May 29th 2016 is a day that I'll always hold dear to me.
On the previous day, 28th May, I stepped out of my house at 0920 hours to go to the Subang Jaya KTMB train station. My mom drove me there.
I was going to go to Singapore alone.
I stepped out of the car after an 8-minute drive.
I went into the station and waited. I looked up at the time board; the train is going to arrive at 10:02. The time was 9:38. Dammit! This is why I hate KTM sometimes.
9:45.
9:50.
10:00.
10:02.
"Well, where is the train then?" I thought. I looked up again : The time had been delayed to 10:07. Then 10:12.
"What the heck?" I was starting to worry.
Thankfully, the train pulled into the station shortly after.
It was an uneventful 45 minutes to the KL Sentral station. I stepped foot off the train at almost 1100 hours.
I was hungry, so I decided to go to the nearest restaurant to the departure gate and eat something. My train will depart at 1200, so I had time to spare.
I ate at KFC since it was the only place at the 2nd floor.
I finished my meal at around 1130. I quickly tried to pack the other meal that I had bought, and rushed to the departure gate. It wasn't open yet, so I just waited.
At 1150, they opened the gate and I went down to the platform. I saw a train on my right hand side. I looked up at the destination sign; it said 'Ipoh'. I almost went into the train. Thankfully, the staff led us passengers to the next platform. I didn't have to wait long; the train arrived after a couple of minutes. This train was headed to my first destination : Gemas, Negeri Sembilan.
The train was one of the newer models; I secretly did an imaginary fist-bump with myself.
I sat down at my seat; there's no one next to me. I looked up to see a TV screen installed in the train. It showed the time and the speed of the train. Pretty good for an upgrade.
The train departed at 1201 hours. The train showed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, so I could save myself from looking at my phone. The movie was good, but it barely had any sound coming out. though.
The train arrived at Gemas at around 1400 hours. I exited the train as fast as possible; my body was already numb due to the cold. I saw a train on the platform next to ours. I tried to find my coach, but didn't find the letter designation.. I asked the staff, does this train head towards JB? "Yes, but your train isn't this one..." Darn it. I had to wait another hour.
I spent that hour complaining about the new KTM Intercity system to myself. And finishing my KFC potato bowl that I had bought earlier.
The train arrived and took off at 1540; it was the same model that I went to Singapore on two years ago, which meant one thing : "Oh god, my legs are gonna get cramped again".
The second trip was uneventful, but I did notice that Johor eventually got better the further the train went south. As it rumbled its way through Johor Bahru, my first thought was... "How did I miss all of these views back then? This is awesome,"
The train stopped at Johor Bahru Sentral at 1940. I needed to use the toilet first, so I went off to do so. I then went into JB CIQ in order to enter Singapore. After I got my passport stamped, I went down to the bus platform. I saw the line : "ah, crap," I thought it was going to take an hour; I was on the bus in 15 minutes. Thank God. I arrived at Woodlands CIQ after 20 minutes. I was about to fill up my embarkation forms at the immigration section when I realised - I didn't have a pen with me...!
I began to panic.
I lingered around the immigration section for 10 minutes before I went "screw it" and used my pencil. When I tried to have it checked however, it wasn't valid, so I spent another 5 minutes re-filling the forms with a black pen one of the officers gave me. (I don't know who you are, but thank you...!)
I thought there wasn't a way to walk into Singapore on foot, so I stepped into the 950 bus and asked whether it would be stopping at the Woodlands Train Checkpoint bus stop. He said yes, so I tapped my ezlink and went in.
It was when the bus started turning right at Woodlands Crossing did I realise I had taken the wrong bus. I stopped at the first stop after that and continued on foot.
My friend started calling me. I told her where I was, and she was confused. I walked to the bus stop. When I arrived, she called me again. After a few confusing calls and multiple exchangings of words, I clarified it with one simple sentence (which I should've done WAAAYYY earlier) : "I've already exited the building," She told me to stay put while she finds me.
I waited at the taxi stand and paced up and down the walkway. As I was walking back towards the stand after multiple rounds, I saw her, then went up to her and we hugged and shook hands.
She asked where I was. Apparently, there WAS a way to walk into Singapore, but I went down the escalators instead of going to the left walkway.
I'M A FREAKING IDIOT.
We crossed the street and walked up the stairs. She asked me where would I want to eat : Either at the food court at the building of which we were at, or walk a bit further to eat a KFC or some other fast food. Being that the KFC is closer to her home and I was too lazy to wait for any orders, I chose KFC (again... har har).
I chose to eat the O.R Rice Bowl, partially because it's cheap and she's paying and partially because I've always been curious about it. It was awesome, but I got sick of it 3/4 way through. I'm impressed that I didn't throw up in the bowl. And I liked the root beer that I chose with the meal. (I took a french fry when you went to wash your hands.... sorry)
While we were eating, we chatted about a lot of things : our jobs, our personal lives... stuffs in our own countries, the works. It's nice to know someone who loathes and despises frontline jobs as much as I do...heh.
After we finished our meals, we started heading back towards her flat. While we were walking back, we chatted about the neighbourhood and the "other side" of Singapore; of which I agreed to most of her points and words.
At one point, we stumbled upon a cat; I instinctively shouted "CAAAATT...!" The cat ran away. She remarked that there's a lot of cats in the area and there's a few people who are feeding them.
When we reached her block, she told me that there's lifts and stairs for each flat. I was impressed. My own flat only had stairs. But to fair to them, they have more floors than we do, so...
I reached her flat and she ushered me inside. I did so awkwardly and stepped inside. I did so to find two of her sisters in the living room. I shook their hands. I sat on a chair while I waited to do something. They started asking me questions about myself. They showed me my room and I went in to unpack. I changed clothes, bathed and went outside, where I met her parents and a few more of her siblings (she had 7 siblings).
When it got a bit too crowded, she ushered me back to the guest room and said she hasn't actually planned any place for me to go to, saying that in actuality, Singapore is pretty "boring". I started opening my phone to search for places. We planned our trip and started to set times. We decided to go to the Science Centre, Arab St., ION Orchard, Chinatown and Gardens By The Bay.
As soon as we finished planning, I started going off to sleep when I realised I didn't actually bought any blankets with me. Thankfully, I had a towel, and they also provided one. So I went off to sleep with the comfort of two stacked towels providing me warmth.
And it's just the beginning.
