On the Mainland: By Train Up the Malaysian Peninsula
Sunday, December 12th, 2004My first impressions of Malaysia came from the border town of Johor Baru, just across the causeway from Singapore. To my surprise, it didn’t appear all that different from Singapore. True, the buildings looked just slightly more run down than those across the strait, but in general the city looked quite prosperous.
Obviously this couldn’t continue. Singapore is a city of 3 million on a tiny island and while Malaysia is densely populated, it differs in that it has actual countryside to pass through. The train trip was very comfortable, despite the fact that we’d taken second class seats. The car was air conditioned and the seats (as well as the fellow passengers) were quite pleasant. This was miles away from some of the horror stories I’d heard about train travel in developing countries.
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Llew