Finally after some planning, the trip was confirmed to be on the 24th June. Six of us would take an overnight sleeper train that would leave Tanjong Pagar at 10.30pm, reaching Kuala Lumpur at 6.30am the following morning, and would return home via a train departing KL Sentral at 2.07pm and arriving at Tanjong Pagar at 9.10pm at night.
Some people might think I was stupid to come up with such a plan, because we would only be spending 7 hours in Kuala Lumpur. My reasons for doing so were simple: 1) The main focus of this trip was the train ride anyway, not Kuala Lumpur. 2) As what many had said, and that I had come to realise later, there was actually nothing much to see in Kuala Lumpur. 3) Kept things simple and travel costs low by doing away with hotel booking.
On the night of 24th June we arrived early at the railway station, only for me to be surprised by the large number of people there compared to the previous times I were there. Even though it was already night time, many people were still there to take photos of the station or eat from the food stalls there.
Since there was still time, we went around the station taking photos. I liked how the station looked at night. There was a different feel to it as compared to the daytime station.
The 2nd class sleeper cars consisted of two rows of beds along a single aisle in the middle. There were upper and lower berth beds, and a curtain was the only thing separating you from random strangers walking up or down the aisle. Toilets were at both ends of each carriage.
A pillow was all that was provided; beds were comfortable and clean enough, though there was the odd cockroach running around. Sleeping during the ride was overall ok, although the rumbling and shaking meant that uninterrupted sleep was not quite possible. Overnight trains ran slower compared to daytime trains, taking about 8 hours to reach KL, which was the following morning.
I liked the entire idea of KL Sentral. Basically it is this huge interchange station, built to resemble an airport, where commuters can swtich between different lines that serve KL, like the intercity which we took from Singapore, different transit lines run by different operators, and airport links taking commuters to and from the airport. Only the monorail is not within this station, requiring a 15 min walk by foot, but it is still nearby nonetheless.
After breakfast at the station my friends and I set off for our first destination, the Petronas Tower. Despite living in Singapore for more than 22 years, it was the first time I stepped foot in KL, and hence my first time seeing the twin towers. Getting tickets to enter the SkyBridge for a bird's eye view of KL was next to impossible, so we had to be content with photos at the ground level.
Our next stop was Chinatown, which was a little disappointing, not because we were early and many shops were not open yet, but because it didn't seem to resemble any 'Chinatown'. Perhaps I was subconsciously comparing it to our Chinatown. After a trip down to nearby Central Market, it was off to Bukit Bintang for lunch at A&W, and home!
The afternoon train home, being a daytime train, did not have beds, and we had to settle with back facing seats. Seats meant that we had rather limited legroom and did not have much space to move around unlike beds.
In between short naps I looked at the sceneries passed me by as the train moved down south.
I got reminded of the times I was young where I took the coach with my family to visit my uncle and his family in Kuantan, because I was more or less staring at the same stuff outside the window. It has been more than ten years since I last took a coach to visit them; it seemed like nothing much has changed.
Each station along the track has a sign that states the name of the station, plus the adjacent stations. That was one of the more unique signs I saw.
One can easily notice that many of the stations spot similar designs, simple and minimalist. They probably reflect what the commoners there see rail as: just another form of transport, unlike us making a big hoo-ha over it as the Singapore stretch of the network shuts down. Haha.
As the Sun set I made a trip down to the buffet car two carriages away from where I was sitting. It was a pity food and hot drinks were no longer sold by the time I got there; I could only get my hands on a pathetic can of coffee. And I left my camera on my seat so I couldn't take any photos of the car itself.
Still I enjoyed that short amount of time I spent sitting in the buffet car. Perhaps because there were less people there, and the design and layout of the seats made me feel less..constricted.
We finally reached Tanjong Pagar at around 10pm, almost an hour later than scheduled. With that we ended our little crazy adventure to KL and back in 24 hours. As for me, I am glad that I have accomplished this little wish of mine to board and alight a train from Tanjong Pagar before it closed. Many people don't see the closure as a big deal, but I see it as an end to an important chapter of our history.
I have enjoyed this trip alot, and I certainly hope this will not be an one-off thing. The problem will be to find someone willing to go on adventures with me. Someone forever.
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