Just like many others, we decided to jump onto the bandwagon (pun intended) and board a train from Tanjong Pagar to Kluang after it was announced last month that the old train station at Tanjong Pagar will stop functioning from 1 July. For me and my dear, this is our first time and also our last time.
For a first-timer, buying train tickets actually takes much skill than expected. First, I had to sign up an account in order to access their system (that's the easy part). Next, I tried to book tickets for the next day, which the system forbade me from doing so. After refreshing the page with different browsers and killing several million brain cells, I figured that I had to book the tickets TWO days in advance, of which the info can only be known by having a PhD in detecting invisible words on a webpage. So much for being a Buddha-leg-hugger. But well, it was also my fault for being so last minute.
Anyway, I tried the next mode of purchase, which is through the phone. To my horror, all the numbers are Malaysian numbers. It must be quite expensive and troublesome to install a Singapore phone line at the Tanjong Pagar station as the land which it sat on belongs to Malaysia. Or maybe it is not in the staffs' job scope to answer call booking. In any case, I thought it was not sensible or logical to call KL for the tickets when I'm only going to Kluang (who knows how much phone bill I need to pay), so I physically went down to the station to buy the tickets. Luckily for me, it was quite hassle-free for me, unlike the other poor dude on the forum who had to go there five times. But unluckily for me, there were only First Class seats left, thus the budget had to increase.
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| The much sought after train tickets |
We had to wake up quite early in the morning to reach the station at 7 am and have our breakfast there. We were advised to be there at 730 am for the 8 am train. The photos shall do further elaboration.
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| The station on foreign land |
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| The interior of the station untainted by time... |
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| Our breakfast location |
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The place where I bought the tickets...
I still cannot believe that there is no phone inside... |
Getting past the Malaysian customs is the interesting part which I found out from my tutee's mum and forum. This is probably the only time when they do not give a chop on your passport for entering Malaysian grounds. Too bad photos cannot be taken.
Along the way, we tried to identify the part of Singapore that we were passing by and when we passed by Bukit Timah, we saw many avid photographers taking photos at the abandoned station. Soon after we had to alight at Woodlands checkpoint for the scanning of the passport.
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Phew... The Malaysian Customs did not
notice that I smuggled their trains... |
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| First Class seats for the first class couple |
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| We have arrived... |
After some hours, we finally reached Kluang at 11am and bought the return train tickets. After which, it was lots of walking along the streets of Kluang, looking at the many duplications of convenience stores, shoe stores, spectacles stores and clothes stores. On the contrary, there was not many food stores there, probably due to the low population there eating out. As we were walking around, we had many light meals. Also, we managed to play Daytona at the arcade there, where I recapped how to play the beginner round and my dear struggled to not laugh and scream whenever she crashed the car.
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| The place famous for its tea and nasi lemak (which ran out) |
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| Our first meal in Kluang... |
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| Our second meal in Kluang... hungry... |
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| Our third meal in Kluang... still hungry... |
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| Our fourth meal in Kluang... for the piggies... |
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| The calm before the crashes and screams... lol |
The return trip, in contrast, was a disaster. First, the train lived up to its reputation of being late, as it came 1.5 hours after the scheduled time, though I believe that it was one of those few times that it was so late. Secondly, as a result of its tardiness, it had to wait at quite a number of places for the train in the other direction to pass as there was only one track. Thirdly, the train had to stop because one of the passengers dropped off earlier and there was some commotion as a result. Fourthly, the train was invested with cockroaches. Gross. Probably this is the last time I will be taking the train. I shall take coaches instead. Perhaps this is an indication that I should not visit Malaysia this year as I was stuck in delays for the two times that I came back from it.
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| Wo deng zhe ni hui lai, wo deng zhe ni hui lai... |
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| Waiting for the late train... |
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| Together waiting for the train... |
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| Finally it came... |
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| Our 2nd class seats on the return trip |
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The family of cockroaches...
and there were more than one family... |
Nevertheless, it was an interesting trip, though it could have been more enjoyable.
