仔细一想，我与佩意已经好久没有好好地出国旅行了。自五年前的欧洲之游，最远的也只不过是邻国而已。
有人说：“钱是赚不完的，身体是累得跨的”。在工作岗位上奋斗了那么多年，虽然还是个打工仔，但也付出了不少汗血，所以决定给自己和意一点物质上的鼓励 — 环游台湾岛吧！
去台湾不是一个很难的决定，但行程的安排，确实有一点难倒了我这个懒人。想了一想，还是参加旅行团，省了麻烦的筹备功夫，拍拍屁股就可以上路了吧! 朋友于是给了一些意见，参加旅行团，必须要有因行程紧凑而疲惫的心理准备。鱼与熊掌，不可兼得。我们最终还是报名加入旅行团，但也选择在行程后再延长多两天，一来希望不会把疲惫的心情带回家，二来还可以在台北逍遥自在地逛一逛，一石二鸟呀！
十二月的十二号，就是我们出发的好日子！
[myspace]http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1677998666[/myspace]
As usual, we gathered at Gelang Petah Restpoint, just after Tuas 2nd link checkpoint. Polar Bear, for whatever reason, was the last car to arrive, and he claimed that he had to let the chicken cross the road first! What an ingenious excuse to be late 😛
The trail started at about 7.05am, after a quick briefing by our trail leader, Mickey. Our first stop is Kluang Town, just about 100-150km away, I reckon. We reached there within 45 mins I suppose, and we were ready for our breakfast by then. The breakfast place was recommended by Doodler, it is supposed to be one of the best kaya-roti stalls around, some say even better than YaKun or Kilinney Kaya-roti toast! The toast was indeed good as claimed, as the stall owner uses roti bun to toast, and had thick spread of kaya and thick slices of butter in between the toast. The kaya is just so smooth and tasty, coupled with the butter, they just simply melt in your mouth! We couldn’t resist but to buy a small cup of kaya home, and on hindsight, we should have just bought whatever they have left! The owner told us that the same stall (which was just beside Kluang railway station) was started by his grandfather, and hence he chose not to relocate despite the customer demand outnumbered what the place could catered for. He told us that there’s a beef noodle stall nearby which was famous in TangKak, and Polar Bear immediately voted that we should continue our breakfast there!
After the roti breakfast, and the impromptu Beef kway teow meal, we headed our way to Gunung Belumut. The drive was endlessly long, until we realised we had overshot the exit to Belumut! Another U-turn and it was fun seeing a fleet of Saab jets doing U-turn on the B-road. As I always said, when you see a fleet or an individual Saab jet fighter driving unbelievably slow, or doing awakward U-turn, chances were they are lost!
We finally arrived at Belumut, at around 11am. That’s not without a short trail through the Palm Plantation, braving through the landmine (read: bull shit! literally). As we parked at Belumut, we were greeted by a staunch smell. and guess what! big piles of shit stucked at all our wheel archs! Argghh…
Belumut is one of nature park in Malaysia, and if you are adventure-seeker, you can trek through Gunung (malay for Mountain) Belumut for a few hours I was told. We were expecting some waterfall, but instead, we saw a small stream of water. Nevermind, at least there was suspending bridge, and we have a mini treking around the base of Gunung Belumut!
We were all hungry shortly after, and decided to proceed to drive back to South, somewhere at Kukup, near 2nd link for lunch. Luckily it rained heavily during the drive back, as the water splashes from the spinning wheel help to clean the filty wheel and wheel well! We exit at Pontian along NS highway, but perhaps the folks were too hungry to even want to explore further at Kukup, in the end, we stop by at Gelang Pateh instead, for a seafood lunch. Good time to fill our stomach, as well as recapping on the fun moments we had earlier. By 3pm, we all packed up and headed back to Singapore.
On 2nd June 2005, we participated our first Saab Trail 2005, along with a group of Saab enthusiasts. The trail covers a drive up to Tanjong Jara resort, about 350km north of Johor, and is situated just along east coast of Malaysia, Trengganu, facing South-China sea. We spent 3 days at the resort, before driving from Tanjong Jara to Sunway Lagoon on 4th June, via the new Karak Highway. The highway cut across Malaysia from east to west, and we had about 300km joy ride before reaching Sunway Lagoon (which is about 30km away from Kulau Lumpur city). For more photos of our Saab Trail 2005, you can browse the photo albums
The eastern folks started off the trip as early as 6.30am. We convoyed our way from Marine crescent to our first MUP, Raffles Marina, with the rest of convoy folks. At the MUP, we lined up our vehicles, had our breakfast (thanks to Mrs Ketchup ) and moved off at 7.30am.
The first half of the convoy was quite a chaotic. All thanks to our leader (aka CQ) Mr Ketchup. He would always spin his car off to the overtaking lane like as if he's about to perform a stunt . Plus some of us who wanted to test the car to its limit
The 2nd half of the convoy was much better after the 1st breakpoint. In fact, the convoy was quite an enjoyable ride, and towards the end, our dear friend Voxy tried to do a what-he-call a “Waltz” dance in the convoy
** too bad, camera in the boot, did not manage to take some of the interesting shots of the convoy **
The convoy during the journey again attracted alot of wanted attention. Just imagine 3 boras, 3 golfs, 1 vento and 1 318s moving so steadily along the north-south highway.
In the cityThe maneuvering in KL city was indeed a great test of our darting & gunho driving skill Coupled with the fact that it was the peak hour for the traffic, we had to inch our car very carefully to stay intact in our convoy before reaching the Marriott hotel safely. Well, not without a shock of our life as we entered the carpark, as we drove down the steep slope, and observed some cement debris at the end of the slope, having been digged out by the shovel-like bumper lip of some cars
The maneuvering in KL city was indeed a great test of our darting & gunho driving skill Coupled with the fact that it was the peak hour for the traffic, we had to inch our car very carefully to stay intact in our convoy before reaching the Marriott hotel safely. Well, not without a shock of our life as we entered the carpark, as we drove down the steep slope, and observed some cement debris at the end of the slope, having been digged out by the shovel-like bumper lip of some carsmorale of the story, beware if you have your full bodykit & lowered car when you drive up to KL
Our activities in KLWe had our lunch GTG with our fellow M'sian veeduber. Yes, just 1 and only Wan (no pun intended) from the M'sia veedub community involving in The Straits GTG. The food was classy ( ), ambience of the restuarant was relaxing, and most importantly, Wan got his first taste of mod-talk with the mod king and prince (Ketchup, Ren, Voxy).
We had our lunch GTG with our fellow M'sian veeduber. Yes, just 1 and only Wan (no pun intended) from the M'sia veedub community involving in The Straits GTG. The food was classy ( ), ambience of the restuarant was relaxing, and most importantly, Wan got his first taste of mod-talk with the mod king and prince (Ketchup, Ren, Voxy).The ladies ajourned to their shopping spree, while the guys proceeded to a brief GTG, exchanging mod tips with some show-case of the mods in the car park.
The mod talk continued in a cafe, while watching out for any veedubs on the road. That continued until the ladies came back with some damages, and also some confirmed but not effect-yet damages for Wan In fact, we are expecting Wan to begin his mod plan within the next few weeks, and another GTG with him in Singapore when he come down to Singapore in May (So Wan, start your mod plan discussion in a separate thread!)
Dinner at Jalan Alor (I think) was fantastic. Large serving, cheap , and huge variety of hawker food. And we finished off the night with good at the hotel bar, *burps*
The next dayWe had our roti-chenai (hope I spelt it correctly) and magi-mee goreng together in the morning, and the guys were dragged into the shopping by their CO as early as 10.30am. We were all amazed at the energy these ladies have when it comes to shopping, just as much like what we have when we come into modding
We had our roti-chenai (hope I spelt it correctly) and magi-mee goreng together in the morning, and the guys were dragged into the shopping by their CO as early as 10.30am. We were all amazed at the energy these ladies have when it comes to shopping, just as much like what we have when we come into moddingThe guys put up a white surrender flag shortly, and decided to let their bums take a rest while having a cup of coffee at Olio Dome, while the ladies continue their mod. In the process, the guys had changed the topic of cars to NS life.. quite a topic sway I must say
But it was like a catching up with old friends on the good old days, and indeed helped the guys not to let their mind wander disarray on what's the damage going to be like elsewhere …
On our way back … we had dubless to lead us out of the KL city and into the NS highway. One thing we found out from the trip, dubless likes to do a merry-go-round stunt, given his convoy lead from ECP to Tuas Raffles Marina and KL Marriott to NS highway
we had dubless to lead us out of the KL city and into the NS highway. One thing we found out from the trip, dubless likes to do a merry-go-round stunt, given his convoy lead from ECP to Tuas Raffles Marina and KL Marriott to NS highway
Due to some reasons, the convoy began late in the evening, and we had to drive back to Singapore in the night. It was a fantastic opportunity for Voxy and myself to showcase our xenon light (see video 1 and 2) It was another experience convoying in the poorly-lited highway (or should I say well camouflaged road ). Driving in the dark made convoying much more difficult, as the cars in the rear could not see what those in the front and the leader are doing, and always ended up with catching-up game It did not help especially when there's a stealth veedub in the middle of the convoy .
But still, the convoy was intact most of the time, and we reached our homeland safely at 11pm.
My conclusionAll in all .. a very pleasant drive up to KL (and back), a very enriching exchanges with our dear M'sian brother, and I am sure the ladies (wifes and mom) were enjoying themselves with the shopping spree activities Most importantly, the guys (and ladies) have built a deeper level of friendship and we are definitely looking forward for our next GTG, be it at Kallang or Malacca. To us, GTG means more than just a terminology/definition in a veedub dictionary .. it's really a get-together that friends would look forward to.
All in all .. a very pleasant drive up to KL (and back), a very enriching exchanges with our dear M'sian brother, and I am sure the ladies (wifes and mom) were enjoying themselves with the shopping spree activities Most importantly, the guys (and ladies) have built a deeper level of friendship and we are definitely looking forward for our next GTG, be it at Kallang or Malacca. To us, GTG means more than just a terminology/definition in a veedub dictionary .. it's really a get-together that friends would look forward to.
zen online journal 