Free Hugs - CS meeting

Publié le 23 mars 2008 par Gaelle, Aisyah, Socheata... what else ?

         Hum... Here I am again... Actually, it's not when I'm in the real jungle that I stop writing this blog. It's when I am in the city jungle, surrounded by too many people and busy with too many meetings to be able to come and write both my blogs. Sorry ^^ In Malay, I would say "maafkan saya"

         Alan (whose real name is still Azlan) came to KL from thursday morning to saturday evening. I didn't see him so much, as his new girlfriend seems to be the kind "You're mine, I want to see you. Yeah, now. And without your friends". Well, she looked nice enough when I met her but... Anyway, it's not mine to judge s.o I hardly know at all. Hopefully I'll see Alan in Penang.
         But thanks to him, I met with KL Couchsurfers at last. Mea maxima culpa : I've been 3 times in KL already and never made a move to contact the Couchsurfing community around here. I should have. Well, past is over, can't do much about it. So I met some of the CSers... and they rock.

         Alan was hosted by Pika, whom he met in Pulau Penang in January. Yesterday, Pika and I went to the house of one of his friends outside KL. The kind of huuuuuuuge house, with swimming-pool, ping-pong, baby-foot, billard and a garden whose end you cannot see from the house, with ponds to fish, and a family to take care of the house when the owner is not here (that is : most of the time, cuz it's his holiday house). I had my eyes wide open in amazement sometimes... It was fun anyway, even if we went to the swimming-pool under the rain (actually, it was part of the fun...)

         So, on the evening, Pika and I joined a huge gathering of CSers at Lotus, an indian restaurant next to Ampang Park. It was the meeting point after a Free Hugs activity during the day. When I learnt about it, I was all "oh noooo" in my head. I've always wanted to do it but was never at the good place at the good time. And doing it alone takes quite a big deal of courage and self-derision.
         And then... They decided to do it again during the evening, walking from Ampang to Bukit Bintang via KLCC. No hesitation : I'm in, don't let me behind !! We were about 25-30 at the Lotus but ended up "only" 14 in Bintang Walk.

Someone is in for a Free Hug ?

         Free Hugs, what's that ? It's just taking a big sign and standing somewhere in the street to hug passers-by who want to share affection. In our every day life, we rush all the time, without taking some minutes just to say to people that we love them. Especially in the big cities, people lack of tenderness and hapiness, and sharing a hug just cheer them up. It's like magic... You hug them and *paf* they have a huge grin on the face. Spread the love ! It doesn't cost anything, you don't expect anything but it makes everyone happy...

         I remember this small kid... His mother was pushing him towards me and he was looking at her, afraid to come to me, but when he left me, he seemed much lighter. So cute... The teenagers who were running back 2min after to get a new hug. And about this guy who lifted me and made me turn... A Chinese who thanked me in Mandarin. These women... I could only see their eyes but they were smiling at me when walking by. Their eyes were shining behind the veil.
         Unforgettable...

Zharif in action
Such a cool guy... He's one of the CSer that I wish I had met before, when I stayed in KL in November

Actually, we created quite a stir. We were in one of the busiest place of KL, full of malls, and it was crowded, even at 10pm. People were stopping by and stood next to us, taking pictures and videos of young crazy people hugging men and women they didn't know. We even had SBS something, a TV, who filmed us and then asked us why we were doing this. Geez... That's the 2nd time I'm on TV in Malaysia...

Free Hugs power !!