Nov 7, 2015, Saturday, Kluang
We were ready to go out for our breakfast and explore Kluang on foot early. At 7.55am we started walking the town and the first thing on the agenda was to search for chapati. The chapati that is famous in Kluang. We took Jalan Sultanah to the right and as pointed by the map in my mind we crossed the road to Jalan Captain Ahmad and strolled until we had to cross Jalan Mersing. About 10 minutes after we left the hotel we found the place but unfortunately for us, the place was closed. My thought was how come it is closed because it was Saturday. But later I was told it will open in the evening from 4.30pm to midnight.
Not to despair with that we backtracked and crossed Jalan Mersing again and this time we took Jalan Station with the intention of going to Kluang Rail Coffee Cafe at the Station for breakfast.
Jalan Station is partly little India in Kluang where most of the businesses there being run by Kluang Indian community. Passing the street I saw an overhead bridge across the railway tracks. Without even thinking I walked straight to climb the bridge and I took more or less around 15 minutes up there taking photos of the station and the tracks. It was a wonderful morning for nice photography.
We arrived at Kluang Rail Coffee at 8.24am and as usual, the place was full of people. Is it because of the coffee or maybe the place is so nostalgic and welcoming to our yearning for old time sake souls? We have no choice but to join a friendly gentleman at a table. Knowing we were tourist of sort he asked about ourselves and we told him. I am not sure what he thought of us doing this crazy thing taking the trains endlessly ha ha ha. He himself originally from a Felda somewhere in Johor, he mentioned the name but old me forgot the name, He owns and eatery business and having his own breakfast there. He also shared with us interesting places to visit. Nice of him but our movement was limited because we came by train and we were taking another train in the first very early morning to go north the next day.
While having breakfast I knew Express Timuran from Gua Musang would be arriving so I excused my self and walked to the platform to spot it. The train came from Gua Musang as at that time the east coast jungle line was not yet ready after the devastating flood. The Express Timuran arrived at around 8.45am at the station. After the Timuran departed the station I went back for my breakfast.
The gentleman having breakfast with paid for our breakfast. We thanked him and he left. At 9.07am I paid the extra that we ordered later. Went to the platform to shoot the station as well as the fortunate arrival of Shuttle from JB and Express Peninsular from the north. I was on the bridge shooting the station when an announcement came to say that the JB Gemas shuttle was arriving at Platform 1. The shuttle came in at platform 1 to drop the passengers off and I thought it would set off soon after but the shuttle pushed backed out of the station and returned to Platform 2. With that I knew straight away there would be a crossing. True enough soon an announcement come on air to say the arrival of Express Peninsular. I am one who is not so particular about train schedule so I considered myself very lucky. Actually, that was the first time I was that close spotting the JB Gemas Shuttle. I went down to Platform 2 to check the train and there I found out that it was the Malayan Tiger coaches that were donated by the Japanese government. The one that was used for JB Sentral to Tumpat route. But it was short-lived and I missed boarding it by few months when KTMB decided the coaches were not good enough for that route. At that point in time, my thought was not because they were not good enough because they failed because of improper maintenance. How right I was then.
I took my time capturing both the station and the trains as both will be history soon. Once both trains departed for their next station I came down and to meet my ever-patient wife waiting on the platform reading.
At 10.12am we left the station to walk back to the hotel to relax and checked out. Early on when we walked out of our hotel we saw a budget Hotel Ra across the road on Jalan Sultanah and my thought straight away deciding maybe a good cheap place to wait for our midnight train or rather a very early morning train to Ipoh. So, on the way back to our hotel we passed the budget hotel and went in to inquire about their room. There were rooms available at RM50 per room. I gladly paid for one room and told the guy we will check-in as soon as we check out of Hotel Imperial which was just across the road. So we have a decent place for our luggage and a place to wait.
At 12.08pm we checked in at Hotel Ria, Kluang. The room was pretty basic but perfect for our objectives. We had a lot of daylight hours to kill and made a plan to explore Kluang town a bit more. After we said our prayers we went out to walk the town again. As a start, we strolled along the five-foot way of the hotel block. As we walked this morning we saw Cendol Kader that was closed and by then should be opened. It became our first target. We got there ordered cendol one each and apam bailk and sat at the table to take in Kluang a bot more. On a scale from 1 to 10, I rated the cendol to be 7 still far away from our number one Cendol Bismillah of Taiping.
Enough sitting down we got up and walked across Jalan Kaptain Ahmad to Jalan Yayasan ad from there we turned left at the KFC and started to walk up the two blocks on Jalan Dato Haji Hassan. Nothing particularly interesting along the blocks except a Restoran Nasib reminded me of my Aki. When we reached the corner of Jalan Dato Rauf we turned right and walked towards the river.
It was quite a bit of walk and I constantly checking on Sam and she seemed to be ok we pushed on until we reached as we turned the right corner at Jalan Sultanah, an old-style mamak shops that sell religious books and other Islamic cloth just like Kedai Ali in Kajang. That intrigued Sam and we walked in to explore. Sam was looking for something and the shopkeeper helped her. I did not have anything, in particular, to look for os I lingered in the shop. In front of the shop is Restoran Jamilah Tepi Sungai Besar. A mamak restaurant I remember pretty well that we stopped for lunch during our many family travels south many years ago. I told Sam about it as she could not remember anything.
We continued our walk along Jalan Sultanah and instead of going straight to a familiar area that we had explored, we turned to Persiaran Dato Haji Ismail Hassan as we saw on our right a bit of clearing with a walking path and relatively new buildings on our left. As we walked on the path we came to a girl selling kueh and one of the offerings was cekodok. Am always a sucker for cekodok I bought RM5 of them ha ha ha ha and started munching away as I please.
We saw a promising sports shop across the road and we crossed to check. One of the first things I saw as I walked in was Liverpool jersey. Ahhaaa my kind of store. I made a beeline straight to where they were hanged. Unfortunately for the shop, I had already what they had. But Sam was interested in the sports shoe they had. After testing and small talk, I bought a pair for Sam. The name of the shop was Rebel Sports.
Across the road, we saw Restoran Nasi Padang Istimewa so we decided to have our late lunch there. Nasi Padang Restoran was run by a Pak Cik who took care of his customer properly. The food not bad and you include the customer experience the Pak Cik gave us it was worth paying more than the price of the food itself. KTMB could learn something from this old Pak Cik ha ha ha. Being not normally a rice eater I broke all the rules with rendang, gulai and all the sambals.
After we have finished eating we decided the only next logical thing to do is go round the block and go window shopping at Kluang Parade. We walked every inch of the place ha ha ha and limited damage to my wallet. I bought a sunglasses there ha ha ha. From the mall, we walked towards our hotel only to stop at McD to have coffee.
Once at the hotel, we rested and after prayers, I took a nap. Was not sure how long I have been sleeping but I was awakened by a sound of the heavy downpour outside. It was so unexpected cats and dogs downpour. I thought it was going to flood Kluang. However, just before maghrib it stopped altogether.
After maghrib we walked in a cold windy Kluang night to the station to have simple dinner at a warong in front of the station. It was around 8pm and I knew Express Timuran would arrive soon. While waiting for our orders I walked to the station to capture the Express from JB en-route to Gua Musang. The train arrived at 8.05 pm.
I was snapping away when I saw a Pak Cik standing a fixed staring at the train, Initially, I thought he was one of the regulars at the station until I moved closer to realise that he was actually sending off his family. His eyes followed the train until it was gone into Kluang night. Somehow I could feel him. It was not sadness but rather a pity that his family was going leaving him behind. Later I saw him walking quietly away from the station.
Dinner was not great but enough to last us until tomorrow morning. We walk back to the hotel and at 11.05pm we checked out of Hotel Ria and walked to the station. We arrived at a dark empty station at around 11.14pm. Eventually, we were not alone as two families came to join us to wait. It was our turn waiting in the cold breezy Kluang early morning for Express Sutera to Ipoh. Enough time for me to capture the station in that serene early morning. Serene and so quiet that somewhat touched my soul. Imagine standing on the bridge looking through your viewfinder with early morning breeze blowing behind you. It brought a different meaning to the pictures I was creating and capturing.
Our train arrived at 0044 hrs and we boarded our sleepers. Another restful night on a rock and roll hotel.
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