Whinges of an Alien

I absolutely hate buses with those facing seats: they are narrow, you get dizzy when you're facing the back of the bus, not to mention that you also have to be staring at other passengers doing the same thing to you; what's worse, THIS:   This person here thinks he owns the bus and had his feet up the whole journey! I was tempted to tell him off but would I dare risk my life dealing with someone this rude and inconsiderate so openly? No, I won't - especially when this is a Seri Kembangan bus route in Malaysia. No offense to the residents there, my family lives there too so trust me - I KNOW. And yes I'm just a coward who only knows how to take a picture and rant about it online, and wished that the bus driver could've done something about it. But then again, this is Malaysia, and this was a Rapid KL bus No.540. You get what I mean, if you're one of the locals.  Such a disgrace to the local people!

Just when you think I'm gone forever, I'm back in whinging mode again. This time it's our beloved public transport in Klang Valley, namely Rapid KL. Not to be horrible, but everything in Malaysia just seems to be a beat slower than other countries (except for our reckless drivers on the road), even getting on a bus! Apart from most people just love being so "laid back" and moving ever so slowly, this prepaid ticket device called Touch 'n Go also gets in the way. Touch 'n Go Device There is only 1 device installed each at the entrance and the exit of the bus (some hidden in a narrow corner), so passengers will have to crowd to one corner to tap their cards on the device. Whilst doing that, they get in the way of those paying with cash, and vicé versa. What's worse is that, despite the card being called Touch 'n Go and the device clearly says "touch", the last thing you can do is touch! Because the device will then tell you off in a v...

Why? Because (in case you are so lucky you haven't stumbled upon any): 1. They take ages to load due to the heavily use of Flash on the website. - Malaysians love using Flash (well most Asians do, Singaporeans too). I have dealt with a number of Malaysian clients before, trying to set up websites for them and all they care about is how flashy and fancy their site may look and not how useful it will be. And most of these Flash animations just make you dizzy. So yes I had to tell them to go somewhere else to get their websites done. 2. They have bad navigation design. - You will have problem trying to look where you're going, what you should click, where you should go, etc. 3. You probably can't find any useful information on it. - I recently had to plan some travelling so I thought I would check out the KTM's intercity trains. Surprise, surprise; after a long wait for the page to load and a good 10 minutes looking for the link to the [might have been] right page, I thoug...

If you're ever coming in to Malaysia via Singapore, one of the most drastic differences you'd spot between the two vastly similar countries is the queueing system, especially when waiting for public transport. You may think that I'm joking, but hey, most Malaysians just can't queue! Just look at the picture below. Perhaps, it's because these bus stations do not have a very good platform system, so these people have no idea where to start standing (duh!). What's not helping is that, these buses also do not have a fixed timetable and you'll never know which bus would go first (no the first bus in the line is not always the first to go). But, even if you and your friends were to deliberately start a queue by standing neatly in a line (I have tried this experiment before), those who come after you would just hang around on your left, right, or loosely behind you, if not in front of you. And when the driver is spotted walking towards the bus, these people will al...

As much as I despise the lifeless living in Singapore, I have to admit that their public transport system is near flawless. You can argue that the country is tiny, hence easy to plan and control; but it doesn't give anyone any reason to operate their public transport service horrendously bad just because it is bigger! I have now been stuck in Kuala Lumpur for 3 months. Having sold my old car before I left the country years ago, I now have to depend on various public transport to get around the city. And what can I say? NOTHING HAS CHANGED! Thanks to the heritage of my earthling foster family, I am temporarily (hopefully, fingers-crossed!) residing in a God-forsaken place where I have to take 4 different public transports just to get to work (the same applies to getting home): bus-train-train-bus! There are at least 6 hours spent on travelling everyday, and it's far worse than getting the bus from Southampton to Derby! Why? You may ask. Of course, the residential area being inac...