Last week I suddenly decided that I needed some time to myself and took a drive in my car to Penang. Leaving Kualal Lumpur, I took the old trunk road out of the city to Tanjung Malim. A long time ago this was called the KL-Ipoh trunk road. From there I decided to get on the North South Highway heading north. I used to do this quite a lot in the 90’s. When the desire struck me, I would throw a few clothes into a bag, load up with film and get into my car with my trusty Nikon FE. When I first started going on these sojourns, I decided that I would not have any particular destination. I would take my car onto the trunk roads out of the city,often heading northward into Perak , only stopping to look for accomodation at nightfall. It was really fun. There was no pressure of reaching a certain town. No hurry. Just the pleasure of driving and photographing the countryside. How I wish life was still that simple.
This time around I had decided i would end up in Penang Island and made a prior booking with a hotel there. This time around I brought along my Nikon D80. I must admit the trip was not as fun and fulfilling as my trips in the 90’s but it’s a “starter”. I hope this will be the first of many unplanned sojourns of the future. No destination, just point my car to an open road and drive aimlessly. I can’t wait for the next drive, but first there are things I need to “fix” but that’s for another blog.
I shall write more on my trip to Penang soon. Took lots of interesting pictures. Here’s the first of many.
The picture was taken close to midday from a scenic point just before entering the tunnel north of Ipoh. The view in the picture is looking back towards Ipoh city. The rather harsh lighting is due to the fact that it was 12.30 p.m when the picture was taken. If you ever find yourself driving north past Ipoh, slowdown just before you reach the tunnel above Jelapang toll plaza and stop here to catch some great views of the Kinta valley. More pictures soon.
