wake up early, and his dreams were sweet.

But Prince did not wake up. Our Lady was forced to take a donkey to Penang Hill by herself, and went up the hill by herself, and watch the sunrise alone. It was so beautiful and she was sad because the view was just too enchanting and she wanted to share it with…with someone!

But when she returned to the foot of the hill, he came! And he came with CAMRY…how could she refuse to ride CAMRY??? He made it up to her. He brought her to Kek Lok Si Temple to see some of the beautiful statues and buildings there. She was awed, but the sun was very hot and she kept running from shadow to shadow. Puteri lilin indeed. This proved her royal blood to him.

wishing pond (reproduction of scene)

He secretly made his way to a wishing pool up the temple to make a wish. He threw a coin into it, and he wished…he wished that his happiness would never end…

They walked a long way and admired the whole of Kek Lok Si despite her ‘Puteri Lilin-ness’ because he was too lazy to move his CAMRY. She was getting very hungry because she hadn’t eaten breakfast! So after Kek Lok Si, he brought her to eat…LAKSA!! Oh noo….this was a bad move. The laksa was very sour, and it was not filling at all!! Oh why would our prince do that?

“I promised you I would take you to eat the best Pau in Penang, didn’t I?” he said gently to her as they climbed onto CAMRY. “I asked Milo Tin to buy Pau for you! We can eat it at my Palace in Balik Pulau…”

breathtaking scenery

But before he could buy the Pau, he stopped at Jimmy Tailor to collect his handsom-est coat. He had to look handsome in his Palace to her. They rode CAMRY through winding roads, and he brought her to the paddy fields! She was so excited, she had never seen paddy fields before!!

paddy fields!

And then he brought her to his favourite place somewhere up the hill, and the scenery there was breathtaking…she was awed, but she nearly fell down the mountain because she wanted to eat durian but he hates durian…and he didn’t want to mess up CAMRY.

where she nearly fell down...

After all the excitement, he bought the Paus…and then they made their way to his ‘very big’ palace! Before they had gone, SeKeTeng had told her that Prince’s palace was ‘VERY VERY BIG’ and she was excited to see it!

very cute servant: hairy

However, when she reached, she discovered that it wasn’t really very big…it was only as big as her toilet! But the Pau was very good…and he had a very cute servant called Hairy. The Lady loved the brown sugar Pau the most!!!*

(*if you had been wondering why he had brought her to eat laksa earlier, it was because he knew it was not filling and so later he could bring her to his palace.)

Yummy pau

While he was preparing the candlelit Pau lunch, she started nosing around the house. She saw his family, and he had a very pretty sister!! And oh…his elder brother is even handsomer than him!! After that the Pau lunch and the wine…she had a very good sleep in front of the TV on the sofa. He was very kind and did not wake her up. Kek Lok Si was very tiring.

25 cents satay

Around 4pm, they went to have 25 cents satay. He was very worried that it wasn’t open, but it was, and it was quite cheap and good! She ate 60 cucuk!! Very good satay.

very good satay

“We shall meet tomorrow again, won’t we?” Prince asked.

“You must wake up early,” she said.

They went out again, and they had a wonderful time! They went to the dam, and the scenery was beautiful! They went to a very bad food centre at Gurney Drive, where the girl at the Apom store was very pretty (Seketeng and Prince both agreed). And then they also visited a wonderful Indian restaurant where they had food on Banana Leaves, and the lady was attracted to a handsome Indian Waiter there with a moustache! Prince was so jealous, so he kept on asking for more Popadoms (because it was free-flow) and more and more until the restaurant manager sent him the bill to chase him away. The lady was very angry and she stole CAMRY’s reins and he was very worried...

banana leaf

Said she: “if CAMRY comes to life when we go to him later, we are destined to be together forever!”

And then he said: “Give me back his reins lah!! I am very worried.”

They reached CAMRY, and he came to life! Prince Charming felt a lot better. But she said: “Hurry up and go…this place very dark very dangerous. Fai di fai di…”

They spent a wonderful two years together, with a lot of wonderful adventures. Then suddenly one night she said: “I have to go back to my world. I forgot to tell you, I am actually a Lady of The Waters (romantic way of saying mermaid) and I am going back to the sea to be married! Bye bye Prince Charming! I had a lovely time with you…but I really have to go!”

The Prince no longer believed in long distance relationships. It just couldn’t work out.

oh princess, princess, where are you? I miss you so much...
(reproduction of scene)

Prince was heartbroken. From that day onwards, he became very strange. He started dancing and posing everywhere he went. He walked very funny. Then he liked to grow his hair long long because it reminded him of her. And then when he drives CAMRY or KELISA and he hears music he will dance. It scared us investigators a lot.

Prince is still very sad about it, and very heartbroken. This is our gift to him because we can sense his sadness and want him to be happy. We hope he can forget this princess and find another one, maybe on another island somewhere and live happily ever after, just like what happens to most prince charmings.

We have finished our mission. The ice cream is eaten. We hope you have enjoyed our story.

-written by the powerpuff girls+1!!!
at IceIceBaby

at kek lok si temple

trip up Penang Hill

batu feringgi

guess who?

shereen, moi, wenqiao, thierry and wei jian (seketeng)
gurney drive