Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
On November 8th, Malaysians were faced with the closure of fifteen stations because of a supposed technical issue. RapidKL has announced that the disruption would go on for the entire week but not before many found themselves stranded at multiple stations for hours at a time.
One Malaysian, Adam Eji, decided to walk instead of sit around and wait to be saved.
Screenshot taken from Adam’s tiktok!
Here is his story!
Everyone online was asking me, “why walk?”
“It’s not like I planned it or anything. Everything was just set in a way that made me come to that decision. Coincidentally, I was in sportswear when I attended my classes that day so I thought, okay… I’ll just walk to Kerinchi station.”
I had finished my classes at 5pm and was already walking to the Kerinchi LRT station.
But when I reached the station, it was crowded with tired and angry people who were stranded because of the shutdown. I was starving at this time so I was really not in the mood to be dealing with this.
Photo taken from Adam’s Instagram!
At first, I thought I’d just book a rideshare service but when I typed my destination into the app, there weren’t any drivers around and I would have to wait for hours just to get home.
And when I did find a ride, the price was ridiculously hiked up. It would’ve cost RM70 just for me to get home.
So I thought to myself, “why not just walk to KL Sentral with Google Maps in hand?”
So the plan at that point was to catch the next train to Sri Rampai from KL Sentral. But when I reached KL Sentral, it was the same situation.
“Commuters were everywhere and the trains were packed. In my head, I was already thinking about how I might as well just walk all the way home. I decided to first, head towards the nearest monorail station, and managed to stop close to Dang Wangi LRT.”
I was so hungry, I changed into a whole different person. I wasn’t me anymore. I was just hungry.
The hunger literally possessed me and I was able to just walk and walk all the way to Ampang Park Station, passing KLCC – WHILE IT WAS HEAVILY RAINING – and I was met with another obstacle… a signboard that said, “The station is closed.”
I was not giving up. I decided to hop on a bus to Gleneagles Hospital on Jalan Ampang, then I would walk to Jelatek station and FINALLY get on a train to Sri Rampai.
“With this experience, I think that the walkability level in Kuala Lumpur is not that bad. You would just have to be careful because there are some walkways that are broken and have holes in them.”
After the whole incident with me walking those 26km, I had planned how I would go to classes for the days to come. People asked me, “why didn’t you ask for help?”
I just didn’t want to burden anyone with this.
Photo taken from Adam’s instagram!
“Plus, I had been skipping out on my cardio for a week now anyway. The situation was really just an opportunity for me to do my cardio. And yeah, I’ve always liked to walk even back when I was younger. I just don’t do it as often now because… well, I have a car.”
I’ve also received comments that question what my motive is for posting about this online.
I posted these videos on my TikTok because I’m a content creator.
I was doing it just for fun and I wanted to challenge myself. I wasn’t asked to do this nor was I trying to attack anyone about anything with this. So I did what I did and I had fun doing it.
Know anyone with an interesting story to share? Drop us an email at hello@inreallife.my and we may feature the story!
For more stories like this, read:
As A Woman, Here’s Why I’m Afraid Of Taking The LRT and Walking Home
We Need Better Walking and Cycling Lanes in KL Instead of More Highways. Here’s Why.
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