Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2005 8:59 am Post subject: Kuala Lumpur by train
By Hwee Min Liew
After reading "The Great Railway Bazaar" by Paul Theroux, I was suddenly impatient to see Southeast Asia through the dirty glass windows of a railway carriage. I wanted to know if the mee-hoon stall he spoke of could still be found on the Malaysian trains. Thus, I was determined to travel to Kuala Lumpur on the train, even if driving up or taking a coach would be much faster. After all, I too shared Theroux's passion for railway travel.
I found a girlfriend who was not adverse to the idea of travelling by rail. The 2 of us boarded a SKTM train bound for Kuala Lumpur late one Sunday night, all prepared to go through the worst as we had purchased third-class tickets. Clad in shorts I found myself dressed most inappropriately. The air-conditioning on the train must have been in the sub-zero range. Michelle and I both shivered ourselves silly for the whole 8 hours. We made countless trips to the vending car for hot coffee. The mee-hoon stall had ceased operations on all trains. Theroux would have been disappointed.
The highlight of the journey was looking out at the dizzying sight of passing tangled forestry to the loud hum of the locomotive. This has to be done with the door open, hands on the handlebars on both sides of the door, and the wind whipping your face. Of course there are signs forbidding the opening of train doors, and of course no one paid any notice to them. We are not in Singapore anymore, Toto.
Upon reaching Kuala Lumpur, Michelle and I made our way to her uncle's house in one of the suburbs, where we were to put up for the 2 nights we were to be in Kuala Lumpur. We promptly fell asleep and woke up only in the late afternoon. We took a very bumpy bus to the Petronas Twin Towers and admired the oh-so-contemporary architecture, it being more so due to its incongruity with the buildings in the vicinity. Done with admiring, we proceeded to do what every Singaporean does in Kuala Lumpur, shop in KLCC, a mega shopping mall linked with the Petronas Twin Towers. That bored us thoroughly. There wasn't anything there that wasn't available in Singapore.
We wanted to absorb the local culture and after asking around, were advised to visit the Central Market. Hopping onto the LRT, we stopped at Pasar Beni (full marks for translating that as Central Market). Munching on keropok we bought from roadside hawkers, we strolled in through the market. The Central Market is clearly a government effort to create an ethnic shopping experience for tourists. Believing that the best things evolve by themselves, Michelle and I went to nearby Chinatown and found a huge market not unlike Hong Kong's Ladies' Street Market.
Pirated CD's and t-shirts galore, Michelle and I were seriously tempted to spend our money wildly. But anti-piracy regulations are becoming more stringent across the causeway; we decided to practise self-restraint. We consoled ourselves with some pig's intestines on skewers and stuffed tofu. I saw dead flies stuck on them before they were dipped into the boiling broth, and I ate them anyway.
Having had enough of the low life, we wanted to try out Kuala Lumpur's glamourous city life. We took the LRT to Bangsar and walked for ages to the Lorong Telawi, a district of pubs and restaurants. We settled ourselves in a quaint place called The Red Chamber. Noticing our map and camera, the waiter politely enquired if we were travellers. Ah! To be addressed as a traveller revived us totally. A traveller was a totally different identity from a tourist. We stayed there for a long while, drinking red wine and admiring their beautiful Chinese vases.
On our 2nd day, Michelle's cousin drove us to the KL Tower, another government effort to raise Kuala Lumpur's profile as a tourist destination. Every major city has to have one of these towers these days. And I, being the pseudo-traveller that I am, have made it a point to visit most of these towers. We had lunch at Jalan Bukit Bintang and walked through the dozens of shopping malls there. Again, we found nothing to buy. Sitting down at a cafe and people-watching was far more pleasurable than shopping. Kuala Lumpur has the eclectic mix of population that characterizes most developing cities. A pool of overseas educated elite and a sea of self-made businessmen.
Michelle's cousin brought us to sample some durians. Most unfortunately, they were not up to mark as the durian season has not kicked in fully yet. We went on to have dinner at a roadside stall. The stall-keeper impatiently recited the menu, "turtle soup, wild boar curry, iguana stew, squirrel stew, coconut chicken, and frog's legs with chili." Michelle's cousin asked if they had tiger, the stall keeper nonchalantly told him not yet. Since there was no tiger meat, we settled for turtle, boar, iguana and chicken. For desert, we went to an Indian Stall for had roti tissue, a crispy wafer like confection sprinkled with sugar. Washing that down with teh tarik, it was the perfect way to end a meal.
On the journey back to Singapore, I found the essence of the whole trip that I was looking for. You know, every trip would have a moment, a place, or a taste that makes the inconvenience of travelling so worthwhile. The train made an hour stop at a tiny station in the middle of nowhere. There were no towns anywhere nearby, but it had a roti-prata man flipping pratas, a teh tarik man conjuring foamed milk tea. There was a table of European backpackers in dreadlocks playing card and smoking cigarettes; and a table of old men drinking stout. The radio was playing a slow Bob Dylan tune, which was in beat with the whirring of the ceiling fans. I wanted to stay there forever. It was a place of a million stories, and it was also a place of no story.
Ah yes memories of countkless train trips from CM to Penang. Thank god I don't have to do that anymore. Although at times it was fun _________________ Asia Expats Forum Expat Friends Dating
thanks, guys, would have loved to take the orient express, but thought roughing it out on SKTM would be a totally new experience.
as for the question of why kl when there're so many better places? Well, I'm singaporean and the nearest place I can take a train to is kl. It was for the train ride, not the destination.
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