On a train, slowly

And so the adventure began, sitting in Gemas Station, chatting to a woman from Belfast, at just after midnight.  Well technically it started at 9 p.m. last night in Sentral!

I was off on the overnight train, the so called 'jungle train up the spine of Malaysia,' to Kota Bharu in the NE, capital of Kelantan, a distance of about 400 kms and it was going to take 11 hours 20 minutes.  

We set off at 1.18 a.m.  Malaysian trains do run on time.  It's a sleeper but I'd booked a '1st class' seat.  The rolling stock is old, creaky, jerky (diesel) but there is more space in 1st class and the sleeper beds don't change to seats during the day. 

The first half of the journey till just after 7 was in darkness.  The train looked pretty full when I got on with a lot of people apparently sleeping.  I couldn't.  The lights were on (didn't take sleep mask).  It was freezing, AC (should have worn skirt) and I just couldn't get comfortable.  I spent some time standing at the end of the carriage where it was warmer!  There are no announcements.  The conductor checks your destination and comes to tell you in advance when yours is the next station. There was a cafe but I never went. 

I did check progress on my phone but I was a bit worried about battery.  It had to last till nearly midnight. I brought 2 power banks but not a plug and there are sockets. 

Once it was light the whole point of the journey was revealed.  Travelling through jungle, sometimes close to roads and settlements at other times in cuttings through the trees.  Some of them were rubber though it wasn't clear if they were still being tapped. There were bridges and rivers and at times we were doing 15 kph which is good for photography, though the windows weren't very clean. We skirted the Taman Negara, the National Park and more and more folk got off.  As this train had started in Johor Bharu (5 hours before I got on) I wondered at the purpose of all these journeys.  Apart from one guy all the passengers I could see (not many, it was a long train) were locals, mainly Malay, not tourists like me. 

As we came down from the jungle area the countryside became more open with farming and rice paddies and the eventually towns.  My destination was Wakaf Bharu, not the terminus which is Tumput near the Thai border but the nearest station to Kota Bharu. And we arrived on time, 12.37 p.m.  Stupidly took a taxi, not a Grab to the town.  Probably costs me £1.50 extra! He left me at the central market but I needed somewhere to eat. But that proved really difficult.  All the restaurants and some shops appeared to be closed. Later #1 son told me it was probably because of CNY.  Many businesses are Chinese owned and they will have gone off to visit friends and relatives and have their Reunion Dinners.

I did find a small cafe, deserted, and had an uninspiring lunch and a free charge for my phone, USB plug. Then a walk round a very quiet, very broken down looking KB.  Went down to see the wide Kelantan River.  It was hot, 31 deg, and sunny and there were no seats in the shade. I had a look at the War Museum.  Some interesting stuff about the Japanese invasion in 1941 as Kelantan being close to Thailand.  The Thais allied with the Japanese and let them through Thailand to invade the Malaya peninsular and then governed the area with the Japanese commanders till 1945.  The museum also had toilets!

I walked past the Istanas (palaces) one open, one closed.  Lots of chattering schoolgirls in Muslim dress - long tops, skirts and tudongs.  Kelantan is quite a traditionally religious state and I was in shorts.  But the local Chinese were dressing as they normally do. Next I headed to Chinatown, also very quiet but did find a nice, empty, cafe called Dream for a cool drink and a cake.  

By now it was 4 p.m. and KB is a small place and I'd pretty much done it.  My flight wasn't till 9 so I did what all good Malaysians do I ordered a Grab and went to the Mall, Aeon. Looked at some shops, sat on the comfy seats and enjoyed the air conditioning.

Around 7 I went out to the airport with a chatty driver who is coming to KL, an 8 hour drive, to work for 3 weeks (sleeping in his car) while the kids are on school holiday.  The sun was setting as we arrived. The airport is small and not busy.  There were only 2 flights, my Firefly one to Subang and Air Asia to KLIA.  Unfortunately our flight was delayed and instead of arriving at Subang at 10 p.m. it was 10.40 p.m. but I was home before 11.05. #1 son met me with the key (he'd been availing himself of my bath) and I was in bed, lying flat and not moving before midnight.  Quite a day. 

Technical note  I was mainly using my camera, with its through glass setting so the location isn't exact and I hadn't changed the date/time till well into the day. 

The extras are Kelantan River, the palaces, Dabong a settlement in Kelantan where we stopped and me on a train.