The last time I was in Gemas was sometime in 2005. Then again as far as I remember, I never spend any significant time in Gemas. I was only passing through to get somewhere else, the last time was on the way to Segamat through Tampin.
So I spent more time in this visit. In fact I actually stayed and lodged at a cheap hotel for 2 nights! Oh, don't get the wrong idea. I left my girlfriend somewhere else... She had her own business to attend to while I wanted to be on my own.
So what is great about Gemas? Well, you could say it is just another regular Malaysian town except for one thing... It is Malaysia's main rail crossroad!
You see, Peninsular Malaysia's main range of mountains, the Banjaran Titiwangsa created a long stretch of natural obstacle not favourable to railroads. So the connection point between the 3 sections has to lie just outside the obstacle...
Gemas practically lies at the southern end of Banjaran Titiwangsa. Thus that's where the northern line of railroad starting from Perlis in the north going down through the states of Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Perak, Selangor, the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur and Negeri Sembilan meets the East-Coast line leading to Pahang and Kelantan... Thus a train from KL to Kelantan have to go down more than 100km to Gemas before heading north-east to Kelantan.
Oh, by the way the rail-road don't go through the state of Terengganu... And both the northern and East-Coast lines do meet elsewhere up north but that is the sovereign state of Thailand, so it does not count. Here in Malaysia, both lines continue down south to meet the southerbound railroad passing through Johor all the way to another sovereign state, Singapore. So Gemas is the focal point where all paths meet...
The main mosque of Gemas some 500 meters away...
Suprisingly this is what I got... Somehow the signboard showing the miles to the next major towns stood out as if it was something on an LCD computer screen! What's more surprising, when I checked the picture inside the computer, the board somehow aligns perfectly with the screen's horizontal edges. Is this just simple coincidence or did I somehow turned into a superb cameraman that time? Enough... :]
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