ROADTRIP!!

This afternoon, after cleaning the room, David told me about this scenic beach his photography friends wrote about. It's supposed to be quite close to KLIA, and I was a little surprised, as KLIA is surrounded by dry land. The place is called Bagan Lalang, Sepang. I Googled it and saw that it faced the Straits of Malacca, which was about halfway to Subang Jaya from our place. David was planning to go and he asked me along.

Shockingly, I said 'Yes'.

Now, those who know me will know that I'm a solid, down-to-earth person. I don't go running off to places I've never been before, especially without the presence of someone who knows the way.

And yet, I said 'Yes'.

5 minutes later and I'm in my car with David, Albert, and Grace, heading off to the great unknown. The only directions we have are some vague sentences from David's friend, C, about looking out for Kompleks Bunga Raya near KLIA, and then driving into a road marked for authorized vehicles only.

We headed off to the direction of KLIA, and along the way we took a few wrong turns. Now, I have to say that I was initially apprehensive about driving as David has a terrible sense of direction which he is oblivious about. He loves to give directions and ask us to trust him, only to lead us to a dead end or an entirely different place. That has happened again today, and I began losing my patience. Fast.

We did find the Kompleks after 15 minutes of driving aimlessly around. Actually, I found the Kompleks after David was proven wrong. We also found the road that was meant for authorized vehicles too and we travelled along that straight road, which ran in parellel to the airport runway.

But we soon came to the end of the road and came upon two roundabouts. There were no clear signages proclaiming "Bagan Lalang", and all it seemed that we were doing was driving around KLIA, not venturing away from it, which was what the satellite image hinted.

David called his friend C again, who was also unsure of the proper roads to take. Worse, C said that the place is next to the long road that we just came out from. Well, there was a body of water there, but it ain't no beach, sister! It was probably a small pond surrounded by oil palm. I made David call another photography friend, T, who knew the place better. He didn't have his number, so he had to call another friend to get T's number. The afternoon sun was glaring at us, and my temper(ature) was flaring up as well.

The moment of my undoing was how he talked with T. Mr. T clearly knew the way, but David just didn't know how to ask. He asked abstract questions like, "Is Bagan Lalang near KLIA?", "Was there a round about?", "How far from KLIA?". When asking for directions, you MUST go to the point - "I'm here at KLIA, where do I head to? If you're coming from the highway which turning do you make?", none of which David bothered to ask even when I asked him to.

He hung up the phone still with no definite idea of where we must go, but he said we'll pass by the Sepang International Circuit, and we must head towards Sepang. That is FAR from where we were now, and that isn't pleasing me at all. I started heading there, going back the same way we came from. David urged me to take an opposite turning, saying that it'll lead back to the same place. I asked him, "Are you sure?" He started his next sentence along the likes of, "Should be..." And I cut him off, "ARE YOU SURE?" The next 15 minutes were silent.

I was really annoyed by his inability to ask for simple directions, and his confidence in taking the road less travelled, which is not something I have faith in after leading us to wrong places, now and in the past. I took the turning his friend T mentioned, and I drove towards Sepang. Soon enough, we saw "Bagan Lalang" on the sign board, and I cooled down, knowing that we were at least on the right road. It was about 20 minutes of trunk road, which meant I could not overtake the lorry in front of me. We passed by the Sepang old town, which reeked of ancient-ness, unlike KLIA and the F1 circuit.

Well, after some winding turns through kampung roads, we reached the beach. I parked my car in a shady spot and quickly went to the nearest toilet to relief myself. David had started to take photos, and I soon joined him. It wasn't a particularly beautiful beach, but David had mentioned that this place had a great view of sunsets and sunrises. Well, it was about 5.00pm and the sun was beginning to lower, but still very sunny. David had the chance to photograph some local kids. They were very eager to pose and smile for the camera. I like taking people shots as well, but I'll let him have this. At any rate, at about 5.30pm we have finished photographing everything barely interesting to shoot, so I suggested we head on to the other end of the beach, which seemed nicer.

So we began heading towards the other end, and as we passed by a warong (Malay eatery), the customers there were gesturing at us wildly by slapping their hand on the other palm that was facing up. I stopped to see what it was all about, and Albert announced it when he peered out the door - my left rear tire has punctured.

The poor, punctured tire

I was shocked, but I quickly moved my car to the side and switched everything off. I surveyed the damage, and it was certainly a big "Ouch!" It appears that the side of the tire has broken, not in the sense of burst apart, but torn anyway. We had no idea as to the cause of the puncture, as it definitely wasn't caused by an intentional cut or stray nail. But we knew what we had to do. This is where David redeemed himself by handling the changing operation almost entirely. The only thing I did was to unscrew the spare tire and bring it out. Otherwise, I played the part of the damsel-in-distress. I called Dad about it and he advised me (more like commanded) to stay within 60 km/h on the journey back. He also asked me to get it changed soon, which I will do tomorrow.

David, hero of the day

Bagan Lalang is a place famous for their 'ikan bakar' (grilled fish). We had originally planned to eat it here, but current circumstances do not favour me. But David still insisted on visiting the other side of the beach, so I dropped him there for about 10 minutes while the rest of us stayed in the car. He returned, and we started our journey back. It was sort of a blessing in disguise that we had to use trunk roads, as it isn't safe to drive 60 km/h on the highway (or freeway, for you Americans).

The journey back was much faster (within 30 minutes). Of course, we did not have interesting detours and wrong turnings to slow us down. We had dinner, and here I am typing this when I should be washing off the salty air from my hair.

Overall, it was an interesting day. I don't blame David for the tire, it wasn't anybody's fault really. It was unusual for me to do unplanned roadtrips, and it came to an ununsual and unplanned end as well. I'm not sure my heart is up to such excitement again, but roadtrips sure make for excellent blogging material. I'm sure my readers will agree that this is the best post since the Wesak Day posts more than two months ago!