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Came across this on Kah Motor's page. Not a sponsored post btw. Looking at the cost I must say it is pretty steep for a 4D3N to Genting and Malacca. Tempted to ask "Price inclusive of petrol?" 😆 I did a quick check on Genting SkyWorlds Hotel for the 3rd of June (Friday) and it is in the range of SGD 250 onwards per room for one night. I usually book budget ones like First World Hotel. Nevertheless, I see the appeal of such planned road trips for families with young kids. Good initiative by Kah Motor. If you're not a Kah Motor customer, you can rent a car from them at these package rates. To register: https://bit.ly/3ruJKus

Our neighbour in the north is currently facing very serious "water ponding" problem. Planned to drive to MY next week to Yong Peng & Batu Pahat but seem like both places flooded. yahoo news: One dead, 19,000 evacuated in Malaysia floods Floods in Malaysia caused by heavy rains have left a teenager dead and forced authorities to evacuate thousands of people, officials said Wednesday. Some 19,000 people have been relocated to evacuation centres set up in schools in the east coast states of Pahang and Terengganu and Johor in the south, an official and news reports said. A 17-year-old boy who was fishing with his father in Terengganu drowned after being swept away in a swollen river, a state police official said. A Meteorological Department official said river levels continued to rise due to the high tide and water being released from dams, but the body expected rain to ease in the flood-hit areas. "It's still raining today, but we expect the rain to stop by tomorrow," he told AFP. "Then the situation will improve." The department issued an "orange" alert for Pahang and Terengganu on Monday, warning residents to be prepared for a possible evacuation. Floods caused by annual monsoon rains that begin around November are common in the Southeast Asian country. link: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/one-dead-19-000-evacuated-malaysia-floods-173416810.html

I have to admit, I have never actually been on a driving road trip up North before in my (admittedly short) life. So when BMW offered us the chance to drive its new baby, the 1-Series, up to Kuala Lumpur, I was understandably a bit excited. I mean, city driving in Singapore is one thing. But long distance driving on the highways are a different kettle of fish altogether. The day began at BMW's showroom at Alexandra Road. Us journalists, not quite used to early mornings, dragged ourselves to Performance Motors, where we were given a briefing and breakfast to prep us for the trip. After the run-through, we were finally introduced to the fleet of eight 1-Series cars, neatly split into four each of the 116i Urban Line (in blue) and 118i Sport Line (Red) And then we were off... We aimed towards the Tuas Second Link, and before long, we had cleared Immigration, and were now on Malaysian soil. The convoy made its way through Skudai and Pedas/Linggi, with the first part of the trip consisting of mostly highway driving. This enabled us to experience the true efficiency of the new 1-Series, in its Eco Pro mode, designed to maximise BMW's EfficientDynamics philosophy. After about three hours of driving, the group stopped over at Port Dickson for lunch, to fuel up the hungry human tanks. The cars though were barely at half tank, with more than enough to complete the second part of the trip. After lunch, the convoy continued on its way, but this time, the 'Dynamic' part of BMW's EfficientDynamics were put to the test. The route from Port Dickson to Kuala Lumpur was driven through those notorious single lane Malaysian back roads, and in those challenging narrow winding corners, the 1-Series acquited itself well, tackling nearly everything that was thrown its way (including the usual tropical torrential shower, and a rather rude dump truck). We arrived at our hotel in KL in the evening, ready for a nice rest and dinner, and to give both us and the cars the chance to recharge and top up before the journey back. The drive back was similar, with the route in reverse, and just like that, my first long distance driving trip in Malaysia was done. I must say, it was quite an experience. Driving for such a long time over mostly monotonous roads requires quite a lot of concentration. But at the same time, it allows you to really stretch your machines, something which you can't really do in tiny Singapore. Would I do it again? Most definitely. But one thing I learnt is that preparation is vital. It's almost like running a marathon. You can't just decide to go do it. You have to plan and prepare for it. As for the 1-Series, I came away impressed. Driving wise, it coped well with the conditions, and in the corners, it actually felt a bit fun. I guess that's the BMW Experience for you. Special thanks to BMW Asia for the trip and pictures.

Now if you're an avid motorist and love different sorts of motoring experiences then taking your car on a ferry ride is something you should do. On a recent trip to Penang I did just that. This is a motoring experience that allows you to drive on a large boat, step out of the car, take in that salty sea breeze with a slight tinge of diesel from the ferry's engine. You can do this as soon as the ferry is on the move and you get to admire the scenery around you from a slightly different perspective and then you drive off when you reach the other side. The Penang Ferry Service is the oldest operating ferry service in Malaysia. The ferry services first began operation in 1920, under the management of a Chinese company. The chap who owned the company must have been one of those who could afford those beautifully designed bungalows on Gurney Drive. But today it is jointly operated by the Penang Port Commission (PPC) and Penang Port Sdn Bhd. The ferry service connects Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal in Butterworth to Raja Tun Uda ferry terminal at Weld Quay in George Town on Penang Island. Now taking the also scenic Penang Bridge would actually save you 0.70sen as the toll charges for the bridge comes up to RM7.00 only. You pay the toll on the mainland side of Seberang Prai and you do not have to pay if you leave the island. This is the same with ferry service. It is only when you head towards Georgetown when you have to fork out RM7.70. Or course, what is 0.70sen when you get to experience something slightly different? On the ferry you get to take a short breather and just observe the people who took the ferry with you as well as exploring the ferry itself, looking at the structure of the ferry with its steel framework, bolts and bars that make up its construction. You get to look closely at another type of engineering other than looking at cars and other forms of motoring. You also get to see the waves breaking as the ferry travels on the water and admiring the surrounding. Taking the Penang bridge would be like taking the second link between Malaysia and Singapore, albeit slightly longer and with a suspension bridge elevated section in the middle of the Penang bridge. To say that it is faster than the ferry is subjective as it depends on the time of day and where you wish to go. The bridge enters the island at Gelugor whereas the ferry takes you right into Georgetown and the ferry services are pretty efficient as it takes on average slightly less than half an hour between the two points per trip during peak traffic times. The ferries at those times just embark and disembark passengers and cars doing many round trips per day with clockwork precision. At peak hours where the bridge is pretty choked with traffic it may take a good half an hour to reach Georgetown proper. The experience was good one as it has been years since I took the ferry in Penang and it only took slightly more than thirty minutes of waiting, driving on the ferry, the ferry trip itself and then driving off at Butterworth. This, on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It is of my opinion that the ferry ride in Penang is one motoring experience that any motoring enthusiast living in this region should experience for themselves. If you intend on driving to Penang and if you have not taken the ferry before you should do so. A Ferry ride is a motoring experience that a motorhead should experience.

I made a short trip with the family up north to Penang quite recently as we had a wedding to attend in Butterworth. The fun thing about Penang is that it is a nice mix of old and new. There are old buildings located almost everywhere in the island city of Georgetown and it has that slightly colonial feeling if you spend some time driving through its streets. The hotel where we stayed was a typical highrise building but right in front it was a Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food restaurant that was housed in a colonial style mansion that had been well preserved. I presumed that the mansion would have been built sometime in the 1930s or the 1940s and it still looks majestic, if you ignored that large Colonel Sanders KFC logo upfront. Even the buildings from the 1950s to the 1960s have a certain flair to it. Being another island city, there could be some similarities between Georgetown and Singapore city, but with less modern development like highways and wider roads of course. Everything is narrower and there are many small streets for an out of towner to explore, with a car, bike or by.... walking (the horror!). -Gurney Drive - a mansion on Gurney Drive For another example of old meets new one should go over the Gurney Drive or the roads around the area. We have bungalows, built by the Towkays of days gone by, situated right beside a highrise condominium or two. Somehow development has slowly transformed a quiet residential road into a bustling F&B outlet, hotel and condominium filled street. But I somehow have great respect to those individuals or families who are still holding out their family homes around this area instead of succumbing to the obscene amount of money that the sale of the land would bring them. -the night market at Batu Feringgi Of course, I was there on a weekend and the traffic on a Sunday morning was free from any sort of jams . This meant that I had time to soak in the overall experience even more. Oh yeah, the food was good and there are other things to do like frequent the night market located at Batu Feringgi. This is where you find all those tee-shirts, bags, shoes, DVDs and watches like in most large night markets in the region. Of course if you want original branded stuff, this isn't the place to go. This place is for everything else. Another good thing about Penang is the food. I don't have to tell you readers out there about Penang food as you can see, read or hear about Penang Nasi Kandar, Penang Char Koay Teow, Pasembor and a few other specific food. You could try the stalls at Gurney Drive from the evenings or the thousands of seafood restaurants that litter the island and those Nasi Kandar shops and stalls around the Chowrasta Bazaar market and Chulia Street. Amazing food, but it is still sold at a reasonable price. Unless you really pig out that is. Penang is a good seven to eight hours drive from the Causeway, or faster if you have the proper car and aren't bothered about those pesky speed traps. A trip from Johor right up to Penang is a fabulous experience. The North-South Highway is a little dull and tedious from Johor to Seremban, busy from Seremban to Kuala Lumpur. It gets better from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh, where it passes the limestone hills which is nice to look at and when you pass Ipoh the highway becomes challenging. Uphill through the Menora Tunnel and down part of the Titiwangsa mountain range. This stretch is a fabulous drive with high speed sweeping corners coupled with a majestic view of the surrounding. Pass Taiping the highway gets bumpy due to the soft ground. This also makes a good test on your car's suspension and before you know it, you're in Penang. But good road trips are seldom short. Of course to some it may not be as long as a trip to Hatyai or Phuket in Thailand (especially to some bikers I happen to know). The thing is that while people say that it is the experience during the trip that is important in motoring, there is sometimes equal satisfaction if the destination you arrived at is all that it's worked up to be. And Penang is such a place.