At
Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. There was only one
train at the station so I just assumed that this was
going to Kuala Lumpur. This was my first memory of
travelling on the night train. I was in Coach L2,
bunk bed No. 14. Checking in was easy enough. The
Malaysian customs was situated at Tanjong Pagar
itself. Before boarding, the usual customs drill of
passport and baggage check applies. Finding the coach
was easy enough. Finding the bunk proved more
challenging. The bed numbers were stickers located in
the least visible place: inside the bunks and on the
sides which were partially hidden by the curtains
that shield the bunk inhabitant from the common
passageway. I don't think I saw the bunk numbers for
the top bunks. Only the even numbers that designate
the lower bunks, thereafter you had to guess where
your bunk was.
There
were 32 bunks, forming 8 sets of double bunks that
lined either side of the coach. Curtains with velcro
could be drawn to privatized one's bunk.
I
was pretty glad to see that I got the lower bunk. The
dimensions were cosy enough: 1.85m x 1m x 1m. The top
bunk looked smaller by comparison. But comfort aside,
I was pretty worried being in the lower bunk and
prayed the person on the top bunk would be light. It
didn't look very secure to me; It was some fibreglass
material supported by four strategic metal L-plates.
I got a mother and a little toddler for bunkmates.
(Father and 4-year old brother got the opposite top
bunks.) Some part of me wanted to offer my bunk to
them because I was afraid the baby might fall off the
bunk. They seem comfortable enough and the little one
was quite happy to view the rest of the coach from
his top bunk.
10.10pm,
the train left the station. Honestly, I had been
terribly sick from a possible viral flu for the past
two weeks since I got back from a previous trip to
Malaysia. I was still feverish even after the past 3
days of continuous medication. I was merrily betting
that I would have to be hospitalized the very moment
I got back on Singapore soil. 11pm, we cleared the
Woodlands Immigration Checkpoint. Bunks found,
curtains drawn, sleep washed down the train aisles.
6.25am,
Kuala Lumpur train station. Four train platforms that
formed the heart of the station. The cream-coloured
building is vaguely reminiscent of colonial times
with its high ceilings, elegantly arched doorways and
massive supporting columns. Structurally, the
building looked grand but the plastic seats that
scattered through the station looked in desperate
need of retirement to the scrapeyard. Years of
supporting heavy baggage loads and the butts of
countless people filtering through the place have
left the grimey chairs sagging tiredly from their
rusted metal frames; some are literally hanging on
for dear user-life by their screws.
7am.
My friend Sua arrived to pick me up from the station.
That was very kind of him as I can imagine he must be
really tired from the past night's exhibition set-up.
Plus, today was the exhibition's opening day and he
would be busy enough with all the running around to
organize everything. First stop, Bobby's place which
also served as the Starhunter Astronomical Society's
clubhouse. On the way, I also witnessed my first car
accident on the Malaysian highway. A car had crashed
into the seperation barrier ad was still smoking from
the impact. Sua pulled over to see if he could help
in any way, but there were a couple of others who had
already reached the scene so we continued on our way.
Along the roads, two dead cats, obvious hits of the
day. That gave me my first inkling of how treacherous
the K.L. roads could be.
Now
a little detail on the clubhouse which I personally
found rather fascinating. As one entered the main
hallway, 2 baby dobsonians and boxes housing
equipment lined the sides. In the living room, a
mural depicting various constellations from the Orion
patch draped the side of one wall. Sporadic pictures
of various deep-sky objects were hung on the pillars
and walls. The living room's main decoration piece
was an antique telescope mount constructed from a
strange metal (cast-iron?) with sturdy (pine?) wood
legs that was said to be over a hundred years' old. I
believe that. There was a brass 3-inch refractor
telescope that accompanied this altazimuth ensemble.
Now that
was one beautiful piece of craftwork. The machining of the mount gears were extremely fine and smooth.
The gear ratio was near invisible to the naked eye
and impossible to count. When the scope was placed
atop the mount in horizontal position, the eyehole
was some 1.8m (6ft) off the ground level. Nice. :)
The
most interesting room there is easily Bobby's office
which was crammed with astronomical gadgets and books
of sorts, a huge 3 by 4 Milky Way poster with
glow-in-the-dark stars was the central piece that
framed one side of the 4 walls. "Let me show you
something very special," Bobby said smilingly as
he ushered me into his office and showed me the
poster. He closed the door and switched off the
lights. The poster came to life.. *whoa..* the entire
office came to life! Stars glowed from every inch of
the office. Suddenly there were no more walls,
replaced by a sky of many glowing points. Bobby had
painstakingly recreated the whole universe in his
office. Amazing! I could discern a couple of rough
constellations like Scorpius, Gemini, and Orion. (Too
many glowing points in non-standard magnitudes to
figure.) Very nice. :)
A
quick breakfast of dim sum at a local eatery and we
were off to Sua's place to freshen up before we
headed down to the exhibition venue. 9.30am, we made
a slight detour to one of the local Buddhist temples
to collect something. They were filming some Hindi
movie there with the male and female leads (in a
Buddhist temple?) A short musical take (3 re-takes)
of the female lead twirling into the male lead's arms
(probably 15 seconds) and that was it. Surprisingly,
there was a small female crowd clamoring to take
photos with the male lead. I guess he must be a big
star then. The filming was fast and it was over, the
Bollywood stars were swiftly led to to a waiting
Mercedes.
(Ok,
ok, we're getting to the exhibition.. :)
En
route to the Mines Shopping Fair. One thing I learnt
real quick is that it takes a long time to get to any
one point in K.L. city. Kuala Lumpur is a huge city
area, layered with kilometres of highways and side
roads. Cars are the only way to get to any point
fast. A lot of time can be spent on the roads getting
from point A to point B. And good luck to you if you
missed a turning and have to retrace your route.
There are a lot of toll booths too along all major
highways, and a number of non-standard toll systems
that can be quite confusing.
10.30am,
Mines Shopping Fair looked like any other modern
shopping mall. It has the same international brands
and the same fastfood outlets. The exhibition was
held on the second level, the Porte Cochere
area which is a pretty huge space. Everything was
set-up the night before. More impressively,
everything had been built from scratch by hand,
courtesy of an amateur carpenter-astronomer from the
Starhunter Group.
Sua
had introduced me to as many on site astronomers as
he could. I myself was having a little difficulty
orientating from one face and name to another.
Everyone was teetering on happy anxiety as the time
for the opening ceremony approached. Once, the
opening ceremony commenced, the exhibition flowed on
smooth as silk until its last day.
One
distinction that really caught my admiration was how coordinated the Committee was. They could juggle the
exhibition, and look after their overseas guests too.
Every night's closure of the exhibition only
accentuated their efficiency, within 30 minutes, they
were packed and ready to go. The final day's closure
took under an hour to disassemble. And even with the
hive of activity, they seemed to be having the time
of their lives. (No exaggeration here.)
Despite
my sore throat and coughing fits, I'd say I too had a
wonderful time. I missed a good deal of great food
because I could hardly swallow a thing. As for my
newfound friends, it wasn't easy juggling between the
exhibition and hosting and travelling and
sight-seeing and finding food (and all other little
details.)
The
exhibition continues in Penang, Malaysia in February
2001.
By
Lin . 3rd November 2000, Friday.
