Train to Tumpat

The Jungle Railway, or more properly, the East Coast Line, is an adventure up the Malay Peninsula from its southern tip at Johor Bahru almost as far as the Thai border. It doesn’t actually run up the east coast, except at its northern terminus of Tumpat. Instead the line runs through the jungle and limestone interior of the peninsula, through previously inaccessible countryside.

I have previously ridden the western coast line as far as Butterworth, but I have long wanted to ride its supposedly more scenic cousin. This is especially driven by plans for a Chinese built modernised line via the actual coast, though when that will eventuate, who knows?

The entire journey between Johor Bahru to Tumpat is around 16 hours and the only way to do it in one go is on the nightly sleeper service. I didn’t book far enough ahead to snag a sleeping berth, instead only purchasing a first class seat.

My plan is somewhat insane. Travel across the border from Singapore to Johor Bahru (JB), the overnight train to Tumpat, a brief stay in a hotel at Kota Bahru, the nearest city, then catch the local train from Wakaf Bahru at 4.45 am to Kuala Lipis. From there, a bus to Kuala Lumpur, from where I will need to catch a couple of suburban services to get to Petaling Jaya, where I will catch up with the others.

I am a bit nervous about this.

I have to survive the long overnight ride, find local transport, probably a Grab rideshare, from Tumpat to the hotel and from there to Wakaf Bharu very early. Then I haven’t been able to pre-book tickets on the bus from Kuala Lipis to KL. Malaysia’s buses have a dangerous reputation too.

The alternative was catching the return overnight train back from Tumpat to Gemas, where it meets the fast ETS train to KL. This would be a safer option, but would mean I’d see little of Kota Bharu or anywhere else along the line I’m spending so long on, and there is a big risk of missing the twice daily ETS service from Gemas.

I suppose I can change my mind when I arrive. If there are seats available.

I wake early, still on Sydney time three hours ahead. Unfortunately, I’m delayed in leaving the hotel by the experience of trying to get a SingTel tourist e-SIM. Though I’m paying for Telstra roaming on other devices (I post-paid, the other pre-paid which gives more control over expenses), I think I’ll save a bit of money with an e-SIM.

Setting it up is an exercise in frustration that makes me want to throw the phone out the window. SingTel’s app wants to identify me, but refuses to scan my passport or face, then when it finally succeeds complains that it can’t match because the new Australian passport is black and white. It also doesn’t like VPNs. And their retail shop can’t help.

Giving up, we go out. First breakfast is at our traditional place, Original Katong Laksa hidden away in Roxy Square behind the hotel. It’s different to other laksas.

Two bowls of laksa.

Alex complains he doesn’t want anything rich to start his morning and orders fish soup instead from an adjacent stall. Doesn’t like it much, prefers last night’s Teochew style.

We go for a walk up Joo Chiat road, once run down old shop houses and bars, now done up with trendy boutiques, pet stores and cake shops.

There are still older eateries. B wants to go to Sing Heng Claypot Bak Koot Teh, where she previously enjoyed their herbal pork stew.

Not today. It’s very poor, according to her, and the Milo drinks are horrible. Not just watered down, bad.

Cross that one off our list permanently.

I love the kopitiams along the way, open sided collections of food stalls around a drinks stall at the base of a building. At the corner to Dunman and Joo Chiat Roads is Tin Yeang, next to the also interesting Dunman Food Centre. Inside Tin Yeang is the Mr and Mrs Moghal serving the nicest roti prata I’ve had in Singapore. Normally I prefer gooey over crispy roti, but this combines both and tastes really good. Next to it is a carrot cake (fried radish cake) stall that I also order from.

Tin Yeang Restaurant, a covered collection of food stalls

The other two claim to be full, but B still eats some of mine and says she’ll be back for the roti. I wish that I could come back too.

We return down the street until we reach the Katong 21 shopping centre of air conditioned bliss. Gelatissimo may be an Australian chain, but the pineapple tart flavour is uniquely Asian for Lunar New Year.  We decide their lychee flavour is better when we eat both.

Alex has a go on a drum game at the arcade at the top level.

Continuing on, we return to the Parkway Parade shopping centre where the SingTel shop is of no help, but the Fairplay Extra supermarket stocks their favourite calamansi lime drink, sustenance from their last trip when Alex lacked energy due to post-covid symptoms.

Back at the hotel, Alex and I have a quick swim in the supposedly warm but actually cold pool. Then it is time for me to leave for Woodlands.

The other two accompany me on the MRT as far as Maxwell, from where they will explore Chinatown in Lunar New Year glory. The MRT at Marine Parade only opened last year and it’s very convenient for the Roxy, right out the front.

The Marine Parade MRT station, looking down at the platforms from the top of the escalator

I continue on the MRT underground to the penultimate stop of Woodlands. From there I change to a bus. I think I don’t catch the most efficient route. We wind through suburban Singapore, dropping off school kids and locals to condominiums old and new, towers of homes.

Eventually we arrive at the Woodlands Station checkpoint, where signs warn against photography. Presumably because it is an embarrassment to Singapore. A push-pull diesel locomotive hauled train of old Malaysian carriages waits at the platform, surrounded by two barbed-wire fences. This is the Shuttle Tebrau that runs on five minutes ride between Singapore and Malaysia.

Once upon a time the train line ran all the way into central Singapore, to a grand Art Deco style station. But the station was Malaysian territory, an cause of angst for Singapore. When I arrived here in 1999 on a train from Butterworth, the local taxis refused to pick us up until they saw me, an ang moh, in the crowd, this was their dislike of Malaysians.

Now there’s not even a connection to the Singaporean MRT network aside from an inconvenient bus. They are building a special metro connection between the two countries, but that won’t even connect to the main Johor Bahru station!

The project to build a high speed rail connection between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, one of the world’s busiest air routes, is constantly on and off, but again it looks like it won’t connect conveniently to other networks. It’s needed. The air service is a pain.

So here I am at the checkpoint, joining the queue. A Malaysian KTM official checks my passport, but nobody looks at the ticket on my phone. Then I pass through the e-gate of Singapore immigration and then the same for Malaysian immigration, having filled out the form online. Our bags are x-rayed, then we queue for the train.

Boarding is a free-for-all. I go to the last carriage, which is emptier. It looks like the one I caught between Gemas and JB. A colourful moquette pattern on the seats and even a charging point in the wall. Not that there’s any point, if you take my meaning.

The interior of a Shuttle Tebrau carriage, 2 by 2 seats

After all of that fuss, it’s a five minute journey past the Singaporean security and across the causeway to JB. I can see the construction of the new concrete MRT bridge in the distance.

Condominiums and an opera house in JB

At JB Sentral station there are no more formalities, no photo prohibitions, and we just go up to the concourse.

There are many stalls designed to provide supplies to train commuters like myself, along with real estate stands trying to hawk off the endless condominiums being constructed in JB, buyers or not.

Interior of JB Sentral with a sign saying Johor

I’ve got 2.5 hours to kill, so I decide to cross over to the big shopping centre opposite. I can see that the road below has been torn up and huge concrete overpasses are under construction.

The JB Sentral overpass, showing the construction of a concrete overpass bridge

On the other side I am greeted by a big branch of the Australian Cotton On clothing chain. The shopping centre is lacking in interesting food outlets. The toilets are free, but not particularly nice (BYO toilet paper in Malaysia, though there is a big roll near the entrance).

I return to the station to get supplies for the train. Curry puffs, kuih, drinks. But I should have dinner. At least sit down somewhere.

I end up in KFC. It’s not quite as embarrassing as white guy goes for white food, because on their menu was nasi lemak (coconut rice) and Chinese mantou buns.

I can’t seem to order nasi lemak, only plain rice, from the automated kiosk, so I get a mantou and hot’n’spicy chicken set with peach-mango juice.

The hot’n’spicy isn’t spicy, but the coating is better here than in Australia. The mantou are stale, but the egg and tomato sauce is nice.

KFC chicken, two mantou buns, peach drink and egg and tomato aauce

It’s food.

I return to the station and have nowhere to sit. The big screen says that boarding has commenced for our train and will close in an hour.

Actually, boarding is closed. It doesn’t open until 15 minutes before our departure, the electronic ticket gates roped off until then.

My carriage, 1, is at the far southern end of the platform. It makes for a liminal space, at least until the rest of the passengers arrive. The carriage is old, but the seats, in a 2-1 configuration, look comfortable in padding and their great recline.

Interior of the first class carriage with a 2 - 1 configuration of the patterned seats

I have booked a single seat

There is no seat power. I have brought batteries. The cabin is busy without being full.

Our journey commences without fuss. Past the city lights. It’s too bright inside the cabin for photographs of the outside. I sit back and listen to music.

The stations between JB Sentral and Gemas are all modern recent reconstructions, ready for the ETS service extension that keeps being delayed (this is Malaysia).

The ETS currently operates on the western side of the Malaysian peninsula between the Thai border and Gemas. The electric sets run at up to 130 km/h. Not super fast, but fast and comfortable enough to compete with road travel. When the extension to JB opens it will make travel more convenient.

It’s dark outside, but when we reach a town there’s plenty to see. Amber street lights illuminate houses with deep veranda roofs extending most of the way out the front, the outside itself a room. Louvered windows let the air in too.

Residents done at open restaurants, plastic chairs and simple tables under fluorescent lights. The minarets and domes of mosques are often the most substantial buildings in a small town, but there are also ornate Hindu temples and those for the Chinese residents.

The lunar new year approaches and red lanterns are strung up along streets. Sometimes rainbows of lights decorate the streets. I even spot Christmas decorations on one bridge! Malaysia comes alive at night, after the heat of the day, until late.

But I’m tired. The seat is comfortable, but I need my jumper and aircraft blanket to keep me warm in the chilly air-conditioning. The cabin is never fully darkened, though half the ceiling lights are switched off.

At Kuala Krau we stop and have to reverse. Presumably, we need to change to a different passing loop. Not great, I think. Most of the line is single track and there are local DMU services.

We reach Kuala Lipis at 6.45 am. This is where I intend to get off on the return journey, I recognise it from Google Street View.

First light dawns, the bright Moon appearing in a sky of high cloud, jungle and palm plantations skimming past outside, a mountain range in the background.

Now and then we past a kampong village, rural huts where the residents often keep chickens, cows, goats and other livestock. Others work on the palm or rubber tree plantations. There are particular styles to kampong houses. Columns, some raised above the ground. Some poor, others look like the owners may have some wealth.

We leave the plantations behind and enter real remnant jungle. Tall trees, massive clumps of bamboo, ferns, gingers, vines and many other species. The terrain changes too. Massive limestone karsts, caves exposed by crumbling cliffs, tower over the countryside.

This is the spectacular landscape I was promised, the one that makes this journey so worthwhile. It’s not just around Gua Mustang, where karsts sit right beside the station.

There are also broad brown rivers, swollen from the wet season, sampans in the lees. I see a huge waterfall in the distant ranges as we approach Dabong, a popular ecotourism stop. Prior to that, one village was out for morning markets with stalls selling foods and other items.

Sadly the plantations return, the landscape scarred muddy brown where the land has been cleared.

From Tanah Merah, a town whose name is emblazoned stop a tall water tower but is also found in Singapore and Brisbane, the landscape flattens and rice paddies appear.

There are so many windows into local life when travelling in a train that you can never see from the air. But we are still skimming past.

I’m glad to finally arrive at Tumpat. I feel tired and oily and all my devices need charging. Even the power packs are going flat.

There’s very little around the station, which looks fairly new.

An annoying tout keeps demanding to take me somewhere. I tell him I have friends picking me up.

Actually, I’m trying to use Grab to get a ride, but it isn’t working. I try for half an hour. Maybe it’s because Friday is a Muslim holy day. I can hear prayers ringing out from a nearby mosque.

I give up and book a ticket on the evening train back to Kuala Lipis. I would go all the way to Gemas, but it’s sold out.

Then I try Grab again and it magically works.

We drive past so many run down eateries in sheds and outside houses. I want to try, but I also want to get to the hotel.

The Ibis Styles is bright and playful inside, more than sufficient for my needs. Lots of power points and USB sockets too!

IBIS Styles room, wooden floor, queen bed.

I plug everything in, shave, brush my teeth, shower. I would sleep, but I am also hungry, so I go down to the street.

View from my window

It’s not pedestrian friendly. There’s a shed up the road selling fried noodles and, but not yet, roti. Otherwise I would order it. I keep walking. Most places, bar a couple of Chinese ones, are closed. I’m not in the centre of the city. The roads are too busy to cross and I don’t feel like chasing up a ride.

Fortunately, tucked away in a side street, is a somewhat fancy “All day dining” restaurant. I see it serves local dishes. It’ll do.

I order nasi kerabu and daging bakar, grilled meat, a finely cut salad with dessicated coconut, dressings, half an egg and crackers, served with nasi tumis, yellow tumeric rice. A lime juice for a drink.

Nasi kerabu

The nasi kerabu is so good! I’ve never had one this delicate and tasty.

Unfortunately, I’m feeling really tired again. It rains lightly as I step out into the rundown concrete jungle and walk back past a stumbling schizophrenic to the hotel.

I can’t decide. Do I want to catch the train tonight and end up in Kuala Lipis at 2.30 am, unable to proceed to either Kuala Lumpur by bus or via Gemas by train for another few hours. Or get up early tomorrow morning and hope the bus will deliver me safely from Kuala Lipis to Kuala Lumpur?

Grab refuses to let me book an early morning ride in advance. I go down to reception. They manage to book me a taxi.

I decide to sleep in a proper bed for a bit longer and cancel tonight’s ride. Hopefully tomorrow will go smoothly, but I don’t trust it to. This is Malaysia.

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