Day 1 - Singapore to Butterworth by train

Woke up way too early this morning (at 6.30!), finished packing my bag and got in a taxi to Singapore's Keppel Road Railway Station.

Packing for a 6 week trip

After buying some last minute supplies (cashew nuts, water and dried mango's), I went through Malaysian immigration before boarding my train. I'm in first class today (both to ease into this whole 14 hours in a train thing, and out of necessity as there were only first class tickets available), carriage N seat 3A.

My train out of Singapore

Really nice to see Singapore from a different perspective as I'm leaving the country today (have left by car, bus, plane, boat and on foot before, never by train). After about 30 minutes we reach Woodlands Checkpoint where I need to get off the train to go through Singapore Immigration. Once back into the train, we cross the water into Johor Bahru, Malaysia. My trip has now officially begun!

Singapore's Woodlands checkpoint

After leaving Singapore, the train takes about 6 hours to reach Kuala Lumpur, where we have a short stopover, unfortunately underground, as new passengers board the train. (in total there's about 20 stops between Singapore and Butterworth. 

Onboard the No 2 train from Singapore to Butterworth

All in all it's a very rewarding, but also exhausting, first day. Lots of new impressions and beautiful scenery (a train ride through the jungle really is something special), but I clearly need to get used to spending (half) days in the train. 

View from the train somewhere between KL and Penang

Tomorrow will be the next part of the trip: from Butterworth to Bangkok in 22 hours by sleeper train. Once in Bangkok, I'll have 4 hours to get to the airport and board my flight to Kolkata... let's hope there's no delays along the way!

Greets from Penang, Malaysia!

Steven

share on: facebook