Kelawang Drive, 13th February 2011

Some Peugeot kakis were organising a mountain drive along to Kelawang through Hulu Langat. Luckily I was back in KL for the holidays. Ngam ngam can squeeze in. I have never join any kind of drive before. This is a good chance to get to know some ppl who drive similar cars as me. Felt a bit intimidated to join though; as this is my first time driving the Lion for a mountain drive. Not familiar with the handling AND the roads. Might not be able to keep up with the rest. Furthermore, my Lion was having this to speed problem. The others were saying the Pug can go beyond 200kmph with ease. Mine was having difficulty to reach even 180kmph. The sad.....

Anyway, I made it to our meeting point in Ampang. Was not having enough sleep the previous night; celebrating a friend's buttday. I was the 4th person/car to arrive. Two 308 Turbos and a 308 GT was already there. Shortly, a sexy open top 207cc came, and also a 306gti6. The sexiest car was the most underpowered, while the least sexy car was the most powerful car that day. The irony.

We stopped at the kaki bukit of "Look Out Point" in Hulu Langat. I am familiar with this stretch, so its not much of an issue. The powerful gti leads the way while Im at the 2nd spot. After lepaking, we made our move for the warm up drive before the real kelawang drive.

We stopped again at a few places as two more kakis were supposed to join us. We did some mental warm up at the end of the Hulu Langat drive before tackling Kelawang. I have never drove here before. Chamness. I can see a lot of monkeys at the side and middle of the road. Dunno will langgar a few of them or not. This seems to be a rarely used road. Less traffic.

The first part, we couldn't really speed, as there are still spots of residential and commercial areas along the road. Small towns/kampungs actually. After we passed them, the action begins.
It was a fun ride. Not much traffic. Quite a number of corners and bends. And the never-fail-to-impress Lion. Thumbs up.

We stopped by Kelawang for breakfast. Did some ice breaking and chit chat. Friendly guys and girls. Another 308 Turbo and a skillful Satria join us. They missed the rendezvous at Hulu Langat earlier. Soon, we head off towards Lekas, to go back KL.

The ride to Lekas is a bit more challenging as traffic is more. The corners are still there. The overtaking of vehicles are now more dangerous too. I almost make a mistake when trying to overtake another car. Somehow I didnt see the incoming vehicle from the opposite direction. A near miss I can say. Phew!!! Still dont know how I can miss seeing that. I think I was too focused looking further upfront. =_="
Another near miss is when I oversteer at one of the corners. The rear wheel almost hit the grasses/earth at the curb. Oversteering a FD car. Sweat.......

Overall, it was a fun drive. And at least I can learn more about the car characteristic and handling. Another thumbs up. Additional good news is that my Lion can finally break the 200kmph with breeze. Yeah!!! Perhaps from the ECU reset. No wonder I can catch up with the rest. Yay!!!

A Lion's Journey

I have seen interesting and informative blogs on their car. I can extract a lot of information from them. A very big thank you to all of you.
I am trying to log down my own journey, from a very noob perspective, and hopefully can be developed into a more mature past time.

The 308 THP is my very 1st non-national car. Some might say I am wasting money, but the little bit of cumulative joy I gained is what makes me feel alive. Its what living all about.
I am currently away, only able to visit my Lion every now and then. But the time with it, are happy times.

The only downpart is my brother had to bang it because of his driving attitude. The front bumper clip was broken and not fixed since then. It was only weeks after I got the Lion from the warehouse.
The even more sad part is within a week, another major crash to my Lion by the same brother because of the same reason, the driving attitude. The conti tyre burst from the impact and god knows what is the long term effect to the chassis. Both are not unavoidable accidents. That is the frustrating part.

Another bad decision I made was to subscribe to Cars International. A 3 year subscription, so I predict 3 years of frustrations. On the first day itself, the dial/button from the auto-cruise arm fell off. It was never retrieved as I only found out later. WTF!!!!! Luckily it is a rarely used function. But the so very young Lion has already have so many defects due to negligence from other parties other than me. Ugh......
To make things worse, Cars international doesnt really do a good job in washing and detailing of the car. You can find unwashed places all over the Lion. This is the same for all the outlets. I have tried many of them. i guess this is the price to pay for subscribing to a franchise. Should have just gone for any reputable standalone car-wash outlets, while getting hands on once in a while to enhance my detailing knowledge.

Bad things aside. It is a very wonderful car to drive. I used to be content with my previous ride. A car is used to bring you from A to B correct? The trusty Iswara did handle the job perfectly all these years. But the Lion added sheer joy to it.

Money no enough

It seems that the more I earn, the less I save.  =_="
Quite a strange yet common phenomena. Trying hard to overcome it. Haihs.

I have this friend. Whom I believe earn around 5X less than me, yet saves more than me. =_="
Respect!
He is not from a rich family either and yet he never show any pokai symptom almost everyone is showing at around end of the month. Instead, he can have extra for savings and giving monetary assistance to those who need it. He is not even the kedekut type either. He joins me for makan makan, minum minum too.

So where did it went wrong? With me of course.
Gah!!!!
I need to be more like my friend described above. Right now, I find myself affording lesser than before. Everything seems more expensive. Things I used to afford, I cant afford them now!!!! 
Really something is wrong here. =_="

I dont think its the Car.
Haihs.....what went wrong huh?

Pull one out, u get 3 more.

What bloody nonsense!!! I mean the statement at the title.
Often we hear the elders or not-so-wise younger people advising us not to pull out your grey/white hair. They claim if you pull out one, 3 more will magically spurt out like the magic tree from the magic bean. I have always pull them out whenever I have one. Vanity is not really the issue here. Its just that I will feel very uncomfortable whenever one pops out. I have always been able to tell whenever I have one. The uggrrhhhh feeling.

Well, mine only will grow if I have some dilemma, or things troubling my mind. Or whenever I am involve in some deep deep thinking. One of the reason I can tell that I have one, even before I head for the mirror.

Lately.....to my surprised, I grew more grey/white hair than usual. And my neck/shoulder hurts. A sign of pre-stroke for me I guess. In dire need of a relaxation therapy right now.
But then again, am I really under THAT much stress lately? Maybe I am. Or I am just getting old? Hmmm. Mystery huh?

Nevertheless, I need some help in pulling these out. My head are spinning with so many attaching to my skull everyday. Haihs....
My guess for the old saying on pull one out, grow three more thingy...... I think its some golden olden advice in addressing your problems, which causes the white hair, instead of just pulling it out, and ignore the root problem. If you ignore the root problem, then 3 more will spurt out.
Somewhere along that line me guess.

25,000 Rupees

Sob Sob....
They came for collection. Actually I called them over to collect. Dont want the bill to be kept for so long.
25k gone aaaaaaaa.
Sob Sob

Rabbit please be kind to me ya.

I am having a lot of new, and good beginnings in the year 2011. 2010 ended with a sad note just to make way for the happier events to happen. Its a good thing aint it? It certainly is!!!
:)

From all the small things, to all the big things.
Some are still in recovery period though. Certainly paving for better things to come. Not great, but good enough for me to be happy.

There are things which are close to my heart, some close to my touch, others to share with ppl close to me.
Many of these things are things I used to only able to wish for. So its sort of an accomplishment for me whenever I look at them, knowing I fulfilled some of my wishes.

I wonder when is that Tag Heuer is going to be wrapped around my wrist. One of my yet to be accomplish mission.

Selamat Hari Raya Chainese

Chor yat
And my wallet hilang siot.
Ngam ngam withdraw money pulak tu.

Poor liau ni. Need to depends on angpau to survive. Who can give me more leh?
To think of it, I realise its almost the same thing every chor yat.
Sure got some form of monetary losses. Hopefully this one is followed by abundance of positive things.

Like the chainese saying - poh choi dong joi