We’re packed, all electronic devices charged and ready and about to head off to the station to begin our journey to Nottingham to prepare for the Community Rail Network conference. I’ll blog about the trip en-route so feel free to pop back later to see what we get up to…
11:00.
We’re on our way on a bright but bitterly cold day. We even had a snow flurry before we left. Right now we’re on Grand Central’s 10:40 train from Halifax to London which we’re using to get to Wakefield where we connect with Northern’s Leeds-Nottingham service. This GC class 180s busy and even more so after calling at Brighouse where a few dozen were waiting to join. The latest ORR statistics show that GC services have really bounced back from Covid. They’re currently at 103% of pre-Covid figures. Great news for an open-access operator.
The section of line between Ellend (where a new station’s due to open in 2025) and Brighouse has recently been opened up by a huge amount of lineside tree clearance which makes it feel less like a green tunnel.
11:45.
We had 10 minutes for a cross-platform interchange at Kirkgate, where a new building has appeared on the island platform 2-3. Built on behalf of Grand Central it’s a substantial 3 room structure that replaces the draughty and basic shelter that used to be there. There’s staff accommodation at one end, a seated waiting area in the middle and what looks like a potential retail outlet or small office at the other. Only it doesn’t appear to have any power sockets, just a fuse board, which is odd!
The new structure at Kirkgate.
Our Nottingham train arrived spot on time. Thankfully, it’s formed of a 2-car Class 195 so we can make the most of the power sockets and wifi as there’s other members of the CRN team aboard too.
14:15.
Having reached Nottingham and the venue in plenty of time I’ve a few hours to kill before I’m needed I’ve nipped out to make the most of the good weather and grab some new library shots whilst I’m here. East Midlands Railway have had many Class 170s cascaded to them from other operators to start replacing their old BR built fleets. Some have come from Anglia, via Transport for Wales, such as this example.
With Nottingham Eastcroft depot in the background 170271 works 1K67, the 13:43 from Newark Castle to Crewe. To the left is the former parcels depot. The building’s intact and used as a Virgin active health club.
16:40.
I’ve enjoyed a couple of hours exploring and getting pictures of railways, trams and the town. One thing that struck me is how many vacant shops there are now. Parts of the town centre are almost deserted. One street I walked along was 90% derelict. Here’s a couple of phone pics to be going on with. I’ll add camera shots later.
The old parcels depot which is now a fitness studio.There’s one mad Tory Chiltern Cllr who insists that reopening the Great Central is a viable alternative to building HS2 as most of the route is intact. Really? This was the Great Central through the centre of Nottingham. Nothing remains.
Today was one of those days that didn’t really go to plan because of the bane of the outdoor photographer’s life. The weather. It started well enough. I was working from home, wading through all the pictures I took on Merseyside yesterday whilst also dealing with emails and other correspondence. But I could see the weather was ideal for photography. Dawn was going into the Community Rail Network office in Huddersfield for a meeting with Network Rail and TPE so she suggested I might want a lift into town. It sounded like a good idea to me as I could get pictures of some of the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU) work and diverted services for the the archive. I really should have checked the weather forecast first…
All was well until we got to Huddersfield, the weather looked cracking. Then I dug the camera out. Just as soon as I did dark clouds marched in from the West – bugger! Huddersfield station was quiet as only a few services were running (to Sheffield, Bradford Interchange, Marsden, Leeds and Hull) the busiest place was the station forecourt where fleets of coaches were ferrying people across the Pennines to Manchester. My plan was to hang around for half an hour before catching the first available train to Brighouse where I’d intended to get a series of lineside shots of the TPE services diverted via the Calder valley, only the bloody clouds followed me and the weather got gloomier – and wetter. I ended up retreating to the Market Tavern in order to have a pint and make a series of work phone calls to make something of the day whilst hoping the weather would clear again. It teased me a couple of times with brief flashes of sunshine, but then the rain arrived so I gave up and came home via a train to Sowerby Bridge before slogging up the hill to home and my desk. Ho hum!
Still, I did get the picture of the day at least. The friends of Brighouse station have done some fantastic work over recent years, transforming the station with plants and flowers. Now they’ve branched out and added a series of local history boards which tale the tale of the town and some of its inhabitants. One in particular caught my eye. Do you remember the old song about the man who broke the bank of Monte Carlo? Well, he was real – and he was local…
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Having tired of being tied to my desk (and home) I checked the weather forecast firs thing this morning and found it was more optimistic than 24 hours earlier and decided “bugger it, it’s time to stretch my legs”. I’ll be blogging throughout the day so feel free to pop back and see what I get up to…
Right now I’m on the 09:59 from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester en-route to Liverpool to have a look at one of the few positive stories about UK railways right now – the introduction of the Stadler Class 777 train fleet which have ushered in the era of level-boarding across Merseyside.
Journey’s beginning…
The weather en-route has been moody to say the least. There’s gangs of marauding rain clouds lurking but so far we’ve escaped any deluges. This Wigan bound train’s made up of a pair of Class 158s which are now relegated to secondary duties after the arrival of the CAF units. Loadings across the Pennines were low until we called at Rochdale were dozens joined us for the run into Manchester.
11:45.
I had 30 mins to spend between trains in Manchester which gave me time to observe activities. Trans-Pennine Express were busy. A pair of Class 185s arrived from the East. Having disgorged dozens of people (the service was well loaded) the units were split. The rear set returned East as the 11:01 to Saltburn whilst the rear set worked empty stock back to Ardwick depot on the other side of the city. I was waiting for another TPE service, the 11:21 to Liverpool Lime St. This arrived (on time – heavens!) worked by 802216. Finding a free table in the front car as it’s not a busy train I’ve set up the mobile office so I can download a few pictures en route. The journey only takes 40 mins so there’s little time to do much else. The good news is the weather’s picking up the further West we go. Muscly white clouds are edging out the rain to leave space for blue skies and sunshine to follow.
12:45.
After an on-time arrival and brief photo stop at Lime St I’m now aboard 777049, the first Merseyrail Class 777 to enter service which I picked up at Liverpool Central. I’m posting this via my phone and the trains wifi which even works in the tunnels. My phone’s also charging up via the under-seat sockets whic have a 3-pin connection and 2 USB sockets. First impressions? I’m impressed. It’s not the first time I’ve been on board a 777 but this is the first time in regular passenger service on the route they were built for. I’m sitting at the back of the train behind the driver’s cab and over the bogie, but the ride is still smooth (until you hit switches and crossings). Acceleration is impressive and also smooth. More soon…
13:00.
We’ve arrived at Kirkby…
Having got some pictures I stayed on the same unit as far as Rice Lane (a stones throw from where I entered this world) to see how the ride was by the leading cab. There was a lot more hunting coming out of Kirkby but I suspect that has as much to do with track quality as much as the trains.
The 777s are good. Very good. I like the controlled saloon lighting that changes when you pass under bridges and tunnels, and the LED strips around the doors which aid access.
18:00.
Apologies for the gap in blogging but the day took a bizarre turn – as I’ll explain in a minute. My trips on the Kirkby were really interesting. 2 of the 3 sets operating tge service were 777s. The other was fleet pioneer 507001. Sadly, of the two 777s set 009 was clearly having problems. There were isdues with the doors and the PIS system which meant it was taken out of service a couple of times, leading to gaps in the service. It’s surprising as the sets should have had plenty of time to ‘bed in’ during their mileage accumulation runs. But then, these things happen. I’ve no doubt the problems will be fixed, but it’s embarrassing when the units have just been introduced.
Whilst I was out I posted a 777 pic to a WhatsApp group I and a few close friends have – only to get a reply from an old friend and colleague who was out with his boss doing exactly the same as me! We arranged to meet up at Lime St where his boss got a train back to London, but Hassard dallied, so we had time for a spin out to New Brighton – a place he’d never visited before. I rather enjoy New Brighton and so did Hassard as he was fascinated by the river views and the artwork adorning many of the buildings.
Mersey rovers…
We had time for a quick beer so stopped off at the “Bow-legged Beagle” micropub where the second co-incidence happened.
The chap we sat next to saw our cameras and struck up a conversation. It transpired he also had an interest in railways and travel. Clearly, his accent wasn’t local but it was only in passing he mentioned he was on a day out – from Sowerby Bridge! He lives about a mile away from me! What’s the odds of two Yorkshire neighbours (one there totally by chance) bumping into each other like that?
Having headed back into Liverpool I bid adieu to Hassard so that he could head back to London whilst I caught TPE’s 17:54 service to Manchester. I’ll blog more later when I’ve had chance to download some of today’s pictures. Right now I’m heading back across the Pennines aboard another Northern Class 158 en-route to Sowerby Bridge and home.
21:30.
Home again, so here’s a last update with a few more pictures from today.
777009 was the other new unit working Kirkby services but it wasn’t having the best of days. Here it is calling at Fazakerley with a service from Ormskirk. As you can see, the PIS isn’t working – hence the ‘not in service’ displayed on the front. I had to persuade an elderly woman who questioned me that – yes, this train was going to Liverpool. Once on board I saw a Stadler engineer busy on his phone, making it clear the train would need to be taken out of service at Kirkdale. Having abandoned 777009 at Rice Lane to get some more pictures I travelled on to Kirkdale before walking to Bank Hall where I caught 507001 (the first of the BR built EMUs) passing the depot where 777009 sits in the background in disgrace. Meanwhile, just the other side of the road to the last shot, here’s 508124 and 508112 calling at Bank Hall with services to and from Southport. When I was a kid this station had four platforms – hence the disused lines on the left. To say the area’s changed a bit in 50 years would be an understatement.
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This is a short blog from me as that was a long 24 hours – and then some! I was up at 05:30 yesterday in order to pack and make my way to Changi airport where I arrived at 08:00. I finally left the airport on a Singapore Airlines flight at 02:15 the next morning! Then I had a 14 hour flight during which managed a couple of hours sleep at best (so my Fitbits tells me). After landing at Heathrow at 08:25 Dawn met me at terminal 3 for a delayed but wonderful reunion after my 2 month absence. I’d enough time to grab a shower at the hotel room Dee had booked for us (but I never got to share with her) before it was time to leave and head back North. Making our way to Kings Cross via the Piccadilly line we were soon speeding our way up the East Coast Main Line to Leeds before catching a local service to a snow-covered Halifax and the Calder valley. In the space of a day I’ve gone from the 31 degree heat and humidity of Singapore to temperatures hovering around freezing! There’s so much that I could write about the journey but tonight’s not the time. I’ll flesh this blog out more tomorrow when I’ve had some sleep. It’s great to be home and now it’s time to have some quality-time with my wife. See you all tomorrow!
The view from our bedroom window looking out across a snow-covered Calder Valley with the next load on its way…
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Well, that was an interesting day. Yesterday I mentioned that my hotel wasn’t exactly what you’d call ‘top flight’ and probably rented rooms by the hour. Well, I was up at 06:30 this morning and when I went to open the bathroom door – it fell off in my hands! I get the impression that some of the clientele aren’t too bothered about the way they treat the place. This suspicion hardened when when I got the lift to the lobby and spotted a long list of repairs to be done to various rooms which had been left atop a toolkit by the lift door. As I was only here for the night I wasn’t too bothered. I’ve stayed in some far worse fleapits in my time travelling. At least here they’d got someone going round repairing things!
I was out early as I wanted to get some shots of the Johor Baru-Woodlands (Singapore) ‘Tebrau’ shuttle train crossing the causeway before it was my turn to ride on it. I also wanted to have a look at construction work on the new Rapid Transit System that will replace it in 2027. It took me a while to find a good spot overlooking the causeway but I was in place in plenty of time for the 08:30 departure from Woodlands. The light was good and I could frame the train with the backdrop of the massive Woodlands customs and immigration checkpoint. Of course, this is railway photography you’re talking about so the law of Sod came into play. Just before the train appeared the sun disappeared behind some clouds! Here’s the less than ideal shot I was left with.
Oh, well, I’ve got until 2027 to try again! The pipes you see in the foreground carried water from Malaysia to Singapore, although I’m not sure if they’re still in use.
Further East of the causeway construction’s progressing on the piers to carry the new RTS line.
The RTS will terminate just North of the existing Johor Baru station which means it has to loop around the station on a series of viaducts. Here’s Bukit Chagar station under construction, adjacent to the existing railway.
Having walked a serious distance to amass these and many other shots I headed back to have a last shower (sans shower door) and one last Roti Canai breakfast before reporting to the railway station to await the departure of the 11:30 shuttle to Woodlands. The system at JB’s very efficient. Barriers open 30 mins before departure. You don’t need your ticket. Instead gates scan your passport (the number’s recorded when you buy online). Heading downstairs you pass through Malaysian Immigration then you’re held in a waiting area until the train’s ready. There’s no seat reservations, you just pile on. The journey across the causeway to Woodlands takes around 10 minutes, then you’re hurried off into immigration. No photographs are permitted on the platform. As you’d expect, Singapore customs and immigration staff are very efficient, you’re through in no-time. What was unexpected was they also have a sense of humour. A middle-aged female Officer joked ‘follow the handsome one’ about her older male colleague who was directing people through the barriers! Once through I caught a bus to Nearby Woodlands MRT before jumping on the train to Little India where my hotel is. It’s certainly better looked after than my last quarters, but then it’s over 3 times the price!
The rest of my day’s been spent catching up on some work and wandering Little India. The colours, sounds and smells are wonderful – as is the food. My friend Nicholas joined me for an evening meal at one of the Biryani stalls he knows in Lekka market. He had the chicken, I had mutton – which was excellent. the price was 7 Singaporean dollars apiece.
This is known a dum biryani because it comes with a curry sauce.
Sadly, we won’t have to catch up again on this trip. Now I’m back in my hotel writing this before enjoying my last full day in Asia, so it’s goodnight from me as I want to be up early in the morning…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
There’s another rolling blog from me today as I’m on the move again. It’s time to say goodbye to KL and begin the trek back towards Singapore ready for my flight back to the UK on Saturday. Shortly, I’ll begin my journey from Pasir Seni to KL Sentral to catch train EG9321, the 12:10 to Gemas, which is the junction for the ‘jungle railway’ up the East Coast to Tumpat. It’s also the present limit of electrification so it’s where I change to a diesel-hauled service which will take me down to Johor Baru.
I’ll blog throughout the day, so feel free to keep popping back and see how the trip goes. I won’t get to JB until late this evening which means there’ll be plenty to write about…
12:34.
The journey to KL Sentral was easy. The MRT station at Pasir Seni was only a couple of hundred yards away from my hotel.
First train of the day. On the MRT heading to Sentral
From there it’s one stop to Sentral which despite it’s size, is hardly a busy station as there’s so few trains at the moment due to the Klang valley double tracking project having such an impact on capacity. There’s also acres of wasted space.
Waterloo it ain’t…
Sadly, KTM have gone down the airline route of corralling passengers in waiting areas, only letting them down onto the platform a few minutes before the train’s due.
When my train turned up it was stopped short on the long platform to allow departing passengers off first. It then crawled forward to pick up the next load – us! I can sort of see the logic in this but when you consider how most railway work this does seem a time-consuming faff.
Now I’m on-board ETS 204. One of the earlier CRRC sets built in 2014.
14:00.
A few minutes ago we left Seremban. It’s the furthest point on the KL commuter network and home depot for the SCS trainsets. It also retains one of the old station buildings which makes it a rather attractive place.
15:15.
Despite our late departure from KL our train had no trouble making up time and delivered us to Gemas spot on 14:50. It’s a cross-platform Interchange here so I went from this…
ETS204 at Gemas, having left Butterworth this morning the set’s preparing to head back North.To this! ‘Blue Tiger’ 26113 ready to take us to Johor Baru. It’s unusual to find this class of loco working passenger trains.
17:15.
We’ve just stopped in the middle of nowhere to let a Northbound service pass. Whilst the track has been doubled at the MP 642.75 (just North of Paloh) it hasn’t been fully commissioned and only works as a passing loop. It was a great location to stop as the rather nice house on a hill was nearby, surrounded by new palm oil plantations.
There’s worse places to live, and at least you won’t get flooded…
23:30 (Malay time).
Apologies for the blogging gap. It’s been for several reasons One was because I was too busy watching the world go by, and the second was that my Singaporean friend Nicholas Lim had travelled up to Kluang to join me on the trip down to Johor Baru! What I’d missed whilst I was in KL was that the state of Johor had been hit by torrential rain this week which has led to extreme flooding. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve never known it as wet this time of year, but Johor really has copped for it. When we left Gemas I saw sights around the railway like this. Low-lying land totally under water. Thankfully the railway has been rebuilt and raised otherwise there’s no way I’d have got back to Singapore by land.
The next person who tells me climate change is a myth is going to get a real mouthful. I’ve been travelling this part of the world for 31 years and I’ve never known the weather to be so unpredictable.
Fortunately, the floods were subsiding and the weather was picking up, so I could snatch the occasional picture from an open train door, although this crew were rather strict about me doing so.
Passing an up train in the middle of nowhere North of Paloh. This is a temporary loop until the double-tracking is completed.
Nick joined me at Kluang. As we’d seats reserved in different coaches we adjourned to the buffet car where we could sit together. Now, I know Mark (the man in seat 61) recommends independent ticketing companies where you pay a fee, but I’d heartily recommend the KITS app from KTM. Not only is it so easy to use but you get to choose your seat (the others don’t let you) you also get to see just how many seats are available on the train you’re looking at. Plus, you get instant confirmation that you have a ticket and you can download it straight away, or just save it in the app.
We had a great journey, with Nick giving me some very interesting historical and background info on Malaysian railways operations. At JB we parted company until tomorrow. I’m back in the hotel I stayed in when I first arrived but I have to say it’s not what I first experienced. I’ve now got a crap room on the 5th floor which is lacking so many things – a flushing toilet being one of them! If I was staying for more than one night I’d be kicking up merry hell, but it’s literally just a place to crash for the night. Johor Baru’s an odd place. You’d think it would be trying to mirror Singapore on the other side of the causeway – and in some (foreign investment) ways it does, but it also feels really seedy. Looking at my hotel I’m surprised they don’t rent rooms by the hour. There’s a few very unattractive ‘ladies of the night’ hanging around the main drag, although I suspect ladies may be too gender specific. There’s a backstreet off the main drag called Jalan Meldrum (no, really!) which seems to have the most life as one side of the street’s lined with restaurants. I did escape my hotel for an hour and had a rare (and bloody expensive) beer so that I could watch the world go by. Like everywhere in Malaysia all the different communities mixed freely, but it’s not a patch on Georgetown.
I don’t believe it!
Anyways. I’m off to nice, clean and even more expensive Singapore tomorrow. That doesn’t mean I don’t like the place – far from it. When I’ve been travelling the backwaters of Asia it was always a great place to dip into for a few days. I christened it ‘the land where everything works’ (even in the cheap seats). It’s just all a little more safe and sanitised.
Time to bring this blog to a close. I’m going to be up early as there’s a lot of pictures I want to get before catching the 11:30 shuttle train across the border to Woodlands.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
It’s back after a break over over a year – the crazy anti HS2 campaigner of the week! To be honest, at this stage in the game it would be fair to say that those left pretending they can somehow stop HS2 all fall into this category, so whilst the talent pool is more of a puddle, they all stand a chance of being featured. But this one is so deliciously bonkers as well as being a great illustration of how that’ll say anything it’s hard to beat. It’s actually Pythonesque! You’ll see why later…
A small new group has sprung up called ‘Greens against HS2’. It’s a panicked response to the success and growing influence of ‘Greens for HS2‘ who’ve done a very credible job influencing green party members by presenting them with reasoned and logical arguments. The difference between the two groups couldn’t be more marked. Those for HS2 stick to the facts and science around railways and climate change, reference their arguments and contain many experts in their fields. Those against rehash the same tired and trite disinformation and seem to be little more than individual party members with no experience or expertise in either climate science or transport or in some cases, reality!
The panic is due to the fact the Green Party is having its annual conference next week and (yet again) there’s a motion being put forward that the party ditches its hypocritical stance of supporting a new North-South high speed line ‘in principle’ but opposes it practice. That’s clearly crazy, but that’s not why I’m writing this blog. There’s something far more batshit and it’s dug up former Stop Hs2 organiser Joe Rukin to spin like a decaying top once more.
Take a look at this!
As usual, Rukin just can’t stop lying! A ‘chemical process’? What chemical process – unless you call mixing mud with water a chemical process as the slurry concerned is just that.
The leak at Ruislip was caused as a tunnel boring machine was tunnelling beneath an old borehole. Someone had forgotten to cap the borehole and a small amount of slurry foam escaped. The TBM was halted for a couple of hours whilst checks were made, then continued on its way. The borehole was sealed from the inside when the next ring of tunnel lining segments were put into place. It was a minor (if slightly embarrassing) moment. Note that the slurry escaped upwards to the surface, not outwards. The idea that this will pollute the aquifer and poison London’s drinking water is hysterical nonsense.
Here’s a link to the emergency motion, calling for “all HS2 operations around the Chiltern Aquifer to be paused”
‘StopHS2’ even tweeted out this handy little diagram pointing out where the incident allegedly occurred.
There’s one big problem they’ve neglected to mention. Guess which way these two TBMs are heading? Eastwards – away from the aquifer towards South Ruislip!In fact, by now they’re almost certain to be outside that blue coloured area! They’ve never been a credible threat to the aquifer, and now they’re even less of one! The emergency motion will be redundant before it’s even debated! Oops…!
Problem number two is that this ’emergency motion’ is nothing more than posturing. Even if the Green party accept it and even agree it, it’s nothing more than hot air. It’s as meaningful as Monty Pythons spoof ‘Popular Front for the liberation of Judea’ resolutions!
Let’s talk realpolitik for a minute. Truth be told, no-one really cares what the Green Party’s stance is on HS2 as the Green Party will never, ever hold the reins of power. They can pass as many resolutions as they like, but as long as they have no way of making them reality is it’s a waste of everyone’s time. The party has 1 MP and will never have any more. Opinion polls give them a rating of 5% nationally but that doesn’t reflect the reality of our First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system which means they don’t stand a chance of beating anyone in any other seat. Sure, they may get a few more local Councillors in the May elections, but this is way above their political pay-grade.
If the Green party do finally change their hypocritical posture on HS2 the only thing it will do is give them back some of the credibility they’ve lost (especially with transport professionals) with their mad policy – and may attract back some of the members who’ve abandoned them in frustration over it. No-one’s stopping HS2 – construction of phase 1 is well advanced and no-one’s ever abandoned a project of this magnitude at this stage of the game, so why have a policy saying you’ll stop the unstoppable when all it does is make you look incredibly stupid. The ‘green’ party is in great danger of becoming known as the anti rail party as it’s allowed its headbanging wing to morph opposition to HS2 into opposition to Northern Powerhouse Rail also (see some of the nonsense put out by greens against HS2 for evidence of that).
Meanwhile, two other HS2 TBMs are now well over half their way through boring the 10 mile long Chiltern tunnels without any serious incident and with no pollution to any aquifers in the nearly 2 years they’ve been tunnelling. The other scare story HS2 antis trotted out was that sinking the piles for the Colne Valley viaduct ‘could’ have polluted an aquifer. There’s one problem there. That work’s been completed with all piles successfully sunk – without any problems. No Londoners have keeled over through drinking ‘poisoned’ water and no lakes and streams have been polluted. Soon the various Nimbys and faux ‘greens’ are going to have to cast around for new things to scaremonger about.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
As with most mornings here in KL I was woken by the sound of the Muezzin’s tones as the call to prayer was announced from the local mosque which is literally only a car-park away. I don’t mind this at all, I don’t have to set my alarm-clock and the sounds are far less jarring and almost reassuring. After all, these ages old calls are so familiar to anyone who’s spent much time in Muslim country’s. The place I normally go to for my roti canai breakfast normally has Muslim devotional music playing in the background. It’s similar to Qawwali music made famous in the UK by the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Maybe the fact I had a CD of his and I’ve always enjoyed world music has influenced my sensibilities. When I went for breakfast yesterday the younger member of staff had changed the music to techno ‘Hindi Pop’ which was far more intrusive and less easy on the ear!
I didn’t plump for roti this morning, instead I tried Mee Sarawak at a place down the road that I’d spotted the other day. ‘Mee’ means noodles whilst Sarawak is the Malaysian side of the island of Borneo that’s bigger than the peninsular. I must get there one day.
Anyway, Mee Sarawak consists of noodles (obviously) with slices of pork and chicken, accompanied with a fiery chili dip and a broth made from the meat and noodle water with added spring onions. This being Asia nothing is wasted which means the pork hasn’t had the fat removed. Instead you have a fine layer of crackling atop it. It’s delicious but perhaps not the thing if you’re counting calories. As I walk around 17,000 steps and only eat two meals a day I’m not that bothered!
After eating a sizeable chunk of my day was spent getting picture of and exploring the city’s only monorail system from end to end. Looking through my picture archive I’d realised I’d not done this since 2012. In which time the size of the trains has doubled and the stations have increased in size to cope with ’em. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ll do a blog dedicated to the network in the future, now I have the updated pictures to do a ‘now and then’.
Another place I visited today was a beautiful clan-house/temple dedicated to the those Chinese with the surname ‘Chan’. It’s a fascinating place as it explains the origins of the name and how the Chans have spread. I have a passing personal interest in this as the first Chinese people ever I met when I was growing up in Southport were a Chan family who moved in next to my maternal Grandmother way back in the 1960s. There’s a story to tell there, but that’s for another day…
Now I’m relaxing back at my hotel whilst editing pictures and watching crap on Netflix. It being Saturday Chinatown’s packed with people, so I’m happy to be out of the way. I much prefer it during the week when it’s not choked with people and cars.
To finish my blog here’s a few pictures from the day.
This wonderful piece of craftwork is displayed above the door of the Chan temple.
Part of the informative displays inside the temple/clan house.
Do the maths. Each one of these 4-car monorail trains can carry up to 430 passengers. How many of the cars below only contain 1 person? Oh, spot the breakdown which has made matters worse!
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I’ve had another slow day back here in KL, catching up on work and dodging the rain showers and thunderstorm that have been growing in frequency and intensity throughout the day. Most of my morning was taken up with planning and booking the last part of my trip. My back’s no longer a concern and I’d loved to have done a side trip to a beach somewhere, but I’ve simply run out of time. Instead I’m going to stay in KL for a few more days in order to visit a few more rail sites to record the changes here, then retrace my steps to Johor Baru for a night. It’s not my favourite place, but the rail scene’s going to change quite a bit over the next 12 months, therefore I want to record some of the changes. The fact a hotel in JB’s a third of the cost of Singapore and I don’t arrive until 19:45 as there’s only one train a day from KL may have helped influence my decision!
Whilst much of my day’s been taken up with picture editing (you can find maritime shots here and Malaysian railways here) I have nipped out several times, firstly for my roti canai breakfast – calorific but delicious, then for something I’d promised myself, which was a couple of hours exploring photo ops on the KL monorail system.
Very few cities have monorails. Mainly because they’re low capacity and pretty inflexible. But KL’s will be 20 years old in August. It’s not long – just 5 miles with 11 station between Kuala Lumpur Sentral station and Titiwangsa where it connects with the MRT and LRT networks. Essentially, it’s an eastern loop line that passes over roads that bisect some big modern shopping and hotel areas like Bukit Bintang. Originally 3 lines were planned but only 1 was ever built. Operated as a 40 year concession by the KL Infrastructure Group it never paid its way so the line was taken over by the government in 2007. They’ve operated it ever since.
It’s fun to take a trip on and photograph, but when you do you start to realise the limitations and complexities of such systems (think escape). For example, steel wheels don’t burst then catch fire! I’ll cover those drawbacks in my next blog as I’ll be having another play tomorrow now I’ve worked out a few good photo locations. In the meantime, here’s a few shots from today.
A monorail train bound for KL Sentral passes along Jalan Sultan Sulaiman.A monorail bound for KL Sentral beats the traffic at Maharajalela station.Two monorail trainsets pass each other just outside Raja Chulan station.
Walking home in time for a well-deserved (and needed) shower I downloaded my pictures and did some more work before heading out for my evening meal. Earlier I’d spotted a place down the road from where I’m staying which was advertising ‘Mee Sarawak’ (Mee being noodles and Sarawak a part of Malaysia), they looked really good but by the time I got there they were closed so I ended up at my old favorite where you can mix and match with the possibility you’ll see something you’ve never tried before. That’s what happened to me tonight. I saw a dark meat dish in a rich sauce and thought – let’s give it a go…
11:00 is cow lung. 13:00 is Tempe. 18:00 is mixed veg. The rest is a bed of rice with a couple of extra curry sauces thrown in. This is self-service. You load your plate and show it to the staff who then decide what to charge you. This was 5 ringitt- less than a quid.
It was chewy but full of flavour and the sauce was divine. Afterwards I asked one of the staff what it was I’d been eating. Cow lung, apparently. Well, there’s always a first!
Now I’m back in the comfort of my hotel typing this before switching off to watch an intriguing Icelandic film noir series I’ve discovered on Netflix. Talk about a small world…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I’ve had a busy but easy day here in KL, if you count the fact I’ve only moved from my hotel to get food (delicious Roti Canai and a coffee for breakfast) and ensure I still get my daily quota of 12,500 plus steps uner my belt. That nearly proved to be a challenge as we’ve had another wet day in the city. Nowhere near as bad as yesterday but the morning was filled with showers. The afternoon brightened up with periods of intense sunshine which was rather handy as it allowed me to get my washing dried! The rest of the day was spent editing and captioning pictures to start to clear the hundreds I have in the queue. Now after a determined day both collections from Thailand are up to date. You can find the travel pictures here and the railway ones here. I’ve also finished editing all the Malaysian shots I’ve taken, all they need now are captions.
There’s been other work too. Dealing with picture requests from the UK, chasing up a few work enquiries and also trying the clean up my email inbox which has become ridiculously cluttered now I’ve not been able to log on as much through my phone and the fact the site’s had a redesign which has taken some getting used to. Today I spent several hours browsing and/or deleting a four-figure sum – and there’s still many more to do.
This evening the rain returned. Thankfully, it waited until after I’d nipped out to for a substantial evening meal of rice, curried Jackfruit and Tempe at a local Malaysian street-food establishment I’ve been frequenting for some time. This feed’s cost me 5 ringgit (less than £1). I’d just made it home before we were treated to several hours of thunderstorms and heavy rain with some impressive lightning too. Tomorrow’s forecast isn’t looking great either but we’ll see how much I get done earlier in the day as I might still venture out later.
In the meantime, here’s a taster of the pictures I’ve added today, plus a cute KL cat picture!
At one time, Bangkok MRT’s ‘blue line’ train ran almost its entire length underground. Now extensions at either end which have carried it across the Chao Praya river mean there’s substantial elevated sections, like this one looking West from Tao Poon station. A dozing KL street cat asleep on a pavement without a care in the world…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 