Experience with KTM's Night Sleeper to Singapore

This is gonna be a long LONG post as I got many things to tell...haha

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Last Saturday night I took KTM's Night Sleeper to Singapore for my interview on 22/2...
hmm everything went well though at the beginning was abit worry for the custom clearance procedures as i don't know how will it be...
YEAh this was the VERY 1st time i travel to oversea ALONE
(UK was not counted as I travelled with a bunch of friends: P ...and Singapore is still oversea right?)

But still...there are friends in Singapore....guess my next challenge for myself is to travel oversea alone...to a place where I know nobody and nobody knows me : D

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Well...for your information...KTM has night sleeper comes with bed (1 pillow+i thin blanket+1 light) with curtains for your privacy. There are 2 classes, 1st class with toilet (obviously more expensive) and 2nd class with shared toilet ....You can take a panoramic view from KTMB website to have a feel of it...the one I bought is Ekspress Senandung Malam (11)-KL Sentral to Singapore and Ekspress Senandung Malam (12)-Singapore to KL Sentral. Online booking is available and you can choose your coach and your bed (upper or lower deck). My KL-Singapore is lower deck whereas Singapore-KL is uppper deck.

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Upper deck is cheaper, RM40 one way....but the space is abit smaller compared to lower deck (just abit...and you will need to bend down to look outside via the window if u're sitting on the bed). However, I would think that upper deck will have more privacy cz:

~1st: because you will need to climb up the bed and thus you can also easily kick down the pple who wana climb up to your bed (provided that you are alert enough : P)
~2nd: just my own feeling that wouldn't be easily distracted by pple walking around compared to lower deck..
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Whereas lower deck is RM46 one way...slightly more spacious... with a big window that you can comfortably sit or lay down for night view (it's a quite awesome experience for me as i rarely have chance to travel as soon as the sky turns dark...)

Thus I have my both way for RM86....though it has a long hours journey but to me it is safer ba...at least I wouldn't need to come down at Johor Bahru + minimises the risk of road accidents + avoid traffic jam ....I think the utilisation of sleeping time to travel has already compensated the time spent on traffic jams during peak season ba...

(and buses from KL cost around rM30+ one way...slightly cheaper from train)..
But there's a weird thing where if you book your ticket and chosen Singapore as your starting point, you will have to pay in SGD.....meaning instead of paying RM40/RM46 one way you will have to pay SGD40/SGD46!!...So there's a tips which I found from another website stating that instead of buying separate ticket for 2 journeys, it will be cheaper to buy a return ticket by choosing KL as the starting point (even though you are only travelling from Sg to KL)...Kononnya the net effect will be cheaper....

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Travellers with night sleepers consist of all sorta pple:

foreign workers..families...babies...oldies...and some single man haha...
no la...it just happened that I hardly see female travellers travelling alone for both of my journeys...
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I took the train at KL Sentral's KTM (upstairs') platform. Scheduled time is 10:30pm to 8:20am the next day.
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10:07pm-

I was already in the train.... and a fair grandma came to me and saying that my bed was her bed.. ooh then i spoke mandarin to her and offering a help to find her bed.. Surprisingly the Coach number (ie. which "box" of the train) and the bed number were exactly same as mine! But at the same time i heard she's mumbling in a foreign language o.O

Suddenly I realize her features and I asked her:
"あなたは日本人ですか？"
(Are you a Japanese?)

Then she said はい　日本人です...ooh...
Japanese po-po　

Hah you know I was so freak ganjiong and at the same time excited cz finally I got a chance to communicate with a Japanese in their language..but my Japanese language is just "Sdn. Bhd." level. I just remember ticket called "kippu"... was trying to tell her that your ticket was wrong
(she was going to Singapore but her ticket was Spore-KL) and I don't know how to say "wrong" in Japanese. So I mixed up Japanese + English (she knows very simple English).

I told her このきっぷはKL え
（This ticket is going to KL)

already forgotten those ikimasu thingy...Trying to say "not Singapore” but then I forgotten that I can use でわありません cz I kept thinking of how to say "Wrong ticket" and the word popped up on my mind was "Aniyo" (Korean's "No")
-_-!!...
(reminded me on the topic which we had when the Scouts gang came to my house for "Bai Nian":" Talking to Malaysians can be tricky cz they tend to mix all the languages and dialects they know XD)

Lastly somehow she understand and she looked at her kippu and kept saying "Alamak...Alamak..." (Surprisingly she knows "Alamak"!). Then she walked off after saying thank you to me....Hah...the chinese guy opposite my bed kept staring at me during the conversation... I know I know...my poor Japanese Language.. haih...but somehow...this is a new motivation for me to continuingly brush up my Nihongo~
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10:29pm~
I heard the train's horn and the engine started (quite punctual hoh)

11:00pm~
They come to check our tickets one by one...Done...and now you can sleep and do whatever until the next morning...

The train passed by Kajang...Seremban? (I'm asleep after Kajang)... It stopped several times to pick up passengers from several stations.. I saw kampung kampung and red tanglungs... frankly speaking I awake almost every hour throughout the night...not because of the train .....cz there're some foreign workers talking and walking around... I think I only slept "peacefully" around 3am to 4am something? cz they were also in deep sleep during that time and my peace gone when they awake again-_-
(I tell you...it's SYOK to sleep on a KingKungKingKung goyang-goyang bed lo...XD)

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The next day 6.30am~
KTM officer distribute the white card (embarkation/disembarkation card to Singapore) ...make sure you are awake around that time cz they seems like just walk by selamba saja without Ensuring every passenger who is going to Singapore to get a white card (though you can get it later at Woodlands if not mistaken).

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6.45am~
reached Johor Bahru...and the Malaysian officer will check your passport onboard (ie. need NOT get down to Johor Bahru if you're going to Spore)

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7.14am~

the train starts again and we reached Woodlands around 7.20am to pass through Singapore Immigration and Custom (to cop Passport and White card)

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7.50am~

reboard the train and

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7.59am~

train restarted the engine and is heading to Tanjong Pagar KTM (KTM station in Singapore)

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8.30am~

reached Tanjong Pagar KTM...and I walked like selamba saja without knowing where should I walk to XP ....(I did gooogled and street-viewed Tanjong Pagar KTM to Tanjong Pagar MRT but..... at last i just gave up)... It's around 20 minutes walk from KTM to MRT and I tried to take bus which was advised by my friend...but somehow the bus driver said it's very near and wasn't worth to take a bus ride...and:
"对我们中国人来讲走10分钟的路程一点也不是问题~"
(He's a Chinaman driver)

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Okay~okay~well it's early in the morning and to prove that im 龙的传人also (:S)...so i walk lo......and frankly speaking the signage was poor as there is NO indication from TP KTM to TP MRT....Not at all!
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The KTM officer told me..walk along the mainroad along KTM Station's side and turn left after 3 junctions... so I just hentam and ask the pedestrian +remember the landmarks as i need to walk back the same way then ...FujiXerox...M Hotel...Anson Twenty.. and finally i reached Tanjong Pagar MRT ..took MRT to Buona Vista station and took another bus to meet my friend at NUS...

#NUS University Hall#

as for reaching NUS...i also hentam saja: P
agak agak which station then get down from the bus... luckily i was correct
Ooh ya..another friend of mine in Spore asked me to buy
EZlink card (like TouchnGo card) for bus and MRT ..

it costs SGD15 and it has SGD10 inside...
and the amount can be topped up then...
all local pple are using it...and I saw that there's discounted rate
using the card as compared to paying by cash..

Tadaa...this is my friend's uni hostel room where I slept one night there
Soooooooo many patung patung : P

The environment is just like TARC KL campus huh...
Quiet and greeny.....but it's much bigger then TARC

Then my friend brought me to lepak near City Hall MRT
after we found the place that where my interview is

This fountain is said to be bringing wealth etc if u make a wish
and walk 3 rounds along the fountain...

Food Republic @ Suntec City
The books are fake books~but the ambience...some sort like Harry Porter 1's scene


There're many shopping complex around City Hall and Raffles Place MRT Stations
Raffles Place mall...Suntec City...City Link mall etc etc
and they were linked


Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay


Singapore Flyer...Merlion Park...
and the 3 blocks thingy is Marina Bay Sands casino

Merlion

and at night I went to my friend's Biology Lab
wow! It's just like those lab saw in TV..
but one thing is nobody there :S
The corridors...lifts....just like in a hospital~
...
Then I went back to my friend's room around 11pm
Pooi San was so good letting me to sleep on her bed while she
slept on the floor with sleeping bag..Thx dear¬
Without preparing anything for the interview
cz i was too too tired...and I just slept until the next morning...
drag until 7am and get up reluctantly haha
..
..
Talking about interview...
It is considered successful ba...they are prepared to accept me
but the pay wise...it is yet to be notified...
plus I'm still looking forward to another company's inteview in KL...
haih...can't decide yet so don't ask me as I cannot answer yet
They didn't test me anything for the job haha
Just told me how's the job and what's the differences in Spore and Msia...
Talk bout the worthiness of LJMU...
and one of the interviewer said:
"Your english is not bad..no much difference from Singaporean English"-_-!
(1st time I heard this kinda description describing English competency)
and another thing is because I know mandarin it will be an advantage
cz I may need to listen in mandarin but write in English...
These were what they said la...
...
So after the interview for about 45 minutes...I left to Orchard
to have my "Brunch" at 11:00am in Wisma Atria's Food Republic
then started my journey along Orchard road..
I thought Orchard Road is some sorta like Petaling Street or some specialty street...
mana tahu it's a road with lotsa shopping complex..
and most are high end shops..


#Paragon#


#Ngee Ann City#
and somemore Wisma Atria...Lucky Plaza...Takashimaya...
I ended up hanging in Kinokuniya inside Takashimaya
for 3 hours~wah 1st time having lotsa lotsa time for me to read...
Actually I prefered Kino at KLCC...the layout...the ambience....cz KLCC's Kino
is "more Baroque" to me whereas this Kino @ Takashimaya...more like "MPH feel"

And
Guess what...half way through reading I heard a guy shouting:
"FXXX your fXXXing attitude!"
Then I heard another uncle keep saying sorry sorry to that guy...
then the teenager walked by me and at the same time
the Kino's worker (an aunty) shouted at him as well:
"Excuse me Sir, mind your language! This is very rude..."
before she can fiinish the teenager again shouted at her:
"Mind your FXXXing language!"
and showed his 3rd finger~
o.O

I thought Singaporeans are very well educated one??

Aih duno what happened ....I only realised that I've been there for 3 hours when I started to shiver in cold... So I left and take MRT to City Hall area... Shopping malls again-_- I was so damn tired...both my legs and the worst my shoulders... I can hardly find a place to sit down inside the several shopping malls until I found some benches which were in front of some shops... Then I sat there for almost 1 hour plus until the shopkeepers started to stare at me wondering why am I there for so long....

And there's a phrase which you can see and hear everywhere in MRT stations:

"If you see any suspicious people or object, please feel free to contact the counter..."

Some sort like this.

(me?me?are you referring to me???)

Haih...no choice...I was really tired and people Shop til broke while poor me~walk til broke (shoulders and legs) . Just the same feeling like when I was in London: (

And I ended up sitting there and

staring and observing Singaporeans for another 3 hours!!

My friend call me Siao and I understand also...sitting there waiting for nothing really drives pple mad... but somehow I have this "talent" to misuse my patience XD

and out of my observations here are some shallow findings:

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~Many old people are still working!

(They work as cleaners...food court helpers etc..)

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~Many Office Ladies are rich!

(I can see many of them holding LVs'...and even teenagers holding Longchamps!)

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~The fact that many OLs are also smokers doesn't change as for Spore /Msia

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~Singaporeans walk faster than Msians...

(and Spore's OLs can walk Fast even in their high heels!)

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~Most OLs...Working aunties...or even foreign workers dressed up fashionably~
(although it hasn't reach the extent that people pay high attention to makeups as in Korea or Japan)

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~Many of the students carrying big instrument box...guitar...violin...
(so envy!!!)

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~Many were holding iPhones and BlackBerry as well!

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~I hardly hear pple communicate in Cantonese / other dialects here!
(most are not bombastic but fluent English...and Mandarin)

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and there it goes i'm back in KL now...
I heard this too often: "What's your preference?Money?"

hmm...Money is one thing...but not everything...another important thing to me is work-life balance...
(be it sounds merely idealistic and unrealistic to others perhaps)..
and I wana spilt out this for long:
I'm NOT indecisive!
It's just that...I CANNOT tell you my actual plan...or somehow it's useless to explain cz some people look at your seriousness as a joke...haha

小时了了大未必佳？

haha...Perhaps I shall prove that
you have used the wrong idiom on me!

XD

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p/s: multilingual is just another fascinating thing to me: D