I love trains. Riding them, specifically, not just marveling at their designs and specifications. My first train ride was travelling from Frankfurt to Graz with a group of Girl Guides and our Guide leader, representing Malaysia for a Jamboree. Sometime during the Jamboree, our Guide instructor took us on an overnight train to Vienna. The view from the train was spectacular. As it was my first time in Europe, the excitement was immeasurable. I remember us greeting anyone we met in the buffet coach with " Gruss Gott", that very little bit of German we had learned before embarking on our adventure. I remember the bemused expressions on the people's faces upon hearing our casual greeting, and our leader explaining to them who we were. Suddenly those bemused expressions turned to smiles.Waking up after an overnight train ride and finding myself in Venice was magical. It was a day trip, and we explored Venice on foot, trying their coffee, and of course, pizza. I remember my friend and I asking the lady if the pizza was soft. We had no knowledge of Italian, other than musical terms that we learned in our piano classes and theory exams. So, the conversation went pretty much like this : " piano?" while our fingers gesticulated pressing down as though we were playing the piano, and pressing on the pizza. And of course, knowing a little more italian now than I did then, I can totally understand why the poor lady was so confused 😂.
Why was I so fascinated by trains ? As a child, my father used to regale us with stories of him eurorailing across Europe as a student. There were photos of him in Pisa, for example. Couple that with Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient express and I was sold. I yearned for adventure and excitement.
As a matriculation student in Kulim, I would take the train back to KL at the end of the semester . I remember taking the afternoon train, Ekspres senandung something or other. It left Butterworth at 2, and actually had movies on board. I remember watching Ben, the story with Michael Jackson's song, Ben. On one of these trips, the train broke down somewhere outside KL. This was the era of no handphones, and I had no way of telling my father I would be late. When the train finally pulled up into the station in KL, my father decided that I would no longer be allowed to take the afternoon train. Only morning trains from now on, he said. At least, of the train breaks down, there is still a lot of daylight hours . Of course, this was also before the era of digital cameras and random photography ( films and processing were costly ), so there are no photos of the trains back then.
Travelling by train often allows us to see a country not visible to one who's driving. Rolling hills, sheep and cattle grazing idly , and local foliage. And of course, the opportunity to look pityingly at cars stuck in traffic jams.
Train stations are interesting too, be it the intercity , metro, or subway.
How do I purchase my tickets ? I normally use passes; eurail in Europe and the UK , JR pass in Japan. It makes life a lot easier for me as I only have to make seat reservations . Occasionally, I may purchase point to point tickets, but these are few and far between. The price of these passes depend on the number of countries you wish to cover, the number of days, and , in the case of eurail, whether you'd like the dates to be consecutive or as you please. You also have the option of choosing between 1st class and 2nd class. We normally choose the latter.
Many years have passed since that young teen boarded her first train in Europe. Since then Malaysia has also started running MRT and LRT, and trains have gotten faster. We are regular users of the MRT and LRT, and it is our preferred mode of transportation to KLCC to watch the Malaysian philharmonic orchestra, as it saves us the hassle of looking for parking.
My dream is to one day take the trains in Australia, be it the Indian Pacific or the Ghan. It offers a totally new experience in train travelling, something I hope to experience. The eastern and oriental as well as the Orient express are on the cards too, and recently I learned about a luxury train in Vietnam. time to save up and plan !
