The bus less travelled to Kuala Lumpur: a trip to the Malay capital
Long distance bus parking at Golden Mile complex in Singapore
Singapore is renowned for its bright lights, impressively tall buildings, immaculate streetscapes, and abundant floral displays.
It’s a safe, orderly haven in the midst of a chaotic world. But too much of this routine reliability can feel out of step with reality and while it’s wonderful to marvel at the architecture, the night skyline, and the fancy shops, after a while, you find yourself craving a bit of the madness of the real world and this is how, last month, I found myself leaving the sparkling metropolis on a bus bound for Malaysia.
Everyone I encountered in Singapore seemed either aghast or amused that we chose to travel by bus rather than the ‘quick and easy’ option of a short flight to Kuala Lumpur (or KL as it is more commonly known), but where’s the fun in that?
An avid fan of rail travel, I had wanted to go by train, but due to various factors involving tracks ending in random places and reconnecting in others, it would prove more complicated than we sadly had time for.
So after an online search for alternatives, we were presented with a dizzying amount of bus companies — all competing for the most alluring name — from Golden Coach, Trans Star, and Star Mart to Top Liner, Five Stars, Billion Stars, and my personal favourite, Super Nice.
We opted for the one which best suited our travel time as they all promised more or less the same thing, with ‘top of the range massage seats’ popping up as an incentive with most of the companies.
Our coach was due to leave Golden Mile Tower at 11.30am and being Singapore, we expected it to depart bang on time so arrived 40 minutes early, as instructed, in order to get our tickets printed off at the ticket office.
But it was as if we had already left the country because the queue was unruly, the staff disinterested, and the driver, when he deigned to arrive 15 minutes after the scheduled departure time, seemed thoroughly irritated by the prospect of the six-hour drive ahead, barking at passengers to get their luggage on board ‘quick, quick’ and tutting at them for not storing bags to his liking, before taking them out and rearranging them in a way which didn’t look much different to how it had been before.
We always travel light, so weren’t involved in the baggage debacle and after being told we couldn’t board until he was ready, we were directed through a curtain and upstairs, narrowly missing the large sign hanging from the ceiling, stating ‘Strictly no food or drink on board’, to the brightly coloured upper deck.
Settling in to the surprisingly roomy seats (which incidentally recline as well as offering a gentle massage), we set off through the city streets.
As we headed north towards Malaysia, I realised that Singapore is almost entirely urban; apart from its parks and roadside greenery, the city stretches right up to the border, something I had never really considered before.
About half an hour after setting off, we arrived at the somewhat officious border control area. The driver ushered us off the bus and we dutifully filed through passport control, then came out the other side and got back onto the bus again.
Prior to visiting Malaysia (and Singapore) visitors must fill out a health declaration form which can be inspected at random at the border, so some passengers were frantically trying to complete theirs as moments later we arrived at the Malaysian border.
This time, we were told to bring all our belongings with us as our bags would need to go through security and the bus itself would be searched.
It sounded a little daunting, but after getting our passports stamped and bags checked, we were free to go and it wasn’t long before our flip-flop wearing, chain-smoking driver was bellowing at his charges to hurry up and board or he would leave without us.
The contrast between the two countries was instantaneous — where moments before the skyline was filled with tall buildings, suddenly there were palm trees and banana plantations as far as the eye could see.
As we made our way towards the Malaysian capital, the scenery was diverse and breathtaking at times — busy, bustling towns, meandering, muddy rivers, dense forests, roadside stalls, air-conditioned malls, modest woodland cabins, palatial homes — there was so much to see and the difference from the Singaporean landscape, was incredibly striking.
We made our first pitstop around two hours after departure and although the driver repeated ‘10 minutes’ to everyone as they got off the bus, I’m not sure people took him at his word as the lure of roadside sellers had many passengers queueing up to buy whole coconuts punctured with straws, while others perused the stalls selling all manner of edibles, including durian fruits (banned from many establishments and means of transport due to their strong aroma), satay, bao buns, and a rather unappetising display of fried chicken feet.
Others, myself included, made a beeline for the loos as there were no facilities on board, and ladies, just a word of advice, if travelling in this region, make sure to bring your own paper or take some from the roll outside the cubicles as there is none provided in the individual stalls.
This is something that I’d wager the pushy American woman who queue-jumped past at least five others waiting patiently in line, was unaware of as she practically elbowed someone out of the way to enter a cubicle.
Unfortunately for her, not only did she bypass the toilet roll dispenser, but she also neglected to notice the sign on the door stating that the cubicle she had rushed to get into was actually a hole in the floor. I tried not to laugh when I heard muffled profanities from behind the door.
Wanting to explore the stalls, but conscious that the driver was probably champing at the bit, we made our way back to the bus, moments before he began shouting at stragglers that they would be left behind — 10 minutes meant 10 minutes.
Back on board, passengers were beginning to feel restless, hungry, and perhaps irritated by the fact that they weren’t allowed time to eat, so despite the warning signs and the big mirror indicating that the driver had a bird’s eye view of the passengers upstairs — people began slouching down in their seats, and with the sounds of rustling and munching, managed to consume whatever delicacies they had purchased during the brief stop.
Unintentionally, we had stuck to the rules and had brought no snacks on board, but there was so much to see that it didn’t matter.
Enthralled and curious about our surroundings and realising that we had the opportunity to spend more time in Malaysia than we thought, we decided to postpone our KL booking for a couple of days (God bless the onboard wifi) and instead, get off at the next stop, Malacca. Rich in history and culture, this Unesco Heritage site city would be the ideal starter before the main event in Kuala Lumpur.
There is so much to see and do here and while two days is ample, I wouldn’t have said no to a longer stay.
But time and tide and all that, so it was back on the bus for the final two-hour jaunt to the capital, which couldn’t be more different than Singapore.
The pavements are packed full of people, the streets jammed with cars, all jostling and honking at each other, and barely stopping for pedestrians even when the lights are red — it felt so alive.
Yes, we could have taken a 45-minute flight from Singapore to KL for more or less the same price as the bus — €20 to €30 — but where would be the fun in that? If you’ve got time on your hands and like a bit of adventure, take the longer route and enjoy the ride.
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