| Tuesday, June 12, 2007 |
| Trip to Malaysia |
Mom came over with her friend and sis... and a troop of 5 gung ho girls piled into an MPV, and we drove all the way to Malaysia.
Yeah, sure, anyone can do that, but I had to admit, I'm pretty proud of myself. I had to master the MPV and start the journey to JB within 20 minutes of getting the vehicle.
Don't forget I haven't REALLY been driving since end of last year, when I drove a pick up lorry during our move.
Besides, we had to do a detour.... need to pick up the 6th passenger, bambino, who was actually having a school camp somewhere 'off' JB... right... it was in Kluang, and it was about 2 hours' drive after we left the customs.
My Malay was so good that when someone suggested that I look for an exit caller "Ayer Hitam" all I could think of to associate the name in order to remember it was "Bulu Hitam"? or something like that which is a local dessert... great vocabulary huh?
Anyway, I went into a petrol station after about 1/2 hr's drive to ask for directions. I asked why had I NOT seen the sign yet when I was told to look out for the sign? That's easy, said the very helpful man... I would have at least another 1 1/2 hr's drive before I could even see the sign.
Hmmmm, right.. so there we were, navigating into Malaysia and right into the unknown eco-resort near Kluang. From there, one more wrong turn, and we were finally on our way to Kuala Lumpur, our actual destination.
Oh oh oh!! did I mention that I was like, driving at night? yup yup! =)
We picked up bambino about 10 at night, and then we started the 400 odd km journey. I pulled up at some rest stops in between to have a little shut-eye.I mean, c'mon, at 2 am in the morning, any one's lids would droop!
Anyway, we left the highway about 5 am and from then on it was just looking around for the Mines Resort where we had booked 2 rooms. It took us 2 hours. Directed from one golf course to another, to another... Finally we took the route I rejected earlier, thinking it would only lead to the racecourse... but eventually we got to the hotel at about 8 am.
Am I pleased or am I pleased? We had Angeline and her cousin Lilian as our tour guides, bless their hearts, and we had good time. Didn't go to any theme parks, but went to quite a few places for sight seeing. It's probably the first time that I saw KL proper. Previous visits were really just malls and conferences.
The drivers and motorcyclists in KL are pretty brave drivers too, perhaps they really know the roads so well, that to a tourist manoeuvring a 2.7 L MPV, they looked more like they had a death wish. Drivers in JB were just as scary and downright rude with middle fingers to offer you after slicing into your lane, and I mean, slicing. Anyway, I didn't increase the population of heaven or hell during the stay there, but I'm sure I'd killed many of my nerve cells.
Our trip back to Singapore started a few days later, this time in the afternoon. We were hoping to arrive at JB before it gets dark and was hoping to 'swing by' Meleka but decided against it last minute as it would mean getting back late. Mom was concerned that we'd be too late for Uncle and family so Meleka was cut from our itiniery.
Besides, mom was nervous. In fact she was always nervous everytime we got into the MPV. Yet she would insist on sitting in front, and I really wondered why she suggested I drove when I had never driven to Malaysia before.
Oh well, we arrived safely in Singapore.
It was only then I told her that this trip was as much a first for me as it was for them...
Hehe.....
I really didn't want to freak her out further by telling her that this was the first time I handled an MPV, or driving across the causeway, all the way to KL..
All's well that ends well. All 6 of us had a pretty good time, and I had the drives of my life!
Must do that more often........ |
posted by charisMA @ 6:28 PM  |
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