Beng in Brazil: When ah beng met ah pui
World Cup winner?
An neh pui (so fat) ah?
Boh koh leng (impossible) lah!
You think Singapore's traffic jam is bad? Wait till you tio tat qia (get stuck in the jam) in Sao Paulo!
It is about 23km from my hotel in Comfort Suites to reach the Estadio Itaquerao, where the opening match between Brazil and Croatia will be played.
But it took 90 minutes to get there!
To the Sao Paulo International Airport is about 32km. Also 90 minutes!
I know this is a football-crazy country but everything also 90 minutes can really make people ki siao (go crazy)!
Some more Sao Paulo is like the financial hub of Brazil, and it's very big, so the World Cup fever has taken very long to spread and we don't see much publicity.
So you can imagine I was in no mood for an imposter. But then, I saw more and more people approach ah pui for a photo, so I asked them is it who I think he is.
And OMG, Ah Pui is really Denilson de Oliveira Araujo!
By this time, he is already about 20 metres away.
Denilson (center) in thinner days ... with fellow legends Ronaldo and Romario. TNP PHOTO: Mohd Ishak
But don't worry, Ah Beng last time was sprinting champion in secondary school (okay fine, I made up the numbers by filling in the third runner in the relays, but still...).
And somemore, Ah Pui is no longer Speedy Gonzalez like 16 years ago when he was the most chor (expensive) player in the world (Real Betis signed him from Sao Paulo for 21.5 million euros). So I half jog only, I catch up already.
And he is sibeh steady, anybody ask him for photo also he very on.
Shiok, another Brazilian World Cup winner to add to Pele and Romario!
David with former Brazil players Romario (on the left) and Pele
His England not very powderful, so I asked him through a translator who he thinks will win the World Cup.
And then Ah Beng felt stupid because he confirm say Brazil what.
But Ah Pui also a bit hao lian (proud) lah. He tell me this team will win, but not as stylo-milo as when he won in 2002 with team-mates like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos.
Okay loh, if you say so amigo ...
Follow David Lee's Brazil adventures on tnp.sg/benginbrazil and on his Twitter account @davidLeeTNP and send him messages with the hashtag #benginBrazil
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