Tuesday, March 3, 2009

A Long Detour to get to Shah Alam

It was drizzling, left over from an earlier heavy rain. I finished the training and group discussion at about 5:30pm and hit the road some 10 -15 minutes later. About 1/2 km into Jalan Tun Razak (TAR) from Jalan Pinang, the traffic was at stand still, non-moving. Several cars started to make a U-turn. I weighed my decision - to follow suit or stay on. After about 15 minutes, didn't look like it would get any better and it would still be a long crawl once I hit Jalan TAR heading towards Jln Duta. So, I decided to make a turn near Prince Court with my phone GPS turned on as guide in case I made wrong turn. I found my alternative route and head towards Jalan Sultan Ismail. I thot this'll be a shorter and faster route with less play on brake and accelerator since it's gonna be just waiting at traffic light and go.

Well, I was wrong. It was clear traffic from Jalan Pinang to Conlay to Bukit Bintang. But upon reaching the traffic light at the Bukit Bintang - Sultan Ismail intersection, the TRAFFIC-MARE begun! The traffic light, I think had turned greed at least 3 times on my side and I was still slightly three quarter at the cross junction - not really out of Bukit Bintang and not really in Sultan Ismail either. The situation didn't get any better even with cars behind started hitting on the hon - as it it'll the car to move!

I sure had a lot of things accomplished in the car in my bid to go home using my alternative route.

1) Luckily, I was equipped with entertainment ready - got to read few stories on Lydia Teh's Honk if You're Malaysian. Ironically, the chapters that I got to read talked about Malaysia driver!
2) Bored with reading and always have to look up just in case I get to move forward, I started to look around - what are the other drivers doing in a time like this? One guy was nose picking ..gross! and in another car, the lady kind of slump close to the driver, getting cuddly even when there's another passenger behind them. And there's smokers who just continue to smoke. Motorcycle snaking their way through the cars..
3) With the OST from Boys Before Flowers playing on the CD player, I took out the note pad from hotel and started to clock my movement.....

Well, one thing I learn for sure -- don't change route in a bad traffic day. It won't make much different anywhere as long as you're still in KL. It might be worse on the alternative route. I reached home at 9:15pm. Sure beat the 3-hrs stuck on Federal Highway due to rain that I experience once upon a time, years years ago.

No comments:

Post a Comment