Pinky Shakes & Petals

The day couldn't have started any better. I was having breakfast on one of Taman Negara's many floating restaurants and happen to strike up a conversation with 2 South African men who were working on a TV game show that was being filmed in the jungle. One of them stood up to introduce himself and gave me a pinky shake. Now this took me a little off guard considering the only pinky shakes I've ever done were in middle school as a bonding agreement rather than an introduction. Regardless it made me smile and there is no better way to start the day with a laugh and a pinky shake.

About the same time I finished eating a got up to pay a bus load of Japanese tourists began loading onto the floating restaurant. I'm guessing there were about 60 of them trying to squeeze onto this floating restaurant which couldn't have been bigger than 15ft x30ft. The South Africans must have seen the fear in my face as I realized that with every Japanese person crossing the plank onto the restaurant we were getting closer and closer to the water. They invited me to join them at their table, although I had to decline to catch the bus, pinky shake man sent me off with another smile. "All right Petal, lovely to meet you and safe travels."

Maybe it was the accent, although I'm not usually one for foreign accents, but this particular pinky shaking, petal calling South African made my heart sing that morning. Good thing too because the next 48 hours were spent in travel hell.