Day 1: From Singapore to Malaysia

Singapore is connected to Malaysia by a one kilometre causeway in the north (Woodlands) to Johor Bahru (Malaysia) which is the first stop after the border-crossing. After the immigration-procedure in Johor Bahru I continued my trip further north. The destination of this trip was Wakaf Bahru (close to Kota Bharu), located in the North-East of Malaysia, near the border to Thailand. Although the common and fastest way to get to Thailand by train would be via Gemas to Kuala Lumpur, Butterworth and then Thailand, I decided to take a different approach – the so called “jungle railway”.

Malaysia Jungle Train - Fixing the Train

I hopped aboard the jungle train for a 14 hours ride to Wakaf Bahru which is the closest station to Kota Bharu. The purpose was to get a glimpse of the beautiful hinterland, rural areas and jungle/forests of Peninsular Malaysia. It’s quite an experience to take this train, as it can get packed, loud and bumpy during the trip and stopping at almost every single village along the way does make it to a quite a long trip. But as said – that should be the purpose of it – leaning back and watching the jungle and listening to the crowd chatting on the train…

The jungle train (#14) departed from Singapore at 4:30am and arrived in Wakaf Bahru at 7.30pm. The photos of the coaches on the KTMB website (Malaysian Railway) looked quite promising, but after boarding the train it became clear that I’ve already left behind the ultra-modern and clean charm of Singapore. I booked a “superior class” ticket (45 S$) and was welcomed by bugs, insects, flies and sticky seats. However, there where two large flat-screens attached at both ends of the coach… not sure for what reason and if they have ever worked.

Inside the Train (Note the Flatscreen)

After the border-crossing to Malaysia the sunrise revealed that the view has changed from the urban Singaporean landscape to green banana-fields and palm-oil-plantations in Malaysia. At this time the four-coaches train became crowded and all seats were taken.

Malaysia Palm Oil Plantations

Thanks to a 70 year old man who looked like 45 I learned quite a bit about Malaysian history, its current relationship to Singapore and China. He did not speak in favour of the Chinese at all which he said account for roughly 25% of Malaysia’s population. He also came up with a few stories about the conservative culture of the Malay Muslim majority and how Hindus and Muslims co-exist in Malaysia.

Malaysia Train Station

I also enjoyed Chinese language lectures from a Malay girl which sat down next to me and hopelessly tried to teach me the most essential words in Chinese. Not sure if she was actually successful… However, she was from Jerantut and during the journey she mentioned that I didn’t bring enough water for this trip. She got off in Jerantut and when the train was about to leave the station, she suddenly waved from the gate with four bottles of water which she has just bought inside the terminal. I had no other choice than to jump off the train to grab the water, say thank you and to rush back on board. What a wonderful gesture… – so far Malay people are very welcoming, chatty and a friendly folks.

Malaysia Limestones / Jungle

Later the the vast palm-oil plantations were replaced by dense forest as the train was heading further north. A few hours before Johor Bharu, the train passed over huge brown rivers and through rice-paddies and plantations which were entirely flooded due to the extraordinary rainfalls in the last weeks (Thailand was heavily affected). The train arrived in Wakaf Bahru at around 7.30pm and I took a taxi (15-30 minutes, depending on the traffic) to Kota Bharu to stay overnight.

Arriving in Wakaf Bahru

Day: 1
Date: 02.04.2011

Impressions of Malaysia:

More photos of my trip: Picasa Web Album