'Balik kampung' journey starts early

THE Hari Raya exodus in Malaysia has begun with the starting of the school holidays and many families and university students are travelling early back to their home towns for the celebrations.

At Kuala Lumpur's Hentian Bukit Jalil bus station, the environment was crackling with excitement as Muslims flocked the place to board their buses. University students arrived in groups and bus loads of passengers got down from intercity buses and were immediately encircled by touts at the waiting area. Ticket sale assistants are only allowed to linger next to their booths but many disregard the rule and wander outside to attract customers.

Unisel student Farahin Ismail, 20, said the touts could be annoying especially when they approached in large groups.

Farahin, who hails from Perak, said she insisted on going to the counter to buy her tickets.

"I decided to buy the ticket a week ago just to be safe. It has been a month since I went home," she added.

Three boys from Persekutuan Kajang secondary school, Mohd Fauzi, Amar Zulkifli, both 14, and Muhamad Syafikri, 13, bought their tickets a month ago.

A group of them got together and appointed someone to buy the tickets on their behalf.

Fauzi was heading to Johor to help his mother bake cookies for Raya, while Amar Zulkifli said he was excited since he had not been home for more than three months.

For Syafikri, he was looking forward to shopping with his family at the local bazaars.

Sahanoridayu Samah, 18, took an extra week off from work to travel back to Johor Baru with her sisters and their children.

She had bought the tickets a week before as she was afraid she would not be able to get them at the last minute for her family of seven.

Her fears were well justified as ticket sales attendant Fatimah Abdullah, 18, confirmed most tickets for destinations in the northern part of peninsular Malaysia were fully booked for September 8 and 9 while tickets for states in the east coast were selling fast. The Raya mood is also palpable at Hentian Duta in Jalan Duta. Travellers, mostly students and young adults, were seen heading home to the northern states.

Fadilah Asmuni, 24, who is in the army, said she got a week off for the festival and was excited to go home and help her mother make lemang.

Its exciting to be home just before Raya to help out. I booked my tickets in July, otherwise it will be difficult to get them or the price would be increased, she said.

Teacher Zuraida Ghazali, 27, is also glad to be able to make the trip home early. "I also bought my tickets early and at that time it was RM39 ($17) but now I think it has gone up to RM43, said Zuraida, adding that she was bringing back kuih raya from Kuala Lumpur."

Meanwhile, her sister Zanaliza Ghazali, 29, who came to drop her at the bus station, was not as lucky as she would only be driving home on Thursday.

"I could not get leave earlier, so this means I have to drive home in the balik kampung traffic on Thursday," she said.

There are also many passengers at the Hentian Putra station near Kuala Lumpur's Putra World Trade Centre.

Like many others, the passengers here had booked their tickets early for their journey.

Even then, some still found it difficult to get a ticket.

Universiti Malaya student Alif Adli Osman, 23, said many of her peers bought tickets in bulk, making it difficult for others to buy tickets.

"I wanted to buy much earlier but was busy with my practical training."

"However, I did try buying online but it was hard securing one so I just came here today to try my luck," he added.

The Star/ANN