Sunday, November 11, 2007

The longest drive to Genting ever...

I guess what I'm going to write here may sound frivolous and maybe even `selfish' in the light of the historical Bersih Rally which saw 40,000 took to the street to protest for a free and fair election yesterday afternoon. (Malaysiakini had summarised the events that unfolded at various parts of the city and culminate at Istana Negara.)

But since I wasn't at the parade though I believe it is a good cause and I'm in spirit behind it.. I can only `report' what I personally went through since this is my personal blog after all!

I was STUCK in a HORRENDOUS traffic jam on the way to Genting Highland. It took more than 3 hours to reach the mountain top! You see, I've booked tickets for the musical `Rose, Rose, I Love You' online from Hong Kong as Sat was the only time I was free and not thinking to the `causal effect' of the rally.

Actually I already experienced a jam thanks to over-zealous police that set up road block as early as 7am! I woke up early for a prayer meeting (and was quite happy for an owl like myself managed to do it) only to be stuck at stand-till traffic along the Cheras-Kajang highway!! The prayer meeting only lasts an hour and there was no point to go all the way to Subang after stuck in that 3km jam for more than half an hour.. I ended up helping mom to go marketing instead.. and took a nap in the late morning again.

But that jam was NOTHING compared to what we encountered along Jalan Kuching towards Batu Caves. It was already 5-ish and we were heading out of town. But guess what, it was totally congested along the highway leading to the huge roundabout (Kepong, Ipoh and Kuantan). Even though I was driving an automatic car, it was really tiring.. What would have normally taken just 5-10 mins took us TWO whole hours!! It was just crazy!!

And at that point, shoot me if you want, I blamed it on the darn rally but more so on the police! I actually didn't know what really caused that jam but it seemed to spring from the roundabout which had traffic going into town.. On that roundabout itself, I could have taken a nap and wake up and still not moving an inch!! It's that bad..

But thankfully, we made it for the show just in the nick of time, having grabbed a quick dinner.
Well, it was entertaining and fun and I must say it's a very creative show.. but I really don't know whether it was worth the trauma and hassle of going through all that..

Fortunately I wasn't alone. Or else I probably may end up in tears or yell out in frustrations!

Ok, that's just my personal experience. I'm sure many people also got stuck in a jam for maybe matters more urgent. And although under my breath I was`cursing' the rally then, I must say I'm proud of my fellow Malaysians for standing up and doing something. Like an article I just read on the e-mail, who says the voices only appear online/blogs. I'm sure not all the 40,000 people who took to the streets were SoPo bloggers..

Also, it's all the road blocks and police `security checks' there were causing congestions everywhere! Hmm.. maybe I should've joined the rally and exercise my human rights... it beats just sitting in the car for hours..

Oh well...

No comments: