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Friday 26 September 2008

The balik kampong drive

As I had expected, my drive to KL yesterday wasn’t much of a problem – traffic wise. However, as I was heading towards the Damansara exit, there were so many lorries on the road.

As planned, immediately after my mother’s appointment at Putrajaya Hospital this morning, we didn’t stop anywhere else; we headed straight to the expressway to balik kampong.

Considering it was a Friday, there were considerably more cars using the expressway, but the drive was smooth nevertheless. I managed to drive at an average of 110 km/h almost throughout the journey. With the exception of one or two Alonso-wannabes, the other drivers on the road were quite disciplined.

Ahhh… lega… no jam even at the Ipoh toll. My balik kampong trip was smooth after all (but if we had waited until later to make a move, we could have been involved in the jam at roads leading out of KL).

Then, we got to the Ipoh Selatan exit.

Alamak… IPOH DAH MULA JAM!!!

To those who have not started their balik kampong journey… drive carefully and stay out of trouble ya!

My office is closed for the whole of next week. I will be pretty busy these next few days but one raya posting coming up on Monday… so look out for my SELOKA HARI RAYA… ;)

13 comments:

Salt N Turmeric said...

Driving towards Perak/Penang memang boleh naik gila esp on weekends & long holidays. What more on festive seasons.

Did i ever tell you tht for my bro's wedding, we all convoy drive to png only to get stuck somewhere in perak? my parents got a bus for the rest of the family & relatives (them incl) and the bus rosak because of the heat. needless to say, they all missed the akad nikah while my bro was late for his own wedding. lol.

Daphne Ling said...

Hey Kak Pi,

Wah! Dah mula jam? Heh. I sure don't miss all these jams...The town I live in is very orang-tua'ish, so no jam wan lar...Lagi releks from Ipoh!

How's Opah's knees? How's the nurse? ;) Oh, and happy Hari Raya!

Unknown said...

Salam akak...

You dah experience traffic jam dah...

Selamat Hari Raya maaf zahir batin kak. Thank you for the unwavering support. Love you loads!.

Ada seloka raya lagi tu...bestnyer!

Pi Bani said...

Farina:
Ahah, pengantin was late for his own wedding, huh? I bet the pengantin perempuan was worried bagai nak gila. Lain kali pengantin kena bertolak one day early and stay overnight... just to be sure tak stuck in the jam.

Pi Bani said...

Daph:
I think what happened was that ramai yang keluar ikut Simpang Pulai to avoid the Ipoh toll - meaning to go north they have to follow Jln Sultan Azlan Shah heading towards Tasek. Jalan tu yang jam gila yesterday...

My mom's knees getting better. Actually can already walk without walking stick although still a bit painful, but she's still using the walking stick to be safe. Even the doctor told her to bring along her walking stick wherever she goes.. for at least 4 months - in case she loses her balance.

Pi Bani said...

RG:
Sis, the fact that you're visiting my blog makes me happy already. That means you are well enough to do some bloghopping.

Selamat hari raya to you too. You takde apa salah kat I pun, so nothing to maafkan. Tapi just in case I ada terkasar bahasa or terkecikkan hati you, (yang sengaja I know tak ada) please please do forgive me. Hope you will have a happy raya with your family.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

for the first time of the year, i'll be parking my wheelchair in the middle of the road without the fear of being run over by a car...NOT!

wishful thinking la. raya tak raya, traffic flow kat kl heavy jugak. cuma tak jam je.

J.T. said...

One thing I don't miss about Malaysia - traffic jam. It is worse just before a festival. But I loved driving into KL during the Hari Raya or CNY week - so quiet. Of course, there was a risk of going hungry because most of the vendors were on holiday! (so go to fast food that week).
A drive that usually took me 1.5 hours to the office was cut down to 45 minutes. woo hoo.

Speaking of balik kampung, there was one year, I made a silly mistake wanting to spend Hari Raya holidays in Melaka. It was just crazy. I could not get a direct bus. So I had to get one to Port Dickson and then wait in PD for 2 hours for another one to Melaka. That too, I was standing for a while until some young boys at the back of the bus removed their bags from the middle seat so that I could sit down. I prayed the bus never made any sudden brake or I would have gone flying right to the front. :D

Selamat Hari Raya, Pi. Hope you have a blessed and peaceful celebration.

By the way, so happy to see Raden Galoh here. That is a good sign that she is well enough to blog hop.

ms hart said...

Kak Pi, tak sabar nak tunggu your seloka!! And ya, ya , ya....bila orang jauh dah balik kampung, kampung ni pulak jaaaaaaaamed!!! Sampai orang kampung pulak takut nak keluar ke bandar!!

Selamat Hari Raya, Kak Pi and maaf zahir batin. Kalau ada blacklist dalam buku 555 tu, mohon cancellah aje ya? ha ha ha

Monster Mom said...

Selamat Hari Raya kak

Pi Bani said...

Kerp:
Apa projek raya nanti? Don't even attempt parking your wheelchair in the middle of the road, okay?


JT:
The only time I thought Malaysian traffic (particularly KL) was okay was when I went to Bangkok and got stuck in their jam!

But yes, festive seasons especially Hari Raya and Chinese New Year, memang jam gila lah during balik kampong time.

Pi Bani said...

Ms Hart:
Tak sabar nak tunggu my seloka? Alaaa... you knowlah my usual pantun style kan... merosakkan bahasa!!!

Anyway, ok lah, kira cancellah blacklist nama you dalam I punya buku 555... tapi lepas raya kena buka buku baru!


Monster Mom:
Selamat hari raya to you too.

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