Neither of us could sleep the night before the trip. My brother, Nan, was having his night shift at work and even during his breaks, he couldn't sleep. While I was at home feeling all excited about it. We planned this trip about 2 months before. It was supposed to be a BroTrip 2014 with Qama as well but he couldn't make it due to work commitment. But still, I slept pretty early the night before just because I wanted to sleep in the train the next morning.
I received a phone call at 4:55am from Nan, a wake up call just before my alarm rang. So I bathe, got ready and patted all my cats and informed my Dad and sibling that I'm leaving. I reached Singapore Checkpoint on time at 7am. For the first time I actually see 160 looking pretty empty at 6:30am. Nan waited for me outside the Pass Office and that's when we looked at each other and said, "This is really happening! Finally!" We got down to the Bus Bay, he called his partner to said goodbye to her since he wouldn't be back till a week later.
Our train towards Kuala Lumpur leaves at 8:30am and we arrived across the border at about 7:30am. So we changed some money and got cigarettes and breakfast! We were done with all that by 8:10am so we decided to sit at Rest & Go and have a quick massage before heading for another smoke. The train finally arrived and it's Nan's first time being on a train journey. Since it's a morning train, we didn't get the sleeper train so we got the Class 2 seats. Sleep didn't come easy for me because I couldn't wait to reach Kuala Lumpur so time was passing by pretty slowly for me. It was easy for him to fall asleep since he had a long night previously. For the first time I got so hungry in the train, I actually bought food from the canteen. Usually I'll just stock up on food at Johor Bahru. It started drizzling when the train reached Kuala Lumpur grounds and Nan said it's like a curse of something because the previous time I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, they greeted me with a heavy downpour. Oh well. We reached Sentral Kuala Lumpur on time and we left our bagpacks at the Left Baggage and off we go to Putrajaya by KLIA Express Transit to meet Nan's friend, Raihana. Oh, and I wished I brought my jacket along with me because it was freezing cold in the train and I kept going to the toilet every time I woke up from my sleep.
We've never been to that area before but I guess it's like their CBD area? It was very quiet there though and we had to wait about an hour or so for his friend. We had all sort of conversations while waiting for Raihana. Like how he we said we wouldn't mind having a wedding photoshoot at the open field nearby. It felt good seeing a huge open space since we rarely get that here in Singapore. Raihana finally came and she drove us to Pavillion because I wanted to go to The Click Shop to get films for my Polaroid but guess what? We were running out of time and the concierge said that there's no such shop there and the nearest would be at KLCC! Eh, where got time! I was looking forward for the films, really. I've told myself to get a pack everytime I travel and this is the first one out of 3 trips that I didn't manage to get them. I was so disappointed, even thinking about it makes me want to cry. It's not the usual FujiFilm Polaroid I'm talking about, it's the old school Polaroid Impulse I'm talking about, which is why it's hard to find the films. I've to use Impossible Project films for it. Oh well. We headed straight to Reggae Bar Chinatown, my favourite back in Kuala Lumpur and drank all my sorrows away. Had my Slippery Nipple Cocktail and told Nan to try it too even though he said he didn't like it because it tasted like cough medicine. I wanted him to try Graveyard but I'm surprised they didn't have it anymore so we tried All Around The World instead and finally, for closure, we had shots of Jaggerbomb with Raihana! Off to the gents before we rush off to Sentral Kuala Lumpur (Amazing Race style!) but before that, 2 patrons of the bar approached us but damn boys, we were rushing so we had some small talk and off we go. Even though I'd love to hear the about Brooklyn from those 2 men. But before that, we went to KK Supermart for a small bottle of Coke and Vodka!
Exchanged some money when we were in Sentral Kuala Lumpur because we needed to stock up on bread and water. We both know it'd be an intense train ride because both of us were pretty much high on alcohol and we always have intense conversations. We finished up our Vodka and Coke and that's when I got hungry and Nan felt like puking. While he tried to puke, I was busy eating bread! We also screamed out lungs out at the door of the train because seriously, the adrenaline rush was just plain amazing. Feeling the wind in your hair and seeing how death might get right infront of you, it's just wow. I travel a lot of KTMB trains and up till today I still find it amazing. Really.
Hella good sleep after all that and I got up at about 6am to watch the sun rise. I woke Nan up but he was still deep in slumber so I let him sleep. We reached Padang Besar and stocked up on more liquids and had breakfast there because we had to wait for an hour before we could get back on the train. It was at Padang Besar that we met a mother and her son who was so adorable beyond words!
Another hour on the train before we reach Hat Yai.
To be continued, in a couple of days time!
