Kuala Lumpur #2

Second day in KL

Kuala Lumpur

Arrival: 8th April 2017, 1720 hours

Gemas is about 150km from Kuala Lumpur (KL), it took about 3 hours to reach KL Sentral. We thought of having a Peranakan meal at the Sentral Mall but decided otherwise, we took the Uber to the Chinatown Boutique Hotel, 34 Jalan Hang Lekir. The concierge at the Sentral Station, an Indian national was helpful, he called the Uber for us. Where we stayed, the street was bustling with food and many paraphernalia. The lights look exciting and mesmerizing. The entrance to the hotel was obscured and it snaked through alley ways and street vendors. We felt watched, but so what? Nothing to be alarmed with some attention. I did spew a few Cantonese catch phrases with the young receptionist. A way to strike up a good rapport. Be friendly and smile often. It is already part of my habit. However, I get angry and rude too if the receptionist is unreasonable. It cuts both ways.

Gemas

Arrived: 7 April2017, 2009hours

We filled up our thermos flask with hot tea, bought some biscuit, took some selfies at the City Square Mall with the train station in the background before boarding the train en route to Gemas. 

The way the rail lines were organized, I suspected that Gemas was designated to be the rail transport hub of the future rail network of West Malaysia. It is at Gemas that the rail line splits into two lines, one in the east and another to the west. West Malaysia is divided in the middle by a mountain range that joins the ranges of Thailand in the north and continues to Singapore island in the south. The east rail line terminates in Tumpat and the west line terminates in Padang Besar. We decided to explore the small town, document some street scene and hoped to see that it would change due to the changes in the speed of rail network. Perhaps as the exchange point between the east and west line, it should have some impact on the economy of the town. The other reason being that the faster trains, the ETS electric trains which can reach a speed of 150km/h, only start at Gemas. It is claimed that this is the fastest meter-gauge train. We learned that the track width does have an implication on the maximum speed of the train. Most of the tracks in China are Standard gauge and some dual track, the fastest train can reach a speed of 400km/h or more. 

I had not visited Gemas before and it would be a good start to get acquainted with the small quiet town. We departed at about 3pm in the afternoon and when we alighted from the train, it was already dark and we were very hungry. We traveled about 200km and took almost 5 hours. The train was slow. It needed some real upgrading, however, the seats were comfortable and the carriage reasonably clean. We spotted a Pizza Hut and was happy to have a simple meal of chicken burger. We did some browsing, walked less than a few hundred meters, found a small hotel, Hotel Tropicana along Jalan Lintang mend by a young India lady and settled our lodging for the night. 

Johor

Arrived: 6th April 2017, 1500hours

We took some time to complete packing our bags and also last minute banking to ensure our bank cards from different banks were working fine. We had also purchased the insurance for the countries we were visiting for a year. It was more economical that way as I would presume that I would be traveling frequently this whole year. We had a backup bank card in case one did not work, we had a special place to keep some money for an emergency. We also exchange some Thai Baht and American dollars, as we know that American dollars were sought after in many developing countries, such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It would come in handy when we ran out of the countries currency. It was a good storage medium and exchanging medium. We always keep smaller change in different pockets so that we would not lose our wallet during payment or snap away by a thief. We would keep our important document in front of our body.
We always need alternatives and backed up plan, other than having a mobile we had a small tablet that could be used as a mobile and we also brought along a computer each with us.