How to Book the ETS Train 🚅 : KL-Ipoh Team Bonding Trip Pt 1

One of the best things about working in Althea is being a part of a fun, and slightly crazy bunch who knows how to wind down and de-stress when it's needed. Our boss/Mamasan Tammy loves planning 'trips and surprises' for us so with the monthly team bonding budget provided by the company, she will often be seen scouring for the best buffet deals available in Kuala Lumpur so she can bring us 'eat our hearts out' or searching for awesome staycation promo to let us have a fun weekend gateway together.

Thanks to that, there has never been a dull moment during our team bonding sessions together.  Since this 'team bonding' sessions started, I realised that even with a limited budget you can go for a quick escapade if you want. All you need is extra effort to make it worth it!We always got to try new things every month from making our own pewter accessory to chilling at the best vacation spots without breaking our budget limit! I have to admit, that is no easy feat and we are so lucky to have such an awesome 'commander' in the team. 😍 #kipastime Actually no, I'm really serious about this. She is a total deal queen! If you follow me on my Instagram, you'll catch me sharing about those moments there too.

During our team bonding session last May, Tammy outdid herself once again by successfully planned a 2 days 1-night trip for us to visit the Lost World of Tambun in Ipoh. With the company budget of RM100 per person and her awesome strategy, we managed to save so much money on accommodation during that time (and use them on food instead LOL)! If you want to know how we managed to cover the accommodation + Lost World of Tambun day and night tickets, make sure to read the deal queen post about it on her blog www.plusizekitten.com.

After we got the confirmation date of our hotel booking, what's left was to find the suitable transport that'll be able to bring all of us safely there. We considered asking Sydney to drive for us, but since there was a total of 10 people going  (Tammy, Baby G, Mira, Mira's sister, Sydney, Sydney's Bae, Bo, Eros, Janelle and I), we couldn't possibly fit everyone in one car. We will need at least two cars, which also means that another driver is needed to drive the second car.I do have a driving license but I really don't dare to drive that far. So, our next option was to either take the bus or the train.

KL-Ipoh map, image source: plusizekitten.com

After a long discussion, we decided that a train journey will be far more appealing than taking the express bus. On top of that, some of us have never experienced taking the ETS train (operated under KTM or Keretapi Tanah Melayu) 🚅 anywhere so it everything was just falling perfectly in place. Well, almost perfect. Until the time we were trying to book the tickets and ended up being frustrated at how complicated it is to do it through the KTM website. I mean, it's a new era; we got no time to go to the counters when we can actually buy things online.

Thank goodness for busonlineticket.com! The website offers a much more user-friendly feature, and basically is the perfect booking site for public transportations in Malaysia. They offer online booking services for trains, buses, bus + hotel, ferries and even airport transfers, as well as tours and hotel.

How to book the ETS train?

Step 1: Register your account on the website

Step 2: Search for the train by filling in related details (date, depart from/to, number of pax)

Step 3: Pick the suitable train ride that you wanted (ETS offers 3 types: platinum, gold, silver)

Step 4: Finalised your booking (check out) and pay

image source: plusizekitten.com

Step 5: Print out the ticket from the confirmation email. Example above from Tammy's ticket.

The steps above is how we did the ETS booking but it's pretty similar to another type of bookings too. You can finish it up within minutes and with that easily able to get rid of the hassle of buying it personally at the counters. It definitely helps to save time and money! ETS offers three types of tickets which are silver, gold and platinum and each type have different journey time frame and number of stops.

Silver: 14 stations stops. Journey last for about 2 hours and 30 minutes
Gold: 10 stations stops. Journey last for about 2 hours and 20 minutes
Platinum: 1 station stop. Journey last for about 2 hours. Simple snacks provided


Other accommodations available on the ETS train include; food and beverages bar for those who are hungry along the road, LED TV in each coach, luggage rack, OKU friendly, CCTV and washroom. Our journey was hassle free and I also managed to record a vlog on the way to Ipoh, just capturing the moment with loves. You can view the vlog above 😘 For a long journey, I also suggest you bring in books to read or play a game to fill in the time like we did on that day.

Group selfie is a must!

Overall, I think our booking experience was a smooth one and the ETS train is also very comfortable. I used to think that train journey is not fun and hard, but now I am open to more train-adventure! Now wondering, where should I go next? 😋 Of course, my story in Tambun is not over yet, so stay tuned to the second part of the story (with more pictures).

Finally arrived at Ipoh station! 인증샷 💜

For more information about the Bus Online Ticket Website, visit www.busonlineticket.com

Till next post, toodles~! ♥ミ