Oneworld

'Revolves around you.'

Yes, I am looking forward to Malaysia Airlines joining the Oneworld alliance in a matter of weeks, joining the ranks of British Airways and Cathay Pacific amongst others.

At the airport again, lounging away waiting for the next flight. Which has me thinking about postings, and planned it all out I did. A trip report on another side of Hong Kong, a quick few hours in Macau and ecclesiastical heritage of the British and Dutch will be coming up so watch this space.

102nd Floor

The picture says it all. Greetings from a fog-filled Hong Kong, been gloomy, foggy and drizzly all weekend, but for now. Will finish up the Medan write-up, I promise!

Remiss in duties

I admit, I have been remiss in my duties, and for a period have neglected to finish my adventures on Medan with SSM and Samwise. I promise, I shall complete it, most probably during my flight to Hong Kong.

Busy would be an understatement, as in my view, if one is to do something, one will make time. Alas, laziness took over amidst all the travels.

So, right now, I am briefing you over a session in the lounge, waiting for my flight. Updates further in Hong Kong.

LIVE KL - Seremban Part III

(edit: due to technical difficulties, my post is partly live this time. Thank God for autosave.)

The commuter train took all of 1 hour 20 minutes to reach Seremban from Old Kuala Lumpur Station. Right now, after an hour scouting around Seremban for their famous Seremban siew pau and buying a box of 10 for RM 10, I am now on the 4pm train back to Kuala Lumpur. Yes, for the sake of baked pastries with barbeque pork filling, I will go to great lengths.

Best part of a commuter train heading in to the city is that traffic heads in the other direction in the late afternoons, hence the trains were relatively little filled. Adding on to the surprise, Tom & Jerry was showing in the screen. I reckon Malayan Railways must have an exclusivity right to show that specific cartoon on their trains, since they have it on their express trains as well.

With all that brisk walking and exploring, I reckon I've done enough cardio to warm up my body before my workout later.

Seremban station.

Carriage interior, waiting for departure at terminal

Dynamic transit display

Platforms, with rail sleepers waiting for installation for the double tracking project phase 3

Box of Seremban siew pau

LIVE KL - Seremban Part II

We have just past the halfway mark, and according to my GPS, we have yet to pass the 100km/h mark. However, 45 minutes in and we're halfway there is a good thing. Anyway, these new commuter trains do the job. No luxuries like the ETS trains, no complimentary wifi or cartoon shows, but there are power points at each pair of seats and an info screen showing movie trailers.

But what has my vote of confidence are the LED display and illuminated destination guide showing what stations we have passed and what stations are next. All very well and dandy.

Interior of train, notice the LED.

Power outlet shared between 2 seats

LIVE KL - Seremban

(ed note: Earlier, I tried typing this post on my BlackBerry, but sadly, the posting Page hardly rendered properly, so I am now confined to using my BlackBerry PlayBook to type this out. Hopefully it works.)

So, right now I am on the new KTM Komuter train to Seremban, a very different train than the one I regularly use. For starters, it is just slightly half the price, and the commuter trains are newer than the Electronic Train Service set that ply the Kuala Lumpur - Ipoh and - Seremban express and limited stop routes.

New commuter trains approaching platform

Question now is: can it live up to the tag of 'modern train service' and Malayan Railways' pledge to provide better rail services? 

Commuter train at Old KL Station

And most importantly, how will they differentiate from the limited service high speed-ish service the ETS provides? Is it worth that extra premium?

Of course, as custom dictates, I boarded the train from the Old Kuala Lumpur Railway Station. Let's see how the commuter train fares. I doubt it'll be 15-20 minutes longer than the ETS services to Seremban station.

So, as I'm typing away on my PlayBook, finally getting the hand of mobile posting, will I be doing more live reports? Perhaps.

And as of now, roughly 20 minutes in to our journey, we have passed Serdang station, effectively putting us at 1/4 of our journey.

Will try and post more pictures for your viewing pleasure!