Part 1: ETS Train to KL

Now this time around, I had a 2-night hotel stay at my disposal in October. Well, it was actually prepaid by yours truly for making the rookie mistake of accidentally booking a non-refundable hotel stay.

It was supposed to be for my Standard Chartered run weekend, but as it turned out, my knee pains had developed into an arthritis upon having them checked up in May. Thus, with a heavy heart, I had to forego the half marathon event I registered in February. Lucky for me tho', the hotel management was kind enough to reschedule my hotel stay and we've picked the recently passed weekend to plan a quick excursion to the city center, KL.

We took an early train at 6.15am from Bukit Mertajam train station in Penang (mainland). If you're travelling from Penang Island, you can take the ferry to Butterworth train station to board the same ETS (Electric Train Service) train from Penang to KL Sentral (Kuala Lumpur). 

There are two types of train schedules that run on this route. The Platinum (RM77/adult/1way) and the Gold class. The difference between the two is +/-15 minutes of arrival time, with the Platinum class making less stops along the way and this costs a bit more than the Gold class.

I have tried both classes and although the time difference might not be a lot while the price difference could mean a lot, it can quite annoying when you're anticipating your arrival and the train keeps on making stops. After the first and the last Gold class ticket, I vowed to 'no matter what, I will always opt for the Platinum class'. We're moving towards 5G anyway nowadays, if there's no reason to be slow, then be fast.

The journey took us about 4 hours plus. While my travelling companion dozed off all the way, I rewatched the movies, The Eagle, Sanctum, and half of Red 2. Unfortunately, there are no specific screen for each passenger, and on the communal screens, the volume was set to very low. Meanwhile, the subtitles are in the local language, some of which I suspected were done using Google Translate coz they turned out comical. Eg: "I thought I've lost you --> “Saya fikir saya kalah awak”. Man..you had only one job to do..

Word of advice, it can get very cold in the morning train, so bring a blankie or a sweater, or both. There is a bare minimum canteen on board. You can get hot drinks and simple breakfasts here. Tho' the price is a bit too expensive, a plate of fried bihun is RM8. Luckily we packed our own bread pudding left overs for breakfast on this trip.

We arrived at the KL Sentral train station, the largest hub connecting all trains from everywhere in the Peninsula Malaysia, around 10.40am. There are many different train lines meeting up at the KL Sentral hub. Most are covering different areas within the Klang Valley and some beyond.

The KL Sentral - will be much busier during weekdays, strangely, not that noisy.

For example, the Putra LRT line will take you to the KLCC (Petronas Twin Towers) while the Rapid KL Monorail train will take you to the Bukit Bintang, the trendiest shopping and entertainment district. A research over the internet before your arrival usually helps to lessen the complexity. Otherwise, just seek the information counter for help, or take a Grab car, equivalent to Uber, to your destinations.

KL Sentral is also connected to an 8-storey high shopping mall building. So if you are worried about lunch, dinner, or last minute shopping, or better yet, if you have some time to spend before your next train boarding time, this is the place to go. There are variety of restaurants for local foods, Japanese and Korean, a food court for street food choices and even a decent book shop and cinema theaters.

We didn't plan to browse through the shopping mall yet upon arrival, but made a mental note to arrive here early on Sunday morning before our noon train back to Penang. So we made our way first to the hotel which was just a three stop away with the Putra LRT train line towards KLCC.

Just our luck, our destinations of interest revolved around the same Putra LRT line from KL Sentral to our hotel, and KLCC! ;)

To be continued.

Thank you for reading.

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