What was I thinking?

Yesterday I decided that I'd head into KL for the afternoon. I had the whole day to myself so I thought I'd take a book with me, find a nice place to eat lunch, chill, read and watch the world go by. It was going to be a relaxing afternoon. I also figured that I'd use public transport. I forgot how much I hate the public transport system here. A simple 30 -45 minute commute turned into a 2 hour one.

It all started when I decided to make my way back to my place. At the time I was in KLCC - for those back home, the Kuala Lumpur City Centre -but I had to get back to meet up with some friends to play tennis. After buying my ticket for the LRT, I headed down to the platform to wait. Wait is an understatement, the platform was packed full of people making their way home from another day of work. The lines were so long that they stretched all the way across the platform. When the train arrived it was an absolute bottleneck. The line advancement onto the train was so slow that I figured I wouldn't be boarding for at least three more trains.

I thought to myself, "This is ridiculous!"

Rather than passively accepting my public transport penance, I decided on an alternate plan. I boarded the next LRT train heading in the opposite direction, got off at the first stop, walked across the platform and boarded the train that was headed back to where the waiting crowds were at the KLCC stop.

My commute back was going to require a transfer from the LRT system to the KL Komuter train system so at KL Central station I transferred and headed toward the platform. When I reached the bottom of platform # 5, my reaction, as they say here in Malaysia was, "AI YO!" The crowd here on this platform was worse than on the LRT platform in KLCC.

This time around, I thought to myself, "There's not turning back get in line and wait you dummy. What were you thinking when you decided to head back at this time of day when everyone's coming back from work!!"

After waiting 15 minutes and watching 3 different trains from other platforms come and go there was an announcement that came over the speaker system stating that the train, the train I was waiting for was going to be delayed another 40 minutes.

"No way! I'm not putting up with this crap!"

Getting out of line I headed back to the ticket booth, handed my ticket to the ticket agent and told him that I didn't want it and he could have it.

After heading out of the ticket gates, I went to the bus terminal to see if I could catch a bus back to my part of town. Along the way, I saw a taxi stand counter.

"Change of plans."

I made my way to the taxi jockey to get a taxi only to have him tell me that there were no taxis for another hour.

??

"No taxis for another hour?"

"No sir"

"Is this Central Station?"

"Yes sir"

"Never mind. I'll take the bus."

Heading over to the counter for the "Rapid" KL bus system, I enquired,

"Excuse me, I take bus number U 76 to get back to Subang Jaya?"

In one of the most articulate responses of the day, the clerk responded,

"Ung"

"Could you tell me where the bus pick up is?"

Pointing in a non-specific direction the clerk stated,

"Over there"

"Over there? Could you be more specific?"

...

Blank stare.

I thought to myself, "Come on Mark! It really couldn't get much more specific than, 'Over there'!"

"Thanks for the help, Keep up the good work!"

"Ok, sir."

Fortunately, I only had to wait another 15 minutes before my bus to leave the terminal departed and head out into the jammed streets of KL. I sat down in the bus and decided since I was finally on my way to catch up with the boys to play tennis, I might as well take out my book and start reading a little bit more of my book.

There's a saying that goes, "Every cloud has a silver lining". I have to admit it today that was true. As the bus got to the next step a group of people boarded the bus and a really pretty girl sat down next to me, :-). However, I didn't say anything to her because I wouldn't have wanted her to have thought I was some kind of creeper, but man! She sure was easy on the eyes. I just went back to my book and waited tilI got back to Subang Jaya.

The afternoon in KL has reminded me why I have to think twice everytime I consider heading into KL. Public Transport infrastructure in Malaysia has much to learn about kaisen!