Saturday, 30th November, 2002 – A rather late breakfast meeting today
due to the relatively short drive this time. Kuala Selangor is not expected to
be more than an hour and a half away. Breakfast was at the spanking new 2-storey
McDonald’s in Sri Damansara. At 9.00am and ample parking space, parking was not
a problem. Kevin and Ghaffur were first to arrive with Sri arriving last at
9.30am. Some decided on breakfast while the rest were content with just coffee,
making sure they do not spoil their appetite for the much sought after seafood
lunch later on.
We
set-off at 9.45am and immediately hit the NSE via the Sungai Buloh interchange.
Kevin led the way to Rawang interchange, which was a mere 10 minutes away. After
a quick stopover at Caltex, it was the beginning of the drive proper. Almost
immediately we hit the back road leading to Batang Berjuntai.
The
route was extremely twisty and narrow. Road condition was mediocre most ways.
Heavy vehicles plying in numbers makes it a little too dusty for our liking.
Thankfully no one was topless; not that there were many to begin with. None of
the Miatas were around with Ghaffur seeing us off in McDonald’s earlier and
Benny / Lynette opting for their Hyundai Coupe. Only Sharon in her
just-out-of-the-showroom Peugeot 260CC was capable of going topless.
Soon after, the twisty route took to a newly built highway which was supreme and
finally a chance to overtake those monstrous lorries. But the joy of the new
highway was short lived as we turned into Ijok where roads were a little bumpy.
Alan in his Toyota MR2, running on 17 inch rims and extremely low profile tyres
must have uttered some obscenities inside! Upon reaching Ijok and turning off to
Kuala Selangor, road conditions improved and by 11.30am were we on the hilltop
of Bukit Malawati.
Daniel (VW Corrado) took over and managed to get every car to line up for the
customary shot while the rest enjoyed the scenery and the cool breeze. At 12pm
Mr Khoo, who was our gracious hosts for the day, greeted us. We were escorted to
a seafood village and had lunch in a restaurant on stilts.
After lunch, Jess decided to ditch Julian, Liz ditched Daniel and Lynette
ditched Benny and headed to the shops to get some fresh seafood produce. Chin
and Candice (mazda MX3) followed, with Sharon and Mr Khoo playing tour guide.
By
2.00pm we decided to call it a day. After thanking Mr Khoo and saying our
goodbyes, Chin led the way thru Kuala Selangor to Ijok where Sharon and Sri
briefly took over the lead. We were in Sungai Buloh by 3.30pm and stopped by MSG
(Malaysian Sheet Glass) and spent 5 minutes waiting for Daniel who had to stop
midway for Liz (who is 7 months pregnant) to whet her craving for fruits.
We
then spent another 15 minutes to reflect the day’s drive. This caused a minor
traffic jam as cars slowed down to catch a glimpse of our beauties. After the
hugs and kisses and promises from Daniel that he will be doing an article in The
CBT (Cars, Bikes and Trucks) and Asian Auto magazine based on this drive, we all
went our separate ways.
Total distance covered was approximately 125 kms.
Next Drive : Malacca
Cars Running were :
Benny & Lynette, Hyundai Coupe (Tail-ender)
Julian & Jess, Fiat Coupe (Photography)
Sri, Hyundai Coupe (Medic)
Daniel & Liz, VW Corrado (Breakdown)
Chin & Candice, Mazda MX3
Alan, Toyota MR2
Sharon, Peugeot 206CC
Kevin, Mazda MX3 (Leader)