A correction.
I had written in an earlier post about the romance of the trains and their being one of the few charming aspects of life in Bako.
I was mistaken.
Oh I still love the trains, it's just that I had yet to be stuck behind one.
I had a quick errand to run, one that took me to the other side of the tracks. To Petco, home of the dimwitted, three toed sloth-like sales "associates". Seriously, could people move any slower? It's like watching Tai Chi, without any of the balance and grace. And it was the exact same way in LA. It must be their "brand" - "Petco - The Special Pet Store". I say just put the parakeets in charge and call it a day, it would be a vast improvement.
BTW - the Petco is adjacent to the soon-to-open Death Star of Walmarts. Sure, they just opened one the size of Delaware two months ago, not more than five miles away, but this one could swallow that one whole, two times over. It opens this March. I know I'm counting the days.
But I digress. Back to the train.
So I leave the store and I'm in the middle of nowhere, two miles from my house (that's just how Bako is), and I pull up twenty cars back, mid train. Cant see the engine, can't see the end, the train is so long it's like the Great Wall of China. And it's chugging along. At 5 miles per hour. Five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes... chug, chug, chug.
And then we... S T O P.
We pause.
And then we start... BACKWARDS! At five miles per hour. Ten minutes, 15, 20. By the time the engine finally appears and clears the gate and the little arms go up it's been 40 minutes. And the train hasn't gone anywhere. It's back where it started.
This is evidently normal. Part of the commute.
I'm sorry - I'll take back the 405 Freeway madness in a heartbeat after that.
I'm going to have to consult a train schedule before I venture out again.
