15 Hour Bus Ride from Penang Malaysia to Singapore with Grassland Express Part 1
This is the first part of my bus journey from Penang to Singapore with Grassland Express. I decided to try out the overnight bus because it departs from Penang just after 9pm and gave me the impression that it will arrive just in time for breakfast in Singapore. I booked my ticket through Easybook and paid a fare of RM143, which was higher than usual because I was travelling the day before Hari Raya, a major public holiday. For your information, a ticket costs between RM65 and RM70 outside holiday periods.
My bus was supposed to depart from the Prangin Mall in the centre of Georgetown, but the shop of the bus company was rather difficult to find. I eventually discovered that all bus companies are based in a row a shops next to the McDonald’s, so that is where you should go if you are confused. I checked in with Grassland, got a boarding pass of sorts, and the bus arrived a few minutes later.
I sat on the upper deck of the bus in the front row. The bus was fully packed with fellow Chinese tourists and it was a struggle to get to my seat. I settled down and the bus set off just past 9:15pm and headed south, out of Georgetown.
We stopped at the Sungai Nibong Bus Terminal, which is the main bus station serving the island of Penang, to pick up more passengers, before crossing the Second Penang Bridge, also known as the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge. There was a toll plaza back on the mainland, followed by the North South Expressway, or the Lebuhraya Utara Selatan.
We stopped at a service station shortly after entering the Expressway, just after 10pm. People got off to stretch their legs, use the restroom and buy drinks and snacks while the driver filled the bus up with petrol. I quickly bought a bottle of mineral water from the shop before rushing back to the bus, because the driver did not tell us how long we would be stopping there for. We ended up staying for 15 minutes. In fact, there will be quite a number of breaks during this long journey, most of them lasting for 15 minutes. Therefore, my feedback to Grassland is that their drivers should make an announcement before each break and let us know how long we will be staying there for. In the meantime, the prices in the shop are more than reasonable, with the mineral water costing only RM1.50.
After leaving the service station, we left the expressway near Sungai Jawi down the road to pick up a hitchhiker. The hitchhiker was waiting just on the other side of the toll plaza. The drivers let him on the bus before making a quick U-turn through the toll plaza and back onto the expressway.
Blankets were given out to everyone a few minutes later. I tried to sleep, but was woken up by the jerking motion of the bus outside Ipoh an hour later. There had been an accident on the road which took out the left lane, so we were stuck in stop start traffic for a short time. Meanwhile, the windows got misty, making it hard for me to see through them. However, I made out signs pointing to Ipoh in absolutely huge letters.
I tried going to sleep again, only to be woken up just before 1am. The bus had stopped at a lay by area for a toilet break. I decided to get off and use the restroom like most people on the bus. In my opinion, this is an awful time for a toilet break because most people would have been in deep sleep. If the drivers really wanted to give a toilet break after the service station, they could have done so an hour earlier.
I decided to stay wake as the coach approached Kuala Lumpur, as I have already been woken up twice in the night. We entered the capital city just after 2am, and went right through the city centre. The bus went via Jalan Damansara, which was right between the Perdana Botanical Gardens and the KL Sentral Development Area. I was glad that the windows cleared up, allow me to record some views of the city.
Kuala Lumpur is the mid point of my journey from Penang to Singapore. Please stay tuned for the second half of my journey!