Picafrnz trips

Segamat @ 21 Jul 07

2007-07-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

This was a trip that was almost cancelled. There were too many options with who coming later, who meeting where, who joining us later etc.. that I had felt that the trip was quite impossible. But PFs are full of surprises, and last minute, an emergency meeting was called at Kallang Mac. It was then unanimously decided that ALL would meet at 6.30am, Woodlands swimming pool. And the plan to was follow our Green Devil to Durian Land aka Segamat.

So, early the next day, all turned up. Black was a little late. But that wasn't a problem as the custom was smooth as silk. A very stress free experience to cruise through the custom. We made a turn, changed some money, and we were on the way to the fuel stop ie Breakfast.

I brought them to the "nice" place that I had promised over at Molek. All were quite delighted with the nice ambience and the good spread of food. After some chit chat and phototaking, we headed up to Tangkat at around 8.30am.

The way to the highway, was quite a convoluted one. I had to head back to the main kota tinggi way and to make an u-turn into the slip road to the NSH. But the U-turn was not allowed and I had to turn right into some small roads. I toyed around with my GPS *ahem* for this route, and managed to guide the whole convey through dirty muddy road kumpung roads just outside the highway. It was almost magical.

Drive up
Reaching TangKat

Green led the convoy of 7 cars up North at breakspeed and we reached Tangkat in a very good time of around 11am. However, it started to rain quite heavily and we hung around the small town, browsing through the stores selling cloth and other amenities. Some people got hungry (thot they just ate?) and we decided to have lunch there and then since with the rain, we couldn't head for the Durians just yet.

In TangKat
Tangkat fearsome security force

TangKat Line Dancers

In the Hong Kong Roast eating place

Outside the Hong Kong Roast eating place

Authentic Chinese Clan

Tangkat KFC

Around town
Durians at a Fruit shop

Giant Pineapple

Cloth shop

Katek Fire Hydrant (For short firemen)

View of Street with Mount Ophir at the backdrop (Gunung Ledang)

Tangkat version

Pica Frnz Private Parking Lot

We lunched mainly at a hong kong roast shop, while Green and family did their at the local KFC. The food wasn't too bad, and was a hearty meal. Around 1pm, the weather turned for the better, and we decided to go for the main course, Durians.

Green led the way back towards the highway, scanning through all the roadside durian stalls. But the one he was looking for was closed. He made a 1.5 point turn , and headed back the road to Tangkat. Midway, the whole convoy stopped abruptly in an attempt to make a right turn into a Durian plantation. The stopping was rather sudden, and as I was the tail man, I saw the incoming MY car slammed his brakes and skidded with a loud screeching sound towards me. Argh...my heart skipped a beat. The car behind him also did the same. But both slided a bit on the road without hitting any metal. Close shave! The irate driver filtered out and blared his horn at us.

At the Durian Plantation

I.WANT.MY.DURIAN!

Durian Plantation Pia Kia..Don't park properly, I scratch your car

Who prettier?

Quick! Let's go one corner to eat

When the whole team was safely in the plantation, it was time to feast. For some unlucky few, so were the mozzies. (not sure if got dengue or not?) The durians were ordered and open one after the other. Some were good, some were not that great. But overall, it was quite enjoyable. The man and wife team were quite friendly and chit chatted with us while we were enjoying their produce.

After having our fill. We next plan where to go. Our Yellow wanted to meet us back in JB in the evening for dinner. Through some miscomunications, we had thot to head for Moffiz. But since we were already here, we decided to visit the legendary Mt Ophir, which was just around the corner.

7 Pica convoy to Ledang

At Gunung Ledang
The Ledang acrobatic team

The audience

Out of the way...arrrggghhhh...

He was the fattest...and the Landing...splashiest

Hey, is that a dengue Mosquito?

Hmm...this angle nice. will send this to National Geographic

Ledang Terrorist Hideout

Resort

Ledang shopping

Ice Mountain

Green again led the way, and very soon, a large and tall mountain loomed before us. However, the place had been quite commercialized, and there were quite a bit of activities there. There was a bunch of young boys making a leap of faith into the shallow waterfall stream. It was good to see young free spirited boys enjoying themselves.

Serious Accident ont the other way

Around 4+pm, we made a move to head back to JB to rendezvous with Yellow. The speed on the way back was very fast. So much so that some of us had difficulties to catch up. Average speed was like 130km/h. Furthermore, with such a long convoy, it was hard to maintain rank and order. I thot it was quite foolish to take such a risk, especially since we were not familiar with the traffic polic activity around here. On the way, we saw an accident of a long container truck lying across the entire E2 highway on the other direction. The whole highway was locked into a massive jam.

Vicky at Moffiz

Moffiz

We touched down at Moffiz at around 7.15pm. Very good time. But alas, Yellow as waiting for us at Jusco instead. Darn. Anyway, it was a good chance for the newbies amongst us to look for accessories and parts.

Around 8+pm, we headed to Jusco to join up with Yellow team. Surprisingly, Red and Green left us without biding goodbye, leaving our poor Dark Blue to continue the saga with us. Road up to Jusco was pretty bad, and we reached Jusco with some difficulites. We splitted due to the heavy traffic, and my HP just died after sending an SOS to Black. Luckily Black got the instruction and managed to meet us at the Jusco Parking lot.

We had dinner at Kenny's and after that, some shopping time for the ladies. At 11pm, some of us still didn't have enough of the shopping and wanted to continue till 12am. Ok then, it was only Black and I to head back to Sin via 2nd Link. Little ducklings all grown up. I left Sin this morning with 6, and went home with 1.

It had been quite a tiring trip, spanning 2 days in the process. (I returned after 12am). But I was glad that the turnout was so good for a distance so far. The lure of Durian , a powerful thing.

Irene's secret friend secretly following us to Tangkat.

Small Durian Party @ 7 July 2007

2007-07-07T06:26:00.000-07:00

Some of us were eager for fish soup at Semb Hill this Sat. In fact, this was to be like the biggest turnout ever. The 2 new girls were quite kaypoh and wanted to join us for the fishsoup that we kept talking about. Andrew and Elyn also dashed all the way for the 500 mile journey to join us in this strange PF ritual. The plan was to proceed later to Woodgrove to get our Durian Fix. But Vicky, Gary and Irene had some prior appointment and would be missing it.

Vicky "showed off" her poor scratched rims. But most of us thought it was quite alright. (Wait till it happens to us!). She got some sand paper to do some carpentry work to reduce the damaged look. Her BF would be in for some DIY duties.

We were a tad early for the Durians and had to do some waiting. It was originally slated for 1.30pm, but due to the rain and the Jam and falling killer branches, it would be at 2pm. It was interesting to see the Lorry load of pricky fruit arriving. The stall was a popular one and the minute the Durians were unloaded, it immediately sprang into business.

We duly got our styrofoam boxes of the addictive yellow stuff and proceeded to my home for the Party. All agreed that the Durians were good stuff and eagerly tucked into the succulent flesh. We ate till we all got too much of it, that there were quite a handful left that nobody wanted to touch. Talk about too much of a good thing.

The guys had fun with Burnout3 in the hope of burning some durian fats, and did some destructive driving. Hopefully on the way back, they could remember not to drive like what they did. Already Vicky scratching the rims was just a heart pain affair.

The fish soupers

Strange posters...Shermaine and Shan were here.

The "long" queue

I had never seen so much Durians in my life.

Burnout!

Mango Trip @ 17 Jun 2007

2007-06-17T23:16:00.000-07:00

Kungfu Masters (TESTING)

As per tradition, a short writeup on the trip.

Day started later than usual. Being a Sunday, we could afford to take our time to strut slowly across the causeway. At 7.30am, the causeway was fairly jammed at the Singapore side. But after clearing it, it was smooth sailing all the way. Weather this morning was a little under, but it soon cleared up along the way. Actually, it turned out that the whole day was quite cool and pleasant.

We did a "compulsory" breakfast at Danga Bay at Vicky's request. However, there wasn't much to eat and everyone dug in into some pretty standard fare of Nasi Lemak. After filling our stomachs, we headed onwards to our first stop, Desaru Beach.

But one nitty gritty thing to settle first. Some of us had to change money. Luckily enroute, we had to past by Sentosa. There were shops aplenty there, and we came across a shop there opened early for the likes of us.

By then, it was already 9.30am. We had wasted quite a fair bit of the morning. By the time we reached the beach, it was already like 11am. The water there looked cool and inviting. P2 wanted to dive headlong into the sea, and had to be restrained with substantial force from doing so. We spent some time wading along the edge of the beach and generally had fun . Even though it was the late morning, the sky was overcasted and not hot at all.

After washing up and all, it was already 12pm. Naturally, it was food time, and we headed to Sg Renggit for some chow. Like we did the last time, we ate at the Lucky Restoran. But today, not too lucky, as the restoran was quite crowded. I think we waited like half an hour for the food to arrive. By then, anything would taste good. GG joined us here mid way .

By the time we finished, it was already 2.30pm. Goodness, not much time left. We had to cut short all the extraneous activities and just go for the important sights. The Ostrich farm was just a short 5 mins drive away. For RM8, it was a worthwhile experience. Certainly, we came out much wiser to the life cycle of a humble Ostrich.

Next, it was onwards to the fruit farm. (The grand purpose of the trip this time). Doubtless, it was Mangoes session alright. There were racks upon racks of mangoey smelling green thing. We the aunties and uncles were buying it by the kilos. Most definitely, the load on the car was much heavier than when we arrived.

At around 5pm, we started to head back towards Sin. QG had to be back by 7pm for some classes. Unfortunately, traffic was quite heavy today and we were quite delayed. At one point, GG got lost. With the help of my GPS *ahem*, I located him at one corner eating ice cream. Get back here, I commanded. Yes sir, he replied, and soon was galloping in the distance towards us. Pica7 shed a tear at the sight of a long lost brother coming back to the fold. *play sad music here*.

I think we touched down in Sin around 7.10pm. Sorry that QG had to be late for Whatever. The next meet, I will buy him "Anything" for his "Whatever". Thanks to RT&S for helping to lead the flocks. They weren't feeling too well but yet still tried hard to join us. Don't worry about GNH, I would be back next week for servicing. (and more mangoes). How many kilos you want?

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=3842#72798

Anniversary @ 19 May 2007

2007-05-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

We met at Bukit Timah Hawker for a makan session. The anniversary was hushed hushed in the forum due to some of us not wanting Orange to join. Eric was finally meant to met Andrew and Elyn today, but turned out that they would come later. Eric unfortunately had to go back to work. So, it was a missed opportunity again.

Turnout was quite good with almost all of us, except for our Tek, GG and Su and Isham. Su seemed to have some difficulties with transport as Isham was away at Sentosa for an event. Gary was about to pick her, but her son fell sick and couldn't make it.

After our pleasant dinner, we moved on to Little guiLing for a get together place. Andrew and Elyn + P2 joined us later at our cake cutting there. It had been ages that I had been here, and it was nice to visit again. The place was rather dark and we hobbled under a cave like shelter. Water was very calm and looked tempting. Someone on a bicycle was going around fishing.

We were happy to have Shermaine joined us this round, and we officially made her a member there and then. She was quite surprised and took to our group very well. We all teased her about leaping over the water to demostrate some of her kung fu prowess.

We stayed till late and P2 was getting tired. Andrew and Elyn had to leave. The rest were stil full of energy and suggested to go Mac at West Coast. We hung around there for awhile, but XM was getting quite edgy due to her tiredness. After some drinks and kopi, as well as a few rounds of my Dopod golf games, we went home after an ev.
entful evening.

Secret Spot #2 @ 22 Apr 2007

2007-04-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Great to finally meet Vicky and Melody. Hope you all had fun at the Secret Spot and wasn't too shock in meeting the rojak people of the PFs. I didn't bring my trusty camera to take any pics, so will need to wait for Pica7 and RedTide7 to upload them.

Please put them here.

But meanwhile, I have some pics from my previous trip. Just to share with the others in the forum. See if you can see the birds and the bees.

Pengerang @ 18 Mar 2007

2007-03-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

Last minute, speed and 7 couldn't make it and it ended up with only 3 cars. But nevertheless, we took off around 7+am and headed for JB. Traffic was smooth and we cleared the custom and decided to do a big breakfast at Carrefour. We had a hearty meal and had a good time catching up with every other.

8+am, weather was overcast. And it stayed that way, which was kind of nice. Mr Sun only came out after lunch. We drove up to Kota tinggi and turned out towards Desaru. Halfway there, I past by the fruit farm and decided to detour for an early look.

Farm was quite empty, the helpers were all too ha$p$py to see us. However, from the outside, we couldn't see much. There was an entrance fee to be paid to get the tour treatment. We ended up just shopping around the souvenior shop for some goodies. Mangoes were not in season, and nothing much worth buying, just some tidbits.

From there, it was just a 10 mins down the road to Desaru. Reaching there, the sea was really clean, nice and bluish. Lots of people were already there, swimming, and even a duo doing fishing from the beach. Shan22's boy couldn't wait to dash into the water. We spent like about an hour there swiming and kicking sand into people's face.

Moving out from there, it was already near to lunch. We thought it might be better to do the lobster lunch there and then. Driving up to Sg Renggit, we stopped by Redtide's fav shop and had a hearty lobster meal in various style.

After filling our stomachs, we drove further to check out the resort that red was talking about. It was quite a nice (though quiet) place. Good for some r&r. there was an interesting small fishing platform at about 100m into the sea. Looked like guest can take a boat out to fish from there.

Next, we stopped by redtide's some sort of uncle's place and had an interesting visit to an authentic fisherman kind of house. The backyard was a kelong type of platform out into the sea. Very windy and nice view of the ocean. Mahjong was possible here and it would be an ideal setting. Nothing like losing money in a scenic environment. We were shown various keepsake of interest, like a shark teeth skeleton which was caught many years ago, real bird nest and so on. Also, there was a arapaima and we were treated with a demo of how arapaima would feed on a dead fish. The xtreme power of the fish taking the dead fish out of the uncle's hand gave everyone a shock. It was really something. No one dared to stand near the well after that.

Next, was on to ostrich farm. On the way, I almost ran into a dog. Dog was standing on the side of the road. I gave a tap on my horn to get his attention. But to my surprise, after seeing my car, he dashed across the road. I did a quick swerve to the right and barely just missed him. From the rear mirror, he looked alright. But I think I scuff him a little, maybe on the ears or something.

Reaching the farm, from the outside, farm was quite misleading and we sort of couldn't find it when we were just outside of the entrance. The workers were kind of amused that we just drove past them. But the farm itself was really interesting and we were treated to be pecked by ostriches, feeding them, even sitting on them and also seen how the animal behave while doing it courtship dance and such. The egg itself, a human could stand on it and it would take his weight. Really was an eye opener. We were treated to the grand tour by a nice uncle as it wasn't crowded. The uncle really knew his birds and we could see his love for them. There was also this very naughty looking monkey, well, just monkeying around, and entertain us with all its antics. The time was getting late, and we missed running out to Sebana cove for good coffee. Instead, we headed straight to Jusco for dinner and some simple shopping and then back to brave the causeway jam. But surprisingly, the jam wasn't too bad, and I think we all cleared the causeway in roughly 45 mins.

All in all, a very good and informative trip. Kind of like a school excursion. Thanks to redtide for knowing the place so well. We certainly managed to cram quite a few activities in a short time.

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=3212#52487

Lovey Dovey (TESTING with <img src="...">)

JB Shopping @ 14 Jan 07

2007-01-14T23:10:00.000-08:00

The day started out early at 7am, as we had to meet to avoid woodlands jam. Later we found out that it was probably not necessary. Custom traffic was very smooth and no problem crossing the bridge at all. Weather was fine (no rain), although it was a tad gloomy with the darkening skies. This was Cdder first overseas outing with us, and we were glad to have him with us, together with his whole family. The eventual turnout was 5 cars, blue diamond, cobalt, white, black, silver. Tek being the lazy sort would crawl out of bed later to and meet us at Moffiz later. This time round, we headed for Mac at Carrefour to have our breakfast, instead of the usual Danga Bay. Mac here is cheaper than in Singapore and tasted just as good. After filling our stomachs, we took some "pichers" of the cars at the carpark and headed down to Moffiz. We were too early for Moffiz but the Giant there was already open. Good, so we sat off to scratch our shopping itch and shopped around Giant for some bargains. Moffiz opened at 10am and I got my rain visor, and Jacky did his wiring for his back speakers.

Since Jacky was taking some time for the installation, I led the rest to Carrefour for more shopping rather than wait for him. There was an interesting pet shop there carrying scorpions, gecko, cats, star tortoises etc etc...Shopping there was rather quick and Jacky rejoined us around 12.30pm. We decided to head somewhere else for lunch as there wasn't much to eat there.

This time round, I brought them to the GIANT at PLENTONG . It was quite a busy place with many shops around, although not the upmarket ones that you find at Jusco. We had a good lunch together before everyone splited for more shopping till 3.30pm. This was where you could find a poorly run pet food with a skinny money in a cage. The arapaima was an exhibit at the cetnre of the mall. Come 3.3pm, Cdder and Tek had to move off and I led them back to the Carrefour road and we parted ways. At the junction before, Tek mistook my hand signals for "follow me" as "drive like mad and get out of here on your own"...and promptly drove off the wrong way. The last I know, I think he was headed for Russia. (Tek, if you are reading, drop us a note to let us know how you are doing in Russia). I couldn't do anything but to see him gallop into the distance over the horizon. He didn't have roaming, so no way to contact him except by telepathy...but he didn't have the telepathic power like me. Haz.

http://202.172.177.69/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=2797

Kukup @ 10 Dec 2006

2006-12-10T23:06:00.000-08:00

We are back. (obviously) For what I thot should be an ez going trip and something that should end mid afternoon, today had been certainly an energy sapping, "make your leg in need of a massage" day. I think partly due to the HOT sizzling weather (at kukup), and also the demands on our leg power for the walkabout. Some people were rather weak in that department and kept complaining about tiring and want to faint and cannot walk. Hng.

We started around 7:15AM, meeting at our standard meetup point. Jane reported sick and Shan couldn't make it as well. So, it was left with four of us to hit the road. GG was a little late, and when he arrived, we admired his new shiny rims and sped off to the custom without much of a Jam. The causeway was sort of jam at the earlier stretch, but that was due to buses blocking the roads, making the way to the checkpoint effectively on 2 lanes. But passing that point (of the butt of the blocking bus), it was quite fast as the queues were short.

We did our usual breakfast at Danga Bay, stuffing ourselves on Nasi Lemak. GG had a special menu that he tapaoed from Singapore. We all "WAH" and thought in our hearts that the next trip, will get him to tapao for us as well. This is GG first overseas outing with us, and he brought along his other better half of his ghost. We did some rounds of intro and a little chit chat.

We reached Kukup around 10+am very smoothly but the weather at this time was scorching hot. I was tempted to strip to my trunks but with the ghosts around, better not. Didn't want them to see my Dragon tatto on my back. First thing to do was to do the visit to fish farm/National Park thingy. Boat came and ferried us to the National Park. From there, we had to pay RM10 for each adult, and RM5 for children. Since our "act like Malaysian" attempt was not successful, no discount for us.

From the entrance, it was a 600m walk down the boardwalk through the mangrove. First, we walked through the suspension bridge and everyone had to walk the plank, "captain jack sparrow" style. From there , there were various stops for observation of some silly crabs and telescopic snails (not kidding), mud slinging skippers and motherly monkeys. Reaching the end was an observation post. But some people didn't take their tongkat ali and couldn't make it climbing up the 5 floors of the tower. From there, the view as airy and nice, although, it was mostly views of tree tops and more tree tops in various shades of green.

After that, back to the jetty to wait for the boat to head for the fish farm. Not sure why, but today seemed like school holiday and the place was very packed. (hey, it IS school holidays...). So the boat was like 5x overloaded and we had to hang on to the front railings, with the salty sea water spraying on to our faces, alla titanic style. At the fish farm, due to the crowd, the tour was rather short and uninspiring. The archer fishes were in a bad mood and didn't want to do "kill" any dried ikan bilis on the planks.. Some more showing of a dog shark, king crab, spider crab, grouper etc.. and then back to the boat to Kukup town. GG by then was famished and we went for a simple seafood lunch at the restaurant there. We all did some guessing on the cost of the lunch and to my surprise, it was quite cheap. around RM80 for about 10 of us.

It was then shopping time and we picked up quite a bit of kukup goodies and munchies and also tried the famous Kukup Jelly, free gift from 7. After some rest, we decided to head for Tanjong Piai. Although I had not driven there before, the way was quite simple from the road signs. The road started to be more uneven, pot holey and less maintained and we drove past some huge banana plantation. Boy, I am sure that this place will be very spooky at night. (night trip here anyone?)

Reaching Tanjong Piai, there was carpark fee of RM2. Mrs cat bought tickets for all with her fluent malay and we managed to get by by paying only RM5 for each adults, the fare for Malaysians. (Non Malaysians should have to pay RM10). We took some pics of the large rock and proceeded in to walk down the jetty. The place here was rather breezy and so the heat wasn't so bad. At te end of the Jetty, we saw a banded sea snake waving at us. After some rest for our legs, we walked the rest of te boardwalk to the true southernest point. The park had erected a giant globe to mark the location. GG did some checking with his GPS device and nodded his head in approval. From that place, we could actually see Singapore Tuas side, with all the flame spewing pollution pipes from the industrial area. My phone went a little hay wire and kept receiving promo messages from Indonesia and Starhub. We walked back to the .Info counter, had a rest and toilet break. A naughtly monkey came by and frighten the hell of anyone. I thought of using my Kung Fu but better not. Maybe Monkey got flu...I didn't want to be the first to get Monkey flu.

Moving out, we headed for Perling to meet up with Vita for dinner. The way back was quite tricky and I almost got lost. Good thing that GG had a good memory and was able to tell that we were going the wrong way. After some bad-tracking, we found our way back to the road to JB. The weather towards JB suddenly looked very dark with lightning flashes and all. True enough, it began to rain shortly and it was to continue until quite a heavy downpour. The sudden cool weather was quite a respite from the heat, but driving became more difficult and we had to drive slowly to perling amidst all the heavier traffic and splashing flood waters.

Luckily we managed to get to Perling unharmed (hey, I am raincat you know) but arrived there quite late. Poor vita had been waiting like 2 hours. We met up and went for a better dinner at a posh looking restaurant. Food was quite delectable and we had a good meal with Vita's mother who was there with us. After that, some shopping at Perling Mall and gu ni hoon and off we go to head back to Singapore.

But strangely, the way back was rather jammed today, even via 2nd link. The queue was quite long at the malaysian custom and then after that, at the Singapore custom. Heard that Vita got into a slight accident at the malaysian end, but not sure what happened as we were not together anymore. Hopefully it wasn't anything serious.

So, quite a good eventful trip. Too bad quite a few of you guys missed it. No chance for fishing, but Tanjong Piai seemed to allow people to fish. (Saw someone with a fishing rod). Since the seafood was quite cheap, we might be back there again. After we all recovered from our aching leg muscles.

PF: Small grp trip to Genting @ 19 Nov 2006

2006-11-19T23:01:00.000-08:00

Well, we are back alive and kicking. The trip started well, and we moved off early in the morning around 7am. Checkpoint was smooth and fast and we were at Danga for some "wake me up coffee". Unfortunately, no food stalls were open (dunno why), just a lone drinks stall. We filled up our bladders and moved out to join into the NSH via skudai. Not a bad idea, as we only need to hit 2 tolls from that direction. (total of RM41.+). We only stopped once for food and headed up the rest of the NSH in one go.

I had thought that it was going to be a brainless ride all the way till the end of the NSH. But I was wrong. Pica7 car encountered a dramatic tire burst before Ayer Keroh. Luckily I was able to make out his SOS smoke signal behind and stopped before I got too far away. A malaysian car stopped behind thinking to rob 7 and Speed but seeing my macho built running to their direction, they sped off to look for more vulnerable old helpless woman target. (keke...just kidding. I think they stopped to see if they could help).

We quickly flipped open our "DUMMIES GUIDE to tire changing" instruction book and proceeded with the 56 steps on tire changing. In a brief 10 minutes, broken tire was replaced with spare tire and we moved off to continue the journey. But Pica7 was worried sick that his other tires may not make it.

Luckily for us, after coming out of Sungai Besi Toll, we past by a series of tire shops. We quickly filtered out for Pica7 to change his whole set of tires for an indecent sum of money that could not be mentioned here. I was sure that he got chopped, but hey, what to do? He has a "chop me" face... (die, going to get humtum by Speed again...)

From that point, we headed up to Genting quite smoothly. My little Pica was feeling the load of the steep slopes and I had to downshift my gears and engage overdrive (turning off the aircon), to just crawl up the hilly incline. But it was quite achieveable and Pica did manage to reach the very top without any overheating or "tire burst" problems (like someone else). Most of the uphill climb was on 2nd gear and on one occasion, I had to almost stop to down shift to 1st gear. We reached Genting at about 4pm. (including all the time to change tires, and going to the workshop).

We had a good time at Genting, trying all manners of machineries to toss us here and there. Most of the rides had long queues, and we spent most of the time queueing and admiring the scenery of the back of someone's head. None of us gambled, so it was mainly shop, eat, play...in whichever sequence that our kids dictated. We met up with Speed's mother (who owns Genting), and had a good sumptuous dinner with her.

The trip back was quite uneventful, except that on the downhill, I was following behind this Sin red plated car and he was stepping on the brakes all the time. I could smell the burning smell of his brakes. I was sure that his brakes would be chow tar by now and would need replacing.

We took the wrong way back and had to cut across KL just to link to the start of the NSH. There was a junction to go to Karak or KL, and we took the KL one. Traffic was very bad, and the road signs, quite confusing. But we were lucky, and managed to find the start of the expressway after 2 hours down from Genting. We had a rest stop somewhere before Nilai. At that time, it was already about 4pm. We decided to take a non stop drive all the way to Perling (if I could find it).

The expressway was quite bad that day and along the way, there were many places that narrowed to a single lane due to road construction. Weather was also quite kooky. I thought we passed in and out about 10 rain zones during the journey. There was one time that the rain was very heavy and all the cars would on the hazard lights just to make themselves more visible.

Despite all that, and an emergency call for toilet and petrol refueling, we managed to hit Skudai toll at about 6.30pm. Very good time. The only trickly part left was the way to Perling. I think I didn't take the right way and ended up in Kempas. After some directions asking from fellow drivers, we managed to end up on the other side of the Pasir Gudang highway towards Perling. But alas, the traffic was jammed packed and the progress trickled to a slow crawl. We wasted 30 minutes in the Jam and reached perling around 7.30pm. But quite good time for groceries shopping (gu ni hoon) and late dinner.

From there, it was the usual way back, refueling and back home via 2nd link. My kids and 7 and Speed's "kids" said a tearful farewall and vowed to met for more riddles session in the near future.

It is good to report that our Pica is quite solidly built and is more than able to last the gruelling trip up to Genting Highlands, the city of entertainment and "give me all your moneytainment". I was half expecting to return with a broken steering wheel only, but it is now sitting in my car park looking as new as the day I got it, like a good horse.

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=2326&offset=30

Trip to Malacca, 12 Nov 06 (Sunday)

2006-11-12T23:01:00.000-08:00

Update of the trip: (tek, sorry, I am in a story writing mood....taking over)

We all met up punctually at 6.15am. Jane was earliest. And our book burning friend "surprisingly" turned up. The rest all arrived on time and we set off duly about 6.20am. The meeting location was not a good spot as we were hogging the entire bus lane. Policemen were seen around the area due to a bridge run event but the road was not blocked at that time and we zoomed into the NSH without much jam.

We stopped at the first rest point for some decent tasting Nasi Lemak and had a good time catching up with one another. From there, we drove up another hour or not before another food stop. After more munchies, we did the remaining stretch of the way in one go.

At one spot, some of us saw a broken down vehicle spewing smoke on the opposite road. The poor guy went on to unscrew the radiator cap and a gush of steaming smoke spewed out at him. Saw him jumping out fo the way comically. Hope he is alright. If it had been a lady, I would have stopped, climbed over the divider and help to fire extingush the smoke...keke.

Along the way, our eagle eyed RED leader saw someone high flashing on the opposite direction. That was the undocumentated code to warn chiongsters of a speed trap in front. RED got the message and slowed down the entire convey. We saw this blue Savvy zipped past us like his father's road. Sure enough, at a few km down the road, there was a road block and our blue savvy got stopped "savvily". Lucky for all of us, we were waved onwards to the north.

Turning out at Ayer Keroh, we were on the right track and very soon saw the giant arch with the "Welcome to Malacca to spend more money" message.

From that point, it was another drive of about 30 minutes before we were right into the heart of Malacca. We wanted to head for the St Paul's fort and my map was not working (low batt) and we ended up circling the whole of Malacca town and finally ended up as lost survivors outside a shopping centre (Tesco). All tired and hungry, we decided to stop here for food and refreshment before continuing our search.

Tesco was quite interesting, being a giant 1 level kind of mega mall. But we didn't have time to shop much and after lunch at "the chicken rice shop", we did a quickie and set off to find our A'formosa fort. One thing that was interesting however, was that we met SHE here. (guys, who has the pic? please put it up)

St Paul fort should be just a smallish one and wasn't worth the time to be searching for it. This time, Red took the lead with a more expensive map and we were able to finally make our way to Jonker walk, driving. The road was narrow as a chicken neck and it was a challenge to keep together. And as we turned out to a wide open carpark, Red, Orange and I realized that the rest were not to be found. Argh! Our communications signal sets were all not working. Red and I quickly set off in my car to do a search and recover mission. Driving wildy around Malacca, we hope to be able to rescue them from a certain death as Malaccans were known to kidnap unsuspecting singaporeans and sell them off as slaves to far eastern Russian. As luck was with us, at one busy junction, we saw a bunch of lost chickens shouting, jumping and waving at us from a distance. Yay, the rest of the gang. Phew! I skillfully manouever my Blue in the mad cap traffic and regrouped with them. They were all sobbing and crying and I had to pass them my dirty handky to wipe their tears. I could see the gratitude and relief all written over. From there, I re-plotted the waypoints from the stars and lead them to our 1st checkpoint. Everyone was glad to be together again and swore never again to be naughty.

We parked a the carpark and set off on foot to visit the red building. Along the way, we saw a Malaccan Monitor Lizard swimming lazily in the canel. The rest had to forcefully restrain me from running back to the car to get my fishing gear. It started to drizzle and we had to see the red and WET building. But nevertheless, it was fun and we took quite a few pictures but didn't quite understand what the fuss is all about this red building. YELLOW asked me like some tourist why the building red? I was stumped and didn't have a knowledgable reply. Hrmph..need to brush up on my history. Amidst some old and worn grave headstones, Jane found that her past life was Mrs Jane Charlotte married to Lord Abdullah from Muar of the banana plantation.

After red building, we did our favourite thing: SHOPPING. Jonker walk was all full of knick knacks shops and at the rate we were moving, it would take a full month to complete the tour. But after walking down a row of shophouses, we got tired and broke and decided to skip the visit to the Mahkota Parade mall and headed home. By that time, it was already 5.30pm and we should be reaching home rather late. The plan then was to head down to Perling for dinner and Gu ni hoon if possible.

But on the way back, it started to rain (quite heavily) and we went slow due to the rain and darkening sky. Hence, the trip home was more tiring than the way up and by the time we reached the first rest stop for coffee, it was already coming to 8pm.

When we were near to Johor, I didn't exit by the correct way and ended up missing Perling all together. Coming out from the toll, another police check. Again, we were lucky not to be caught. This time, a Malaysian car got pulled over.

From there, we decided then to do dinner at the last rest point before hitting the last Malaysian toll back to Sin. Reaching there, food was surprisingly not too bad. The kumpung burger was quite tasty and a few of us had 2 of it. The satay was also delicious. All in all, quite a decent meal. From there, all went for refueling and parted our ways. At the Tuas checkpoint, there was a queue but luckily, they opened a few more counters and the jam cleared.

A very tiring but fun day indeed. To date, this is our biggest turnout (7 cars in all). Only missing our green and silver. :). Malacca is only 2 hours away, but boy, it sure was tiring. Especially if you were up since 5am. However, I think I speak for all that it was a successful trip in all. (time to throw away my lousy map).

Pica Fish @ 24 Oct 2006

2006-10-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

This morning, some of us in the north met up for delicious fish soup breakfast and I thought that since we were nearby, let's do a jungle trek around the reservior nearby for some digestive exercise. We drove down the hilly road and parked our cars neatly by a little bridge. The last time I was here, it was quite interesting, even having a sign that said "Beware of Crocodiles". I wanted to demo a steve Irwin croc hunting, and led them down the long winding long kang leading the catchment area.

But halfway walking down the trail, I spied an arrowana struggling in the long kang. The water level was quite low and the poor fish was struggling to be able to swim. It was going to die for sure as it could neither move forward nor backwards. As luck won't have it, I had my fishing pail in my car, and mrs cat did a double run to get it. Our kumpong boy, 7 was all ready to rescue the poor fish. The walls by the drain was covered in thick wad of mosses and looked very slippery. But undaunted, 7 lived up to his kumpong namesake and managed to scoop the fish up and put in into my small pail. There wasn't quite enough space for the fish to stretch fully, but it would have to do.

We rushed back to my home (convoy style)...blaring my "get the hell out of way" horn and quickly bring it into my 2x2x2 ft tank. But the fish was not able to right itself, looking like it had some air in the stomach. 7 tried to do some massaging to get the fish to burp, but all our attempts failed. 7 even wanted to do a mouth to mouth resucitation, but I had to persuade him that it was a bad idea. *yucks*

As of now, the fish is still upside down....but it is still alive. If there are any arrowana experts out there, please let us know how to make the fish swim upright.

Call it fate or what...If we had not done the jungle trail thing, the fish would be dead. Hopefully, with a little care, we can nurse it back to health. Once that is done, he would make a nice story and be our little pica mascot.

I will update our new frnz health and would welcome any advice that anyone would have.

Bukit Chandu @ 16 Oct 06

2006-10-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

6th PicaFrnz Outing, Secret Spot #1 @ 14 Oct 2006

2006-10-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

I think I speak for the group that we were really glad to meet all of you guys. I hope the outing had been fun and the secret spot was up to your expectations. Today had been rather hazy, but not that bad in the afternoon. From what I can see, I think that we will get along very well and have that x factor for clicking. We most certainly welcome and hope to see you guys again in our coming outings. There are some people missing from today's outing, like Orange Pica, Pika and shan22. But don't worry, you will get to see all of them soon.

For yourselves, I hope that our motley bunch is ok for you. As you can see, we come from all walks of life, and what got us together is just our little pica and pure friendship. Simple as that.

Hope cdder and tek didn't have any trouble making their own way out.

Too bad Jacky couldn't come today due to work. Nevertheless, we will meet him up soon.

Pica7 should be putting up the pic we took (w/o the faces) of secret place.

And fongs, happy birthday to you too.....(sorry, hope not too late, by the time got back, already past 12 )

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=1809&offset=405

Bottletree Park @ ? 2006

2006-10-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

Free Counter

7th Pica Frnz Servicing Trip at JB @ 23 Sep 2006

2006-09-23T22:58:00.000-07:00

Just to update and wrap up this thread.

We did enjoy ourselves, as usual, and had a good time together.

The ladies had fun with shopping at Carrefour and then later at Jusco. From the looks of their bright sparkling eyes, I didn't think that it was enough. We had to confiscate the credit card and threathen to divorce them via SMS.

On the way back, we accidentally found ourselves beside Southern City, where the famed Moffiz was. So, we "circled" round for a look and it was rather interesting. Many a singpore cars were there. Very thriving business here.

Going back to the car, Alvin81 car license plate was discoverd to be swiped off by some prankster. Itchy fingers, these people. (how? anyone win 4D?)

We did a lorry checkpoint exit on the way back and it did save some time. When we finally hit home, boy, were we tired. But no, that was not the end. We still have some duracell energy to go on and on....and to pick dinner and did a tour of the famous Yishun Dam, before calling it a day. (night actually).

Sorry, couldn't make it for the other meetup as it was rather far away by that time.

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=1811#22131

Free Counter

Sentosa - 5th Pica Frnz outing @ 16 Sep 2006

2006-09-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

Just now that Brani Gate exit...is a new opening. Used to be a closed exit and we would have to make it further down to make a long U-turn. Saw that it was opened and tried it. (you know me, will try anything...keke). Interesting exit but to my horrors, come out, got no right turn sign. So only meant for lorrys. Didn't want to make the illegal cut cos there definitely got policeman. From my rear mirror, it was a funny moment to see all the different color picantos any old how driving against the traffic. But luckily, he just said to turn IMMEDIATELY From there, very near to the gateway.

Anyway, good fun tonight. Hope it is memorable for Speed and Vita. That secret parking spot, don't tell too many people arh....otherwise, next time go there, very hard to park. keke. Vita finally got her car, and we have the proud addition of a yellow pica. Good to see Speed and 7 friend, the cross-country runner. That kind of skill, good for running back home to take things if you forgot. . Too bad the hot babe that Jane promised didn't come...so disappointed. My food felt so cold.

Again our Pika is missing. But the next outing, she sure will come. Cos, Jane has the brilliant idea for a durian party. That woman, she will spill all secrets if you put her in a room with a spot light and a durian.

Didn't see anyone new joining us. Come on, don't be shy. It is finally established that 7 is more handsome than me, so what are you guys waiting for?

K. Till our next adventure.

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=1699#21969

3rd & "4th coming" Pica Frnz outing. UBIN @ 3rd Sep 2006

2006-09-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

Alvin81>
Guys, it was a very nice day out with all of you! Thanks to all si fus for teaching me how to fish. RainCat, thanks for letting me use your rod. If not, I wouldn't have caught the big fish. Its the largest that I've ever caught in my entire life! Another successful trip! Goodnight to all of you! Have a great week ahead! I'll try to send those photos out ASAP. PS: If this post sounds a little incoherent, its most prolly because of the immense heat and humid that I went under today plus the "shagness". PPS: shan22, I'll return you the cooler box the next time we meet. But if you need it urgently, pls let me know. Thanks for letting me use your box!

Raincat>
Wow...Alvin, you faster than me. Yes, it was a very tiring day, but was great fun. There are very few things that can make me stand under the hot sun, and this is one of the very few. . Yeah, we all look like lobster gang right now. Some pics of our paydirt....after all the hard work. Most of which you know from who and who. We had to leave our killer whale, manta ray etc... there as we cannot lug it back.

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=1547&offset=210

3rd & "4th coming" Pica Frnz outing, Fisherman Village @ 13 Aug 2006

2006-08-13T23:18:00.000-07:00

Good to meet you guys up again, although kind of sad that some of you are missing. . The original plan was to do our Charity Car Wash...but strangely, no one was there to wash our cars and take our 1 million dollar cheque. So, ended up, we detoured to Orange's office (West coast Mac) for some light snacks and from there we planned to celebrate 2 of our member's anniversary. From the west, we sped up to the east to Elias Park. As usual, along the way, Orange was no where in sight...with his "Ter bu" on. Arriving there, we had fun at Fisherman's village looking at people dragging out 4-5 kg grouper and thereafter had a good dinner at that place. We ended the day with a visit to the fish farm around that area. (We are a fishy lot of people). Speed and 7 bought my girl some guppies. She was all excited over it and wanted to make sure they make friends with the other fishes before going for her bath.

Anyway, our next plan is to head for Ubin (which some city boys/girls here have never been to in their lives) . We will meet for some family fun to Ubin for cycling and possibly some light fishing and will plan to try out the old style village makan. The organiser will be Orange Pica, so watch out for it. Those Pica friends out there who enjoy nature fun and good company, do join us.

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=1547#19857

Kota Tinggi @ 25 Jun 06

2006-06-25T23:17:00.000-07:00

This cat is still a very sleepy cat as I have to wait up this morning at 4.30am to get to work for some problem fixes. Actually, the night before the outing, I was up till 2am, so I was quite blur and sotongy yesterday. So, I still haven't caught up with my beauty sleep and if any one dares to irritate me, I will leave some permanent scars with my fishing paws in a deft stroke before you can say "1 Big Mac please".

Well, it was a great trip because you ALL made it so. I only helped to bring you guys for a hantu tetek merry go round "crash" course. No one can say that we didn't start with a BANG. I am happy that all of you came back in 1 piece. Nvrmind my car. These things happen. I consider it lucky that it wasn't worse. Don't know if you will believe me, but this is my very first lunga since I started on the road decades ago. But consider this as spice and juicy bits for our story later. (I will provide the pics of the damage).

Orange, sorry confession time. Why we took such a long time was because we made a wrong turning and had to drive up to the dark unknown until we spotted a traffic light. First time in my life, I was damn glad to see a traffic light. hehe.

Thanks to Speed and 7 for their kind treat the morning that I didn't have any ringget with me. See lah, tell you all to change ringget why never listen huh? Cat? Oh, and you guys got to see the IBM waiter in action! Food never tasted this good.

Thanks to Shan22 team. Hubby was a great joker, excellant with kids and made the trip very interesting. Lots of fishing stories of giant leopard sharks and todaks. I like!

Thanks to Vita for introducing us to the "hey, waiter, why got mosquito in my soup" restaurant. hehe, but seriously, the food was good.

Thanks to Alvin81 for suggesting the walkies. From hind sight, if we didn't have it. I think we guys will still be there circling around the expressway. Your sound system looks cool too...too bad, didn't get to hear it.

Nice to see Pika and family. You guys, the car rocks! Very nice kids too...especially the ultraman one. :). When the wonderwoman one coming?

Ok, ok...due to popular demand, we shall have another trip. But this cat need his sleep first....*snooze*.

Btw to all readers. For some reason, all our PICAS were of different color. Very cool. Now, we are looking for the missing colors. White, Silver, yellow. If you have, come join us. We want to complete the picture. :D

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=1194#13162

BBQ at East Coast @ 27 May 2006

2006-05-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

Just my personal report on the very 1st 1M forum meetup.

The weather looked a little rainy today. In fact, on the way there, there were some dizzles at some places. SHE prediction about me bringing the rain seemed to hold some water. But no big worries. I am after all a RainCat and I did my RainCat Top 40 Rain Dance number which comprised of some franctic headbanging and buttocks twitching. The hocus pocus worked and there after, the weather turned out to be a beautiful cool Saturday evening, well suited for any forum meetup as any.

4.30pm they said. So, there I was prancing up and down, and not a soul in sight. I did more prancing and catwalking until about 5.30pm when Vita showed up with her troupe of BBQ support crew. To my first impression, there was nothing very "vita" about her. And they didn't serve my favourite vitagen drink either.

I got to meet more of the forumers as they turned up one after the other like coming for a wedding dinner. To their surprise, I wasn't a Cat....And to my surprise, alvin81 turned out to be a Dog with 2 human keepers. I chatted quite a bit with 1 lady human while the 1 guy human went to start the fire. Dog got a tad jealous and interrupted me occasionally to make sure I know my place. PicaSpeed had tricked us to think that she was a Guy..., actually, quite a pretty lady indeed, which I am sure, drives very slowly. OrangePica was a young gentleman that serves happy meal for a living. If you are ever in HarbourFront Mac, try calling out "Orange"...see if anyone turns his head to look at you. If not, at least they might give you an "Apple". Shan22 came with her family, with a smarty pants 2 year old boy that called me "auntie". (Shan22, I think he needs glasses).

All in all, it was a very nice evening, with fellow Picantoians gossiping about SHE and all the other prominient people in the forum. Vita had put in alot of effort in preparing the event, and I must thank her for taking the initiative to get us to meet together. The food was aplenty, and I think Vita would have to TaPao quite a bit home.

I had enjoyed the evening and I am sure all of you do. Till we meet again. If you guys are keen in the "overseas" drive thing, I can arrange something sometime soon.

http://forum.onemotoring.com.sg/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=1061#11389