Sunday, November 11, 2012

Le Tour de LRT.

I spent the past few days thinking that I was only getting two days off next week: Tuesday (Deepavali) and Thursday (Awal Muharram). Then, right at the end of my last class yesterday, word went out that my fellow FIS-mates and I were getting the whole week off after all, just like everyone else. Obviously, I wasn't about to look this particular gift horse in the mouth. I went home that day in a mood that was possibly brighter than anything I'd been feeling for the rest of the week.

Except maybe that rush when I got full marks for my Biology test. 

So, what did I do to kickstart the holidays? I went with my brother on a little journey I called 'Le Tour de LRT'. 



It might not have been the first time anyone's done it, but I've never heard of anyone doing it before. So I'll just consider it to be one of those random ideas that spontaneously pop up in my head from time to time, and not something I'd gotten from an outside source.

The plan was to embark on a tour of three of the main railway lines in Malaysia: Putra, Star and Monorail. We'd go from end to end on each of those lines, without getting off, except for interchanges and emergencies.

So we set off at about 9.30 from the Ampang station, which was the first station of the Star line. The fact that it wasn't too far away from where we lived made it all the easier for us.

We returned after four hours, having gone around KL, as well as the far-off reaches of Kelana Jaya, Gombak and Sri Petaling. 

The whole tour ended up costing RM 7.60. The initial theory was, since we'd be returning to the exact same station where we set off from, it wouldn't cost us a single cent. This part of the plan was foiled at the end of the Monorail line at KL Sentral, where there was no direct interchange to the Putra Line.

We concluded that, for sightseeing purposes, the Monorail was the best. It took us through the heart of the big city, and the design of its coaches made for an excellent view.

Sticking with the same aspect, the dullest was the Putra line. Sure, there were a couple of landmarks along the way (Menara TM, The Gardens@Midvalley) but all we saw were mostly housing areas. There were even parts of the route where the track went underground, so there was even less to see. Yaaawwwn. The Putra line was clearly not designed for tourists. 

So that's one thing off my bucket list - or at least it would be, if I had one. Now, back to the mundanity of holiday life.