Taking Singapore's Train

I have been living in Singapore for 1 year, and train has become one part of my life. I took the train almost everyday during rush-hours. If you ask about Singapore's train, I would seriously have no idea how to answer. One part of me hate it to the core. But another part, guess what, finds it quite enjoyable.

I don't think I need to say why I hate it, 'cause you might have known. How people squeeze in into an already packed train is one. How people behave inside an overly packed train is another one. Seriuosly if you want to know one's real character, you can take him/her for a train ride. Make sure it's rush hour, and the train is super packed. It works magic! Before you get serious with a date, take your date for a train ride. You will reach your destination either falling deeply in love, or getting extremely turned off.

Anyways, there are times when I find train ride quite "interesting". Why, you asked? Because a lot of funny things happen on the train. You get to see "raw and true" character of people inside it, and that sometimes can be annoying yet funny. Here's one:

Yesterday me and Han were inside a fully packed train. I was standing in front of the seats row. Beside me were Han and another guy (call him A). When the train stopped at a station, the guy who were sitting in front of me stood up to alight. I stepped aside a bit, to let him through.

Under unwritten law and simple train ethics, that seat was mine. Unless I choose to keep standing up, then other can take the seat. Anyways, the train was real packed, so the only persons who could get to the seat fast were either me, Han, or A. BUT, it seemed like one person wasn't aware about this ethics. This lady (not even old, I think around 30 plus) chose to forcefully squeeze through the sea of people from like 4 metres away towards my position. And while i was stepping aside to let the guy go through, she squeezed in between me and another guy and took the only seat empty.

Yes of course, the bloody seat right in front of me!

Damn, she was fast! After sitting, she didn't even dare to look up, not even once. She took out her cell-phone and played bloody solitaire!! I was furious!! I mean, i didn't even mean to sit, seriously! I meant to let anyone else to sit, maybe the elder lady behind me, or that tired-looking little girl.

This woman, woahh I really cannot believe it, she acted like she was playing seat-grabbing game. The one who get the seat managed to go to the next level. But, here, NOONE is playing with her!

Okay, it was actually quite funny. Seems like she was so desperate to sit. I still can remember her face when she was squeezing through the crowd. Ridiculously funny. She looked like one of those ladies who run through a sea of other ladies to get a pair of leather boots across the room in a sample sale. The difference is, a pair of boots worth the fight, but one stupid train seat???

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There's another funny thing I realised about train passengers here.

In Singapore, two most corner seats in the row are reserved for elderly, pregnant women, disables, and those carrying kids. But of course, when non of those mentioned people are on board, anyone can take the seats. However, it seems like the corner seats are very comfortable, that most people who sit there fall asleep.

At first I thought that life in Singapore was very busy that people didn't have time to sleep, and thus had to sleep on the train. But then I realised, that they are not really asleep, 'cause their position are actually very steady and stable, even when the train gets shaky. And, when it comes to their stop, they are always magically awake, and there's no sign of someone who just woke up. When I told my friend, he said that some people, NOT ALL, pretend to be sleeping so that they don't have to give up their seats. WTH?

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Okay, the purpose of this post is actually to rant about train incident that I encounter recently.

But well, I still love taking trains. Especially when you give up seat for a cute old lady who smiles sincerely at you and say thank you repeatedly, when a mommy holding a cute little baby sits next to you, and you can enjoy the cuteness, when a small family with happy faces wearing causal tees and shorts enters the train to go to the zoo on the weekend. Yeah, despite some of those incidents, I guess, Singapore's train is still worth the ride :)