thoughts from the road

I would think that comparing Malaysian drivers to Singapore ones that one would find that Malaysians make better drivers.They give way to one another even in the heart of K.L. In Singapore one would be hard pressed to find a driver moving to the left lane just so that the car behind can overtake him.I saw on numerous occasions lorry or bus drivers waving on smaller vehicles behind them to overtake them on single carriageways when there was no oncoming traffic in the opposite direction. Not surprisingly as and when I saw a driver exhibiting bad manners it was invariably a Singapore car!

On a similar note, I cannot help but wonder how smooth the rides up and down the highways are. The journeys are unlike those in Singapore where you may find pot-holes and road diversions along any major highway. It seems like a conspiracy by the powers that be to make Singapore roads congested by ever so often digging up a road and then closing it again.I get continually frustrated when I see 'road works' done as I drive, forcing me to either change lanes or having to face drivers trying to force themselves into my lane!

I always imagined my Sunny to be able to match up to most Japanese make cars on the road. To my dismay I found that Sunny lacks the pick up and speed to race with many of the other cars i encountered on my trip. I think 120km/h is about the most that Sunny can go.I even managed to get up to 140 km/h but she rattled like crazy at that speed.A truly humbling experience.

On the way back towards Singapore I made a resolution. My goal is to drive from Singapore up to the Malaysia-Thai border on the North South Highway and then across the peninsula via the East West Highway to the east coast and then down back to Singapore.Of course I am not gonna do it all at one stretch. I will probably take 5 days to do it with rst stops along the way. It is said it takes 8 hours to get from Singapore to the Thai border, and probably even longer to get back to Singapore via the east coast due to there not being any real highways. The East West Highway is approximately 450 km long and traverses some of the prettiest mountainous region of Malaysia from Penang to Kuala Terengganu. It should be quite an adventure to say the least. All I need is the right car and the right person to go with. Due to the nature of the trip the person I am going to go with has to be able to drive!I do not want to be left driving all the way myself like I was on my recent trip.A long journey is made sweet by the person you are with on those long ardous road trips. Someone with a good sense of humour is a must. There are bound to be setbacks and such on a trip as long as this one. It would really suck if the person I was with was grumbling,nagging and complaining at everything that was happening.Deal with it!

Although nothing is set in stone, I do hope to one day make this dream a reality. Any takers?