The 3-hour journey.

Going on a mission to change the bus tickets to a different date alone can be daunting. Especially since it’s at Puduraya Bus Terminal, a place I am not fond of, and especially since it’s in Kuala Lumpur where millions of local residents and thousands of foreigners converge.

To our local buses’ credit, it’s quite cheap to get into the heart of the country for only RM2.50 for an hour journey. I took Metrobus 10 from the usual place opposite Khalifah (and made small talk with fellow ex-fifth formers from one of them E, F, G classes), and to my surprise, we had to switch to a different Metrobus to continue our journey - it stopped at the bus stop across from Pyramid.

You may wonder why I didn’t take a train instead. From the following calculations:

RM0.90 (if you take a Metrobus) + RM1.60 (KTM Subang) + RM1.00 (Putra LRT to Pasar Seni), it costs more than the bus ticket itself. Plus you have to keep switching trains and it wastes a lot of time.

I brought along my DS and my earplugs so I could play in peace, but there are rogue-looking lalas sitting right behind me who looked like they would ambush me if I take out any gadgets they deem high-tech in their clammish eyes (paranoia sets in when you travel alone). So I contented myself with visualising Chinese characters I’ve learnt the previous night and dozed off as well.

I disembarked at Kotaraya, walked few hundred metres away and reached the stinking bus terminal in no time. I enquired as to the whereabouts of the Transnational office, which turn out to be at the first floor, and boy, what a change of scene as the place was quiet, air-conditioned, albeit dirty and degraded-looking.

Even the Transnational office reminded me of.. my grandpa’s Kedai Runcit Abu (he’s rather popular back at the village and people will call him by his Malay name Abu. Don’t ask why. Because I don’t know). So I asked the counter lady whom I presume was the one who had been attending to my phone calls for the previous two times, to reaffirm again if I could change the date. She said yes.

She mumbled something about 1.20 each ticket and then told me the total was RM96. I looked at her visibly shocked, but then I was kinda prepared for this inevitable outcome. After trading phone calls between my mum, it turned out that I misheard her and it was actually only RM9.60 in total to change the dates of the ticket. Phew. A 10% penalty fee was imposed for each tix apparently.

So I walked back towards the direction of Kotaraya but found myself in an altogether different place. Like wtf am I lost in the big city? Alone!?

After backtracking for a bit and spotting Mydin Emporium, I discovered I took the wrong way instead. After enquiring as to where to go to hitch a bus back to Subang (which is across Kotaraya for your info), I sat this Metrobus with minimal air-conditioning and sweated considerably all the way back home. Made me lose my mood to play with my good ol’ boredom-buster DS.

I set off at about 1pm and reached home at about 4pm. A three-hour journey to change the bus tickets.

So yeah, everything seems to be settled now, with the date of our Tioman trip changed to 17th-20th, and the departure on this coming Sunday, 16th April 2006, 11.30pm.

Here we come, you duty-free island with sinfully pleasingly cheap booze, drugs cigs and booze, you. I will serenade my beloved Kampai once again. Oh how I missed you.

Edit: I looked through my old Langkawi post again - actually read through the whole thing, pics and all - and dammit I so missed the moments that we shared. Everything. And the booze.