Bangkok to Singapore - The Jungle Train

Effective January 15 of this year, about 2 weeks ago, the train schedule in Malaysia changed dramatically. The 6 AM train I planned to be on to take the “Jungle Line” no longer goes to Gemas but rather stops in Kuala Lipis and then returns to the Thai border. If one catches that train, you will wait until the next morning when the 4 AM train passes to take you to Gemas. So, 2 more hours of lost sleep. I took the 4 AM and continued on to Gemas, arriving by about 3:30 PM. I found a room close to the train station for $10 and decided it was worth getting a little sleep before the 2:30 AM train comes through Gemas headed for Kuala Lumpur.

The scenery on the “new” Jungle Line is spectacular. One cannot imagine the variety of the color green one sees through the Malaysian jungle for hours. It is truly a tropical jungle so thick it would completely overrun the rail if the train did not pass at least once a day to keep it a bay. The growth actually brushes the train as it passes through the narrow opening it grooms each day on its journey.

There is much in the media regarding deforestation in Malaysia. All I can say is that it is occurring somewhere else entirely, because anyone would be hard pressed to even get into this jungle. In the battle of man versus nature, man is seriously losing ground here. It is truly beautiful. It seems to go on forever.

I spent most of the ride allowing a young man practice his English, which was far better than my Malay. He told me about many of the challenges the Malaysian people face, which is not unlike that of many less developed countries where the leadership is using all the money for personal aggrandizement. He was saying that he is a student almost to graduate in Jewelry design and loves art but would like to consider going into Industrial design. He was also saying that he worked to earn money for school in a Box factory that paid 15 ringgit per day for heavy labor. That’s about $3/day. Wow! He was a nice young man and it made the journey go by quickly and pleasantly.

The town of Gemas is small and the people very friendly. There are only 3 hotels that I could see and aside from the Tropicana, both the others were small guesthouses while the Tropicana was modern and expensive looking. I can’t imagine who passes through here that would require that kind of accommodation. It almost seems out of place near the shops and low end restaurants that surround it. It’s a working man’s town on the rail line and
not much more. Easy to walk around in a few minutes.

Well, although only about 7 PM, after a nice dinner of vegetable fried rice, it’s time to retire as 2 AM comes pretty early.