Bargain Haunting Season

Traveling along the New Pantai Expressway (NPE) one day, heading towards Shah Alam, I found myself sitting in a Kancil next to my enthusiastic friend. We dared each other on how many bags we can carry on one arm as we walk out from the Adidas warehouse sale later. As we were nearing the warehouse, I was flabbergasted by the throngs of busy shoppers, screaming and hastening to the warehouse’s main entrance. Whilst the makciks and pakciks were frantically jostling for parking, my genius friend showed me why Kancil is called a Kancil. He brilliantly maneuvered her between the visually-impossible spaces for a spot near the fire-hydrant.

In the hot blazing sun in front of the closed main gate, the crowd was swarming and jostling each other but all with their jaws dropped in disappointment. Curiously, I stood on tiptoe to see over the restless crowd only to spot a short, skinny, old Malay security guard holding a signboard saying, “Harap Maaf! Warehouse FULL”. Apparently the warehouse was so packed that they decided to control the entrance of the shoppers. Initially I decided to try my luck but I could not even last for 5 minutes. The poisonous, nostril-poking body-odor and the stench from the untreated long hair of the mat-mat motor slapping on my face proved too much for me to bear. I walked away in despair, passing by eager bargain-hunters that do not know they were about to be frustrated. Among them were small kids, grandmas, towkays with their Indonesian maids and even outrageously colour-coordinated Bangladeshi executives. All hoping to wear the brand with three stripes, that is only and only if they get through the main gate.