Bye Bye Jalan Sultan Ismail!

Last Friday was my last day with my ex-company located at Jalan Sultan Ismail, in the heart of KL town. That was a day that I was longing for as I could officially bid adieu to Jalan Sultan Ismail, which I never like ever since I started working there for almost a year.

Those were the frustrating memories with Jalan Sultan Ismail:

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Due to the location, I chose to take LRT instead of driving to work from PJ because I can’t stand the frustration of being stuck in the TRAFFIC JAM DAILY! I would get MAD in the car! Life would actually be indirectly made shorter due to the long hours spent on the traffic.

As a routine, I would park my car at the Kelana Jaya LRT Station, walked about 8-10 minutes to the platform, and took the train to Dang Wangi. From Dang Wangi, I would then need to walk 10 minutes to the office. Due to quite some distance of walking, my legs and toes had actually suffered cramp at the initial stage as a result of wearing high (or not so high) heel office shoes walking too much. I purposely bought a few pairs of flat heel shoes just to accommodate the need of the situation, but they were either not comfortable for walking and hurt my feet or broken very fast. Finally I decided to wear slipper to take the LRT, and change to proper shoes that I placed in the office. Imagine me dressed up nicely but in slipper every morning and after work. Pathetic and weird! But I chose comfort over cramp.

The moment I boarded the train, I would immediately get into my routine position, close my eyes, like a soulless zombie, and wait to get out of the train at my destination ASAP, If I was lucky, I would probably get a seat, and most of the time I was standing in the train. Inside the train, it’s an extremely lifeless and stressful atmosphere as everyone is so emotionless and is no difference from a walking skeleton. All they wait for is to get out of the congested and suffocating train at their destinations. There are all sorts of smell in the train and it’s very common that you will need to stick to the wall or inevitably having highly undesired body contact with other passengers during peak hours. There was once, my cardigan got wet, and it wasn’t my sweat! Disgusting!

Very often, our LRT system would encounter technical problems, wreaking havoc during peak hours. Aren’t some people always proudly shouting Malaysia Boleh? What the heck is this frequent failure of our public transport system?

When it rained in the evening, Jalan Sultan Ismail, like any other places in KL would turn into a nightmare – massive jam! The honking, the flood, the frustration… It’s super duper annoying! I could either choose to stay late in the office, wait for the rain to stop or risk myself getting wet or being splashed with water by cars passing by while crossing the road, though with an umbrella. Worse still, when I got back to PJ, I still needed to get stuck in the jam to reach home. It could easily cause me 1.5 to 2 hours to get home combining the time taking LRT & driving home. I used to drive trice to work, and unfortunately each time took me more than 2 hours to reach home in PJ. Life’s short! Why should I waste such precious time on traffic jam? Damn it!
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Phew! I am relieved and happy now for those days in Jalan Sultan Ismail are gone. No more zombie days with LRT, no more slipper to work, no more “what to eat for lunch?”, and no more kanasai faces…

The only thing that I will probably miss would be the fresh fruit juice sold at the back lane, by a friendly aunty who will address her customers as either boy or gal, regardless of age.

The sun is bright, the sky is blue, the air is fresh and my mood is good. Bye Bye Jalan Sultan Ismail! I won’t miss you!