the never ending journey

I checked out of my hotel in Singapore around noon and then had a bit of a stroll around.

To be honest, this city seemed to be nothing but continual pristine streets and not a lot else. It was a bit like some kind of upper middle class housewife's wet dream. Or something like that. So I made my way back to Little India where I had been staying - a truly authentic Asian part of town - and got myself a plate of rice and a pint of Tiger. I wouldn't have minded exploring Singapore a bit more if I was travelling longer, but on a three-and-a-half week trip, it was time to go.

I arrived at Singapore Station in plenty of time for the 15.30 train to Kuala Lumpur, which was just as well considering the absurd bureaucracy I had to go through at the passport control. When I finally did get on the train, it didn't leave until 16.15 - 45 minutes behind schedule.

The train was comfortable, albeit a bit shabby, and was at least air conditioned. As it made its way through the Singapore suburbs, I couldn't help but look out for the relics of Britain's imperial past here. There is a suburb called Somerset, streets called things like Dorset Road and so on.

As we were about to cross into Malaysia, the train stopped at a station. We were then all ordered off the train and into a building, which was Malaysian passport control. Given that we were still actually in Singapore, I couldn't for the life of me understand why this little exercise couldn't have taken place at the station when we had to show our passports to leave in the first place. It was bloody annoying. After half an hour stood waiting around while sniffer dogs and the Malaysia cops went up and down the train carriage, we were finally let back on and set off again.

The journey then took us through the green and lush Malaysian countryside, which was incredibly relaxing and pleasant. As it was a Saturday afternoon and a long distance train ride, it would have been rude not to have a drink or two. Well, actually it would have been - they don't sell booze on these services, nobody else was drinking and although there was nothing to say consuming alcohol was illegal, I think it was safe to assume that it was. Anticipating this, I discreetly brought on board a small supply and poured it into an empty coke can each time I went to the bog. Nobody was ever the wiser, and I enjoyed a nice relaxing little livener...

We were scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, at 22.05. An hour after that we were still on the train, hurtling through the middle of nowhere, with no explanation from anybody as to where we were or why we were delayed. On several occasions I thought we were heading through the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, only to be disappointed and discover it was some non-descript town not even listed in my Lonely Planet guide. It had got to the stage now where I had been on this train so long I couldn't bring myself to read another page of a book or listen to another song on my ipod.

Finally, just before midnight, we arrived in Kuala Lumpur. The train station was incredibly big and modern, and from there I got a taxi to my hotel in Chinatown. I checked in, bought a couple of cans of Tiger, went up to my room, turned the air con on and collapsed on my bed exhausted.