KTM oh KTM

If you know me well you will know that I used to think the KTM very romantic. MY first KTM ride back in Seksyen 17 Shah Alam was such a novel experience.

The KTM was romantic in a girl-in-a-large-city kind of way. Of strangers brushing shoulders, of lonely souls in the bustling crowd.

Anyway, whatever romantic notions I had evaporated soon enough after one too many bad experiences.


I am now in love with railway stations.
I'm typing this from my berth on the upper deck in the train. I think I just saw fireworks from my window. In twenty minutes time, the clock will strike twelve and it will be time to pray to Ti Kong. Ti Kong please bless my family with good health and happiness always.

I hear snores from the other curtained berths.
I cannot sleep. Brian Furman, I will sleep in your class tomorrow.

Yes. I am now in love with railway stations.
I boarded the seven past six train from Alor Setar to the Kuala Lumpur Central Station.
Railway stations are the most romantic places..
The Alor Setar railway station is a quaint little place, quite old in time.
Waiting on the platform, I feel the carress of the cool breeze, and see the railway tracks stretching straight ahead, far-far-away..
And I see the old brick warehouse and railway machinery on the green green grass next to the tracks.

The train carries me through endless paddy fields of green flecked with gold- I see paddy stalks heavy with grains bending over; it brings me past wooden kampung houses on stilts- I wish I could live in them and feed chickens all day long hahaha. I see children hands high up in the air, waving energetically at the train as it chugs past, their faces full of smiles and delight. And I wave back too. And the train passes through small towns, where the roads are narrow and the raiway gate is but two simple rods suspended by rope. I am living my childhood fantasy- I am on the train looking out at the waiting cars and motorcycles. It is just so exciting I cannot begin to describe it. All my life I was the girl in the car watching the train chug past me, on its way to an unknown land of rainbows and sunshine and smiles. I always wondered where the passengers were going and who they were.


The faint constant rumbling of the train is oddly comforting.
I like how the gentle sway of the moving train rocks me to sleep. I am lulled..

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ps: On a practical note, I actually spent my night on the train rushing my DD3 anticancer report. =_='' And halfway typing this post, my battery died and I realised that the train had broken down. We ended up stuck 3 hours in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Perak. But, trains are still nice. :)