my shoes, my journey

Dude, where's your car?

Have you ever been to huge malls or business centres? You know, those buildings where they have multi level of parking bays or a vast expand of parking lots? The land where everything looks similar and non-descript. If you have, you know how easy it is to 'misplace' your car!

Case 1
We had finished shopping and were heading to the car with a cartload of stuff. Wanting to speed up our exit from the mall, I gave the car keys to my companions and asked them to load things into the car while I queue to pay for the parking. After paying the parking, I took the escalator down to the level where I parked my car. I walked to my car thinking that they were already waiting in the car only to find my empty car. Waited for about 5 minutes before a guard came. He must have thought I've lost my car:
Guard: Apa nombor? (translation: what's your car plate number?)
Me: Ni kereta. Tunggu kawan (translation: This is my car - pointing to my car. I'm waiting for my friend)
The guard went away but not far enough for me to escape his watchfull eyes.

After what seems to be another 5 minutes, still no sign of my companions. Went to the guard.
Me: Encik, minta tolong. Saya rasa kawan saya sesat (translation: Sir, need your help. I think my friends is lost)
Guard with blank face: Apa nombor?

Erk... He's a foreign worker. So I repeated in English. Still he gave blank look. I gave up. I was about to flag down another guard patroling on a motorcycle when, to my relief, I saw my companions in the distance.

Case 2
After a great dinner with a bunch of close friends in a mall, we decided to call it a night. While deciding which way to go to our respective car, a friend suddenly said:
Friend A: where did I parked my car?
Us: Dude, where's your car?
She eventually found her car by backtracking her steps.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I've never 'misplaced' my car. In fact, I was the most frequent person among my friends to have 'misplaced' my car. I've found a solution. I use my camera phone to take pictures of my car and the surrounding. The pictures was sort of 'breadcrumbs' to my car.