Relocation of Malaysia railway station to Woodlands.

New development between Singapore and Malaysia government. After 20 years, both side have come to an agreement to free up the railway land (202ha) in Singapore. Currently, the land is owned by Malaysia.

Tanjong Pager Railway Station will cease operation by July 2011. The new station will be located at Woodlands  existing CIQ. I look forward to the station relocation. For years, I've be grumbling to myself. Whenever I need to take the train to Malaysia, I have to travel for more than 1 hour to get to Tg. Pagar Railway Station, another 1 hour for the train to travel back to Woodlands before entering Malaysia. Woodlands CIQ is 20mins from my house.

Travelling to Malaysia destination accessible by train would be more appealing now. I'm think of taking the train to Kluang to trek Belumut, Merapoh to trek Gunung Tahan, Dabong to trek Stong.

Bloated coffee mix

青藏铁路, originally uploaded by Jerry Tok.

Hurricane-strength wind gusts derailed a train in China's far west

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/international/200731/103539.htm

Hurricane-strength wind gusts derailed a train in China's far west on Wednesday, killing at least three people and injuring another 34, state media said.

The accident occurred on 28 Feb 2007 at 0200hrs. At that point of time I was sleeping soundly on the train too, somewhere between ShiJiaZhuang and XiAn.

My family was alarmed as they heard the news on TV. They were unsure if I am onboard that train. They couldn't contact me thru my China Mobile no. as there was vague or no signal in between stations.

Thanks to technology, I soon contacted my family and relieved them of their worries.

Thanks to God for protecting me throughout my travel.

New videos on train ride and the Great Wall

This is what we did to survive 48hrs on the train.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpIKnCv8mCc

A foggy day on the Great Wall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIWPMB92Gvs

My first China train ride-Kunming to Beijing

2120hrs. I was in a queue with a few hundreds Chinese. There is not a single foreigners(non-Asian) in sight. Passengers with all types of luggage from backpack to rag sacks. ( we call them Ali Baba bag in Singapore army). Actually I thought I would see cattle and poultry.

When the gate opens, everybody inched forward. There wasn't much pushing even thought the queue was quite long. The ticket officers tries his best to check the tickets as fast as he could. Actually, he didn't even have time to check the validity of the tickets. As long as he sees a proper looking ticket, he lets you through.



Finding my place was easy. First, look for the cabin no. In the hard sleeper cabin, there are 22 rows. Odd and even rows shares an aisle. Each row has 3 deck namely- Low, middle and top deck. Low deck seems to be the best deck. It has allowance for an adult to sit upright. There's a table in between the 2 rows. Middle deck is narrower. I can't sit upright on my deck, I can only manage a crouch.

Top deck is the worse, it has even lesser allowance. Furthermore, it takes a quite an effort to get up and down the deck.



The main aisle is manageable, just wide enough for 2 person to walk side by side. However, near the windows are installed 2 foldable chairs with a 20 X 65cm table. Above the chairs and table are racks for luggage. I put my Mac Pac under the seat of the low deck. It's easier to access as compare to the luggage racks.
Other facilities includes a washing area with 2 basins. Above average toilet by China's standard (something like KTM Malaysia). Lots of rubbish bin but still lots of rubbish on the floor. Most pleasantly, there is 24hours hot water for consumption, not for shower.

Service was good. Officer check every bed to make sure everyone has a valid ticket. You can rest assure that you have a bed to yourself
During meal time, push carts serve reasonable meals. I got out of my bed at 0830hrs and immediately order my noddle. 10yuan, 2 times more expensive. After breakfast, I took out my useful Nalgene bottle to fill hot water and to take my daily dosage of coffee. Today I took double dosage. 2 packers of instant 3-in-1 Nescafe.

Right now, I have spent 17 hours 30mins in the train. 22hrs more to go.
Compare to long distance bus, i prefer trains. At least there are places to walk around. You can access the toilet almost as often as you like. You can sleep laying down. Most importantly, strictly no smoking. This time, they bothered to enforce the restriction.

To Korea via Beijing.

Today, I met the brother from the Kunming church. He bought me to a Chinese Restaurant for lunch. He rides a bike. Reminds me of those times in Taipei. The brothers and I zoom around the city in bike.

After lunch, I was alone again. I decide to get my train tickets to Beijing. I made enquiry at the ticketing booth of the hotel. They can arrange for train, bus and flight ticket. To my horror, I was told that tickets to Beijing( from Kunming) are sold out for the month of Feb. Should I trust them, I thought? I prefer to ask another booth.

Again, to my dismay, I was told the same bad news. Immediately, I was offered flight tickets. The best price they offer is 900yuan, inclusive of tax. In comparison to train, flight cost 400yuan more. My last resort- go to Kunming Station (train). The main station, the big mama. Got to be fast, tickets are selling out fast.

True to the travellers 'holy bible' Lonely Planet. Kunming Station ticket office is quite a crowd. On the big LED flashes the status of seats. There are so many destination, I waited patiently for Beijing's seat status. Here it is.

Beijing West- Hard seats, soft seats, hard sleepers, soft sleepers, no seats (I wonder what is that). 无无无无. There is still a handful of 有 in the sea of 无. I jumped into a queue, waited anxiously, hoping that those before me in the queue purchase tickets for destination other than Beijing West.

Everyone seems to be unhappy- People in the queue, ticketing officer, information counter. I want to make a difference, so I ask the ticketing officer politely "您好，北京的票好有吗？" (Hello, do you have tickets to Beijing). She maintain her stoned and stern face. But at least i feel good about being polite.

So I got my tickets. 550yuan, hard sleeper, middle deck. Just what I wanted. I skipped my way out, holding my prized ticket in my hands.

Next I need to get my flight tickets for Beijing to Seoul. I need internet access. 程现(Korean girl I met in 丽江) gave me 2 good website for booking flight tickets. 2 days ago, the price was 430yuan. Today, the price increase to 540yuan. Hmm, increment of 110yuan in 2 days. Gosh! I called up another company-Ctrip.com. I was surprise that they're offering 410yuan, 850yuan inclusive of tax. What am I waiting for? So I bought the ticket. 550 (train) + 850 (flight) 1400yuan. Hey, that's about 280 Sing for 1-way ticket. Assuming 2-way ticket is multiply by 2, it'll add up to 560sing.

My brother Raymond told me that typically a 2-way ticket to Seoul from Singapore starts from 1000sing. Do the maths, I think I got a great deal.

Korea... Here I come.