KL Traffic - KL Gallery #13

KL is notorious for traffic jams, especially around the peak hours. As evening begins, lines of cars queue up at a junction in the heart of KL

Top 20 Photos of 2013 - #8

#8

The more I look at this image the more I love it. I had wanted to snap a picture of the cable car that ascends and descends the slopes of Genting Highlands. Unwittingly I also captured the other modes of transport that operate in getting people up and down Genting Highlands - bus, car, taxi. Genting is famous for hotels, the casino and the theme park, among others, in addition to refreshingly cool temperatures. In this photo you can really get a sense of the incline on this steep and winding road. It is also very dangerous, particularly at night and in wet conditions. Shortly after our visit here, a bus full of people tragically lost control while descending, and fell down a ravine, resulting in a number of fatalities. This photo stands as a reminder of the real perils of the road to Genting Highlands. You can never be too careful.

Lamborghini Diablo

Check out this Lamborghini Diablo sports car right outside my front door! It belongs to the Tengku Mahkota (the Prince of Pahang, son of the Sultan of Pahang). We are friends with the Prince's personal driver and he was having a bite to eat at the food stall while looking after the car. He readily invited me to come and take some photos!

Lamborghini Diablo

Lamborghini Diablo

TM (Tengku Mahkota)'s Lamborghini Diablo. The heat and power coming from the back of the car was amazing! Like standing behind a small aircraft!

Rear corner view of a Lamborghini Diablo

This gentleman posed for a photo with me and the Lamborghini Diablo

How cool is this car?! What is your favourite car?

Kuantan Skies #23

This is part 23 in a series of 26 photographs of the Kuantan Skies taken this year. All but 3 were taken from my window or balcony.

Kuantan Skies #23 - The colours of the sunset overhead reflect onto the idle cars below

Proton Saga FLX

We are back in Kuantan with our new car, a Proton Saga FLX. We've been trying for a long time to buy this car so it's a relief and a very happy moment to finally have it!

Proton is a Malaysian brand car. I've liked the look of this Proton Saga for quite some time now. Above is our first picture with our new car outside the Proton dealership in KL.

We love the exhaust pipe on our Proton Saga. We saw other Proton Sagas around and not all of them have this beautiful exhaust pipe! Maybe we are very lucky?!

Old and new . . .

A few accessories which came with the car . . .

We secured our new car with an immobiliser, making it impossible to start the car without the key. It cost us RM350 and it's a good investment.

This final image shows our battered old Daihatsu Charade in the background, and our new Proton Saga FLX in the foreground. We've come a long way in the last 6 years. It's taken a lot of hard work since starting from scratch in 2006, but now the fruits are showing.

Jerantut

"jalopy" - a battered, old car

"jocund" - merry, cheerful




Jerantut

While my wife was taking her driving lessons, we went with our friend, 'Pakcik Zul' to Jerantut. Pakcik Zul was the taxi driver who was escorting Fidelia to university and back each day when we had first moved to Kuantan.

In the long run, we knew we'd save a mound of money with Fidelia driving than taking a taxi. So off to Jerantut we went - in Pakcik Zul's taxi.

Jerantut is a small town in the middle of Peninsular Malaysia, about 100km from Kuantan and a 90-minute drive.

When we reached a modest car shop constructed of wooden planks and situated by the roadside, we were presented with two quaint cars - an old blue Proton and a black Daihatsu Charade. We examined each car for lengthy spells, but us two young recently-weds didn't really know what exactly we were looking for!

We felt inclined towards the 5th-hand Daihatsu and paid RM5,500 in cash on the spot, slightly expensive but a whole lot cheaper than going for a brand new car.

Pakcik Zul drove the car to Kuantan for us the next day, and in jocund delight we had our first car sitting downstairs outside our window.

Here is my blog post dedicated to our Daihatsu Charade

We still own our Daihatsu Charade today and it continues to get us from 'A' to 'B'. There are, of course, minor problems along the way (we've had all four tyres changed, a temporarily leaking engine, numerous air-con refills, a smashed rear light and a rear-view mirror held to the ceiling by sellotape!) but the jalopy is still very much alive and kicking.

We're glad to have known Pakcik Zul, and his help in taking us to Jerantut to buy our first car is largely appreciated.

What car do you own? What car would you like to own?

A Fallen Tree

This car is a little "branched in", wouldn't you say?

Looking for funny captions to this image. Feel free to amuse me!

Our trusty old Daihatsu Charade car

Our Daihatsu Charade is not exactly photogenic. It is decades old. But it has four wheels (two of which at the rear, are fairly new) and moves. This car has been ours for four years since Fie passed her driving test. We paid RM5,500 for it and considering that price and the duration of time it has been in our use, we got a pretty good deal. The air-cond doesn't work so we just wind down the windows and experience natural fresh air as we cruise along the roads of Kuantan. It does get a little hot and sticky when stuck at a red light but we're not complaining. After all, we were extremely fortunate that we had a friend who helped us find this car in the first place. And we never live in the fear of it being stolen!

In due time, our trusty old car will be replaced with a newer, cooler model, but in these first years of our marriage when money was tight, it has served us well and got us to all the places we have needed to be. So here is a little tribute to our black Daihatsu Charade. A good and faithful servant indeed!

Somehow, this car keeps working!