Gemas to Gua Musang

Monday, April 14, 08
Up at 6:00, on the railway platform at 6:30, the computer is down so we wait to buy our tickets. Lightning flashes to the south - we are headed north. Last night, as we exited the internet cafe, huge drops wet us quickly as we hurried to find some food. The lightning flashes struck so close, as we ate in a Chinese restaurant, that I ducked.
7:00, and we're on our way. Gemas, Bahau, Kemayan, Mentakab, Jerantut, Kuala Tembelin, Kuala Lipis, Gua Musang, with a few more no-name stops in between - 18 ringgit. The jungle train, or mail train, has no Air Con. But, it does have occilating fans - 6/coach. Outside a mist blocks the view as we rail north. Many palm oil, rubber, and banana plantations swift past. This train has several empty cars waiting for produce and 5 passenger cars.
A German young man is on the train with us wanting to de-train in Jerantut. We've been bad! We have crossed into the cargo car, large sliding doors opened to the wind. The next one is the engine. Falling out of the swinging car would be easy to do. That's the place to take pictures rather than through the smudged windows. In Mentakab we have a 15 minute wait. On the station platform I look for something to eat. It is 9:30, nothing except drinks, chips, cookies, and snacks to purchase. No thanks! I am wanting fruit.
Here is help with city names: Kuala - convergence of rivers, Gua - caves, Kota - port.
The countryside is hilly with plantations, villages, jungle, and gardens. It has never occurred to me that there would be cockroaches on a train. There are, and why not? It may be SE Asia's national bird.
Stepping onto the platform in Jerantut, waiting for a train carrying rock to pass, the heat has dramatically escalated. Fans aren't much help as I return to the coach. There is only one track so passing is on sidings and waiting.
The jungle reveals a wide river and shortly after we stop with a red light on the track. Tooting his horn, the engineer waits. Could the switch master have gone AWOL? Large ants appear from nowhere, one biting me on the neck, John on the finger. Along the tracks there appear to be a lot of "fixer uppers". Want one? Work a deal for what you find inside! We pass a house flying a Malaysian flat upside down. Is it that they don't know, or don't care? Either way it speaks volumes about these people. They are friendly, non-intrusive, and laid back.
12:15 - Kuala Lipis, a larger town than Gemas or anything else we've seen on the track. We are here for a 2 hour wait. Two blocks from the railway station is main street which we cross and stepping down a food arcade feast on rice, vegetables, marinated pork and iced tea. We walk to where I buy some minutes on my mobile phone and attempt to call B of A. After the run around and computer talk, I'm disgusted and hang up.
Where is a pail of ice water to pour over my head? Kuala Lipis is a quiet spot on the river, good food, as everywhere in Asia.
On to Gua Musang. But first, where is that train? 1 1/2 hours late and counting. Here it is, only 1 3/4 hours late. No longer on the jungle train, this is the Express, seems to stop just as often. What's the difference? Can't tell except there is Air Con. Sitting across the aisle are 2 30 something Brits. They have pulled the curtain and are watching a movie. Halfway around the world and this is it for them. Odd!
Finally, Gua Musang, 5:30, with its limestone hills striking smartly into the sky - trees and shrubs filling the crags and jagged top. De-training, John and I walk down this backwater town looking for a room. 40 ringgit for tonight and 40 for the next. We don't know if there is anything to see. But, we're here for tomorrow. We ARE the only Westerners in town.