Letters from the Equator

LL and I were in Ipoh today for a friend’s wedding. We arrived really late last night and checked into the Heritage hotel, which has not been updated since the 80s, and attended Geekchic’s morning wedding service.

I have to say the service was FAST. I believe we got over it in 1 hour. There was a sermon about communication, then the rites and kissing, and apart from the singing and praying, we were pretty much done in 60 minutes, and on to photo sessions and musing around the church grounds.

SY and JS, I must congratulate the two of you on a wonderful life together. This is from the bottomest of our heartest. And I’m supposed to say this - the food at Tai Thong was really good (esp. the roast piglet).

Although I wanted to indulge in all the Ipoh goodies like the chicken rice and noodles, all I could handle was a take-away cup of Ipoh white coffee. And even so, I managed to spill half of it at a Brother’s car accessories outlet on the way out of Ipoh. Bugger.

I’m just not eating as much as I used to. I’m putting on weight in many places, and it’s not helping me much, so I’m cutting down.

What I haven’t cut down on is my love for the road. The 146 makes cruising down highways at 140kph too addictive. I need some kind of restraint, or I’m going to be paying fines out the wazoo.

I’d like to state here that my transition from a mad driver to a civic-minded one is still making progress. For the record, here are some snapshots of my previous habits now disposed:

• 1997 - almost reversed into a pedestrian while attempting to get out of parking lot
• 1998 - convoyed to Klang with a 1.8L Proton Putra and a 1.7L 146 at an average of 80 miles per hour in a 1963 VW Beetle (no airbags, drum brakes all round)
• 1999 - known to whiz in and out of traffic, tailgating
• 2005 - illegal parking
• 2006 - Failed attempt to sneak into moving lane resulting in a bus ramming into the front right of the car

This has all given way to:

• keeping my distance from the car in front of me
• continuous defensive driving, good use of rear and side windows
• looking left to avoid blind spot collisions
• sharing the road with motorcycles and Kancils
• avoiding road rage
• driving according to passenger needs
• parking legally
• no cop bribing
• use of handsfree

This isn’t about me being nice. I must confess I still get upset with people tailgating me and using their flashlights to “push” me onto the other road. I’ve occasionally responded by pulling to the other side, allowing them to pass, and tailing them all the way home just to “keep them company”.

As much as I want to change the world, I’ll be giving that up too.

Categorized as life, discoveries/travel