A Railway Journey
I experienced my first train journey just last year when my parents took us all to Penang for a holiday. We arrived at the Kuala Lumpur Railway Station at 7.00 a.m. to catch the 7.30 express train to Butterworth. Crowds had started gathering at the ticketing counter to buy tickets and there were long queues. Fortunately, we had bought our tickets two days earlier, so we went straight to the platform. There, we waited for the train and saw many people rushing to the platform. Children were running about happily. We quickly bought some magazines, mints and chocolates.
The train finally arrived and we scrambled into our coach to get to our seats. I was lucky to get a good seat near the window. At last, the guard blew the whistle and the train moved slowly and pulled out of the station. I felt thrilled at that very moment and I enjoyed the jerky movement and the new experience.
There were friendly passengers all around and soon we started talking and joking among ourselves. The scenery outside was interesting and varied. Trees, bushes, rice-fields and farmers’ huts flashed past us and we were greeted by village children waving and smiling at us happily. I also saw vegetable farms with rows and rows of long beans, chilies and brinjals.
After about three hours, I felt sleepy and dozed off in spite of the rattling sound of the wheels. Suddenly, there was a jerk and the train came to a halt. The engines hissed and the brakes squeaked. I woke up with a start and looked out of the window. We had reached a station. Three minutes later, the train started moving again and accelerated gradually until it was traveling at a constant speed. I spent the rest of the journey reading as the initial excitement had gone.
Finally, the train jerked to a complete stop. We had at last reached our destination. We disembarked and walked a short distance to board the ferry to the island of Penang. It had been a very pleasant journey, one I could look forward to on our return to Kuala Lumpur.
