Its called the Langkawi Express but it takes about 8 and half hours from Kuala Lumpur to Butterworth.A road trip takes only 4 and half hours. But you should really try it some day. It calms your nerves.
Well, not exactly first class 'cos they have private cabins too. Maybe that's premiere class. Anyway, it's first class to me 'cos you get to lie down flat on your back and let the train rock you to sleep. I think I closed the curtains at about 10 pm after about one hour of reading and the next thing I knew, it was past 2 am. That's solid 4 hours of shut eye. You should try it some day. Apart from reducing your carbon footprint (I hope), you get to slow down a little. Why the rush? Yah, I know, instant gratification. I actually read an article in the Thai papers (on the plane to Seoul) about a monk who teaches a cooking class where you have to learn to slowly grate the coconut and other stuff to make a Thai delicacy. Slow down, that's the message.
So, why was I on the slow train? Ah, the things fathers do to bond with their daughters and sons (ok, son). Vivian is into her second year now and got headhunted to be in the top six of the student council for Kolej 17. And the campus bus service is really bad. Sometimes she has to wait like 2 or 3 hours to get back to the hostel. So with the busy schedule (oh, did I tell you she's also the CEO of a start-up company that the university "persuaded" her to do?) she needs wheels to zip around. But don't worry. She's got the carbon footprint covered. She and her three buddies will be carpooling.
OK, OK, back to the why. Since she has to drive the car down and this is her maiden long distance trip, I offered to accompany her. OK, lah, me and my wife also a little bit concerned mah. But she did great, very confident on the road except for a small lapse of concentration, which was remedied with a tall glass of coffee (no sugar for me) at the Tapah R&R (and no straws too). She talked about her university life. I talked about my obsession with plastic (getting rid of it as much as possible). It was a great trip. Hey, I thought the little car would "fly" at high speed but at 110 kph, it was quite stable, except for the steering wheel vibration.
Then we went to CyberJaya to pick up my son Brian who had decided to skip Form Six (waste of time and too much stress) and is doing his foundation year at a private U. Had early dinner at a very nice hotel (guess which one, only one in CyberJaya, I think). Nasi Goreng (fried rice) and Nasi Lemak is about RM25 each. My 2 children "complained" its expensive, and but on the plus side is a nice garden great to just catch up with the "kids".
Then Vivian sent me to the Serdang train station very near her campus. A good thing we allowed for lots of time to get lost. And we got lost twice, once coming out of CyberJaya and then again when looking for the train station. I made it with just 10 - 15 minutes to spare. I liked the connectivity between the trains. Could be better but still good.
