A Railway from Times Past

So, earlier this week the Dodgess and I went to Malaysia. Sounds very exotic. In fact, we just went over the water to Johor Bahru, which is about 2 minutes from Singapore. And we went for an afternoon, and in fact we didn't really do much once we were there except eat and shop in the nearest shopping mall to the station.

To get there we got on a train at Tanjong Pagar Station. Walking into Tanjong Pagar station is like walking into a time machine and being taken back to the 70s, or perhaps even earlier.

The station entrance hall is a high ceilinged arch. The decoration almost certainly hasn't changed since 1932 when the station opened, and consists of tiles showing scenes of Malaysia. Unlike the old stations in Europe, which have been updated (to varying degrees of success), Tanjong Pagar is completely untouched by progress – there are no electronic screens showing departure times, there are no loud speakers.

Having passed Malaysian immigration; in what is little more than a shed on the platform, we got on the train. Again, something of a time warp. Maybe not back to the 1930s like the station, but back to the 70s probably. 

Then there is the old track infrastructure – again this is out of the 1930s. The points are still changed by mechanics – and men pulling. The single track is still managed by the 'hand bag' system that my Dad explained to me on a single track stretch of the line between Knaresborough and York. It truly is like going back in time.

And whilst this nostalgia is all very well, it is of course the problem too. Going by train to Malaysia is not a modern way at the moment. You need to get off the train to go through Singaporean immigration at Woodlands. The train is low, and the ride quality is, well, 20^th Century. And so this fabled section of line will close within the next two weeks.

There will still be a rail link. Next time, I would travel from a modern new station at Woodlands, and get off at a most modern station in JB, both with stylish smooth lines and curved steel trusses, and lots of tv screens.

But, it won't be the same – not only are the modern stations nothing like the architectural marvel of Tanjong Pagar, but Woodlands just is not really the place to get on and off the train. It's just a long way from the centre. 

There is a very great joy to travelling on Eurostar – you arrive at sensitively restored architectural marvels in the centre of both London and Paris, and it is fast - less than 3 hours. I agree that the Tanjong Pagar branch is not fast, and not attractive for travel, but its location is the tops, and I can't help think that any prospect of a high speed link from central Singapore to KL has gone.

 

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One of the most memorable holidays I ever went on was to Austria, in order to see a solar eclipse. It was a fab experience, and a fab holiday. So the prospect of seeing a full lunar eclipse was something that the Dodgess and I were quite happy to wake up at 3 am to see.

In Austria, we climbed to the top of a mountain, into a cloud. We were very upset until about half an hour before the eclipse when the clouds quite miraculously cleared and we saw the sun disappear.

So when we woke up to a cloudy sky I wasn't too worried to be honest. I mean, the clouds would obviously clear once again.

Well, they did begin to clear. By dropping all the rain. And oh my did the clouds have a lot of rain to drop. We waited, and waited, for like an hour and more. And we got nowhere near seeing any sky at all. Still – here's a couple of photos to prove the endeavour:

Jet Set

I remember the very first time that I travelled anywhere on business. It was after my third year at university, and I was to accompany a colleague on a tender briefing in Manchester. I was on the road early in my car to Loughborough, and delighted. The Dodgess, equally, delighted that I was invited around to meetings in Manchester. For a student, I lived the high life - free lunch, and 38p per mile for driving was a real bonus.

Oh how things have changed. Strange, because my latest travel is undoubtedly far more exciting, at least on paper. I mean - Ho Chi Minh, Hai Phong, and Hanoi are certainly more interesting than Manchester. Flying around is certainly more exciting than driving down the M42. the flight to Ho Chi Minh particularly hair-raising, with the Captain aborting the landing a few seconds before touching down due to heavy rain - I was relieved - visibility was below 100m!

The trouble with business travel, is, frankly, the work. We had a meeting in Hai Phong on Wednesday. In order to make it we had to fly to Ho Chi Minh on Tuesday evening. Then wake up at the crack of dawn (well, before in fact - 4.30 am) in order be on the first flight of the day to Hai Phong. Whilst we did manage to land first time in Hai Phong, the flight was awful. We were sat next to a mother struggling with her toddler daughter. I can understand this, but then who thinks changing a nappy at the seat is a great idea? Really nasty. It hardly surprised me when she sent her tray flying down the gap between the table and theseat. But it was very funny. At that point, we gave up a moved down the plane.

This set the tone for the day. We had a horrible meeting about our poject, then a 3 hour car journey on northern Vietnam's slightly rough roads. We eventually arrived in Hanoi, and the driver had no idea where the hotel was. A leisurely tour of the river bank later, and eventually we reached the hotel far too tired to enjoy the evening, or the suites that we had been upgraded to. 


Things did improve mildly on Thursday - we had some productive meetings. But two got pushed to Friday. The result was that we were running around like loonies. We set off for the airport for the flight back only 2 hours before the flight. Normally, I'd be at the airport at this time, let alone shaking hands with a Japanese contractor. The stress levels flew up as we got stuck in Hanoi's worsening traffic. The trouble is, should we miss that flight, then we'd be in Hanoi until Saturday.

So we did get on the flight back in the end. Hanoi airport is scarily efficient, or maybe they all are if you don't have enough time. Overall, though, this week proves why I dislike travel for business. Ok, the meetings are necessary. But, the two of us spent the best part of the week in Vietnam. In that time we wrote no reports, even sending emails was tough. 

I will no doubt whinge about things more - this was my third trip to Vietnam. In the next month, I have at least one more, together with a trip to Hong Kong. I also have two trips that I actually look forwards to - the Dodgess and I are visiting Penang. And we intend to sleep!


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In the past two weeks I have, in between my flights to Vietnam, managed to go to two concerts put on by students of the Dodgess. Both have, in different ways, been staggering.


The first one was a solo piano recital. All the usual suspects where included - some Chopin, Lizst, Brahms. Performed in the Esplanade Recital Studio, this was a very good recital, by anyone's standards. The pianist was 17. A young age for a solo recital. Particularly given that she doesn't even want to pursue music professionally - aiming to study medicine. I had thought that she was perhaps a one off - no - the same teached puts such recitals on every six months.


The second was a half hour recital in Esplanade Concourse. Not this time by one person, but by 3 from Raffles Institution. Again, the level was pretty exemplary. The age, yet lower, 12 -14. One boy could scarcely see above the top of the piano.


I went to what was without one of the best schools I could have gone to, and I daresay that I met with some of the most talented children that I could have. Yet it seems to me that even the Perse School would have been hard pushed to put on three 12-14 year olds with such distinction. That concert was not a one off either - Raffles Girls School presented the following evening, though I was en route to Ho Chi Minh as the performance progressed.