It is well over 2 weeks since my employer shifted office from a quiet neighborhood to a hustling bustling city center, in fact our office is just right beside the Kuala Lumpur federal highway. I’ve been driving to work for the last 2 years, but because of relocation I have to take public transportation, and it takes time to get use to the circumstances. I am lucky because the bus terminal is just right outside my house, all I need to do is to walk for about 10 minutes and I can take a public bus to anywhere I want to go around the city. The bad news is I must wake up at 6.30 AM every weekday to catch the 7.30 AM bus, let me tell ya, for the first week it is not easy, my dad literally have to kick me out of the bed to wake me up! Plus I really have to plan my day because I can’t work late anymore, if I have to I’ll suffer in the early bus to work because there is no way I can sleep in the bus:

Bus driver think he is driving a sports car

Since the Rapid KL public bus is quite new, the Volvo bus pack a punch when it comes to acceleration and breaking. The bus driver take advantage of it and drive the bus like a freaking sports car on the public road, I’ve seen a couple of times when the bus missed just a couple of centimeters from the passenger cars because the bus is tailgating, my heart stop beating each time it happens, I don’t know what the bus drivers take for breakfast to drive a bus like that in the morning. When I am about to doze off I will be awaken by the sudden break from the bus when it reached a bus stop, the bus driver just won’t stop the bus gently for passenger comfort, I don’t know why, maybe the employer didn’t pay them enough to care.

Some passenger need to shower

I don’t know what these people did before they came on to the bus, because to me they smell like they just butchered a rotten camel. I’m not implying that I smell like roses, but for God sake even a dead rat doesn’t smell that bad. It is worst during the rainy days, these fellas smell like rotten cheese mix with garbage water. To make things worst, the bus doesn’t have an open window to let the fresh air in, so all the smells will be trapped in the bus for everyone to enjoy.

“Excuse me” is not on people’s dictionary

The bus is usually pack full of people, when someone with a huge bag want to go through they won’t hesitate to bang the bag at your head if you are sitting down. No apology is given, no warning signal is given. If you are blocking their way they will use every trick in the book to go through, that includes brood force, intense staring or a shout, but apparently they miss out the word “Excuse Me” in the pages.

Luckily Malaysia are not all assholes, there are a lot of decent people that I saw in the bus that warm my heart:

There is hero in the bus

During a routine bus ride to work, a passenger car suddenly cut across the bus and the bus driver have to step on the emergency break. At that point of time the bus is pack full of people and there is one lady who held a baby on her chest, she almost fell down and crush her own baby. Thank God there is a brave young gentleman managed to hold the mother up, but after the ordeal I can sense that the gentleman hurt his arm. Everyone in the bus clap and congratulate him, he is a hero.

4 out of 5 Malaysian will give you a seat

I am bored in the bus most of the time and I need to find some interesting stuff to do to occupy my racy mind. One of the fun thing I did is I keep track of every old, people with disability, pregnant woman who came on the bus, and I count how many of them get a seat during rush hour. Base on my unofficial study, every 4 out of 5 passenger get a seat during rush hour, when the bus is the most crowded. But if you are young, regardless of whether you are a lady or not, don’t even think about it. Of course my study is bias to the bus I ride, and it didn’t cover other locations.

Usually the passenger don’t make any noise

To me it is quite strange to notice that the bus is always quiet even during rush hours, I don’t know why. Maybe Malaysian cherish their privacy so much that they don’t even bother to talk to each other, sometimes not even to their friends in the bus. Or maybe there is an unwritten rule that says, “Thou shall not speak in the bus”, but to me it is a good thing, since the bus already smell bad, at least the bus is quiet.

Since the oil price in Malaysia fluctuate like my girlfriend’s mood, it is great that I am not being affected anymore. I can save at least 300 bucks on petrol, so the 3 hours loss each day is almost worth it. Plus the side affect is my face has no more new pimples, I am not sure whether it is the toxic air conditioning in the bus or I start to sleep earlier and wake up earlier each day.