so my grandparents came to visit from malaysia yesterday. and me being a nice grandchild decided to go wait for them at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station as they were arriving by train. i know right, damn old school but then they live somewhat near the railway station and its like more convenient for them. anyway, i digress.
the last time i was at the railway station was like when i was really really young so i decided to google how to get there and stuff. i also found the railway station website to find out the the arrival timing of the train. it was suppose to reach at 4pm at tanjong pagar.
oh, how wonderful would it be when they see me there waiting for them at the train station. like such a lovely surprise. i know right. i've already somewhat planned the whole scene in my head. although extremely exagerated complete with a soundtrack and all but hey, its my head so it can be as exagerated as i want it to be. anyway, i digress.
take mrt to tanjong pagar followed by a short ride on bus number 80. that was the plan. and 2.45 pm was the time i was suppose to leave my place. but knowing me, punctuality was never my best asset. it was 3.30pm and i was still at home. cabbed there instead and reached at 3.45-ish.
i was wearing a plaid shirt with a cardigan over it and a nice pair of black pants. you know, a little demure for the grandparents but still keeping it boomz, for the lack of a better word.
changi airport have always been lauded as one of the best airports in the world. so how could our railway station be any lesser. oh how was i wrong, so so wrong.
imagine the most rundown bus interchange in singapore you can think of. now imagine it bigger but instead of busses, there are railway tracks. there was no aircon and mind you, i was dressed like a european schoolboy in autumn. even with the cardigan off i was still sweating like a fat boy during TAF club. fucking unglam. so after i waited for like 15minutes, which felt more like 2 hours in the sweltering heat, i approched the arrival section and waited.
and waited. it was 4.10pm. the train is late. so i decided to approach the ticket booth, now perpetually drenched in sweat like i just finished having the best sex of my life, and i said to him
'hi, wasnt the train suppose to arrive at 10mins ago?'
totally expressionless and monotonuously he replied, 'delayed'.
'i see, but for how long?'
'train come 445' he mumbled.
after a few seconds deciphering that he was trying to say the train was 45mins late. i was like going WTF.
30more minutes to endure.
you know the bad thing about the place is that there is really nothing to do. you know how at the airport you got all this lovely shops that you can browse at to pass the time or maybe a starbucks that you could grab a java chip frappucino at to while the time away. but nooooooooo, all they had was like a mama shop (convenience store) and some kopitiam-ish eatery. what on earth was i supposed to do, order teh tarik in that coffee shop and chill? you might as well just ask me to prop up one leg on the chair to get the whole experience.
so i bought a bottle of coke zero and decided to find some nice windy spot outside and start to organise the inbox in my handphone. the sun outside was scorching and even if there was wind, it was blowing hot air. it kinda feels like standing infront of a hair dryer. muthafucka.
so fast forward to 30mins later. it was 4.45pm and the train arrived punctually. punctual on the delayed timing that is. i waited and waited.
and waited.
"maybe they got a lot of luggage and walking really slowly cause you know how grandparents walk slow everywhere. its like a different timezone or smthing" i thought to myself.
until the last person came out of the train, still no grandparents. what the heck!
i asked a few of the train staff if there were anymore passengers inside. they said, this was their final stop for the time being and all the passengers have alighted. WHAT?!
so i decided to call home and complain to my mum bout this whole shit. and GUESS WHO PICKED UP THE PHONE???
my grandfather.
now did you know if you took the train you can alight at woodlands too? well i didnt. woodlands was apparently the stop where you get down to get your passport stamped and you could either get back on the train and go all the way to tanjong pagar and or just leave from the woodlands station itself.
well, now i know. so much for giving the grandparents a surprise huh.
alijoe
