The Best Wedding Present
Before I got married, many married couples I met told me and my then-fiancé that as you get married, good fortune comes your way or in Malay, murah rezeki. We didn’t think much of it until the wedding day approached. In addition to help and some extra cash for the wedding, finding out that I won the ASX-perience contest was the icing on the cake!
By the way, the ASX-perience contest required people to tell why they deserve a road trip in the ASX based on the weekly scenario posted on Facebook or the ASX microsite. The most popular post with the most “Likes” won, and it turned out to be yours truly!
The timing was great, as we could take the trip after all three of our wedding events were over. As our honeymoon was only three weeks after the events, we decided to make it a pre-honeymoon trip, about a week before the honeymoon. What made it even more special that it wasn’t just our first road trip as husband and wife, it was our first road trip as a couple.
And I’m going with both my human husband and the other husband – the handsome red Mitsubishi ASX I’ve been eyeing since I saw it on the Internet. (I was a big Lancer fan previously).
The Ride
Driving up to Penang was fun, considering I’ve never driven anywhere outside of Selangor, with the exception of Seremban. We also stopped in Taiping to visit my husband’s late grandfather’s house. The ASX’s handling on corners made driving up the hilly, winding roads after Ipoh and on the way to Batu Ferringhi almost a non-existent challenge – we were going fairly fast as well.
Driving on the straight roads, however, was a challenge. The speed easily reaches 140 km/h without flooring the accelerator so trying to go 90 km/h or 110 km/h in the speed trap zones was tough and required a lot of braking. But we managed. And we totally smoked a BMW outside of the speed zone, yeah!
Of course being a road trip, we stocked up on tons of snacks and drinks. It’s a good thing the ASX has more than just 2 cup holders in the front. Self shot photos for the co-pilot was also made even easier with large side view mirrors, heh. And oh, what a convenience the rear view camera is when reversing – it’s a good addition to a higher car, where you can’t really see if there’s a dog obstructing your way. The ASX doesn’t guzzle as much fuel for a 2.0 litre engine – we paid RM100 for RON97 to fuel up 5/8 of a tank.
Driving in Penang itself is pretty insane. Penang drivers are rather aggressive and it doesn’t help that the roads are pretty narrow so if you’re driving a compact vehicle, you’ll feel like everyone’s inching into you. But then again, it’s island driving as Bali’s the same.
The Island
I’ve only been to Penang once in my entire life, and that was to attend a cousin’s wedding. So I’m glad I get to do more things this time around, now that we had our own transportation. We went to the Batu Ferringhi night market, where we bagged some cool stuff, including a katana-inspired umbrella (the husband’s a geek, but a cool one), had the famous Nasi Kandar Beratur and Kek Seng homemade ice cream, bought preserved buah salak and nutmeg, dragon balls and empuk durian as souvenirs, and swam and chilled at Hard Rock Hotel Penang.
We also met up with a friend, John, who lives in Mount Pleasure, Tanjung Bungah with his parents. It was a five-minute drive from Hard Rock Hotel to his place and boy, it’s a beautiful neighbourhood! John’s place even has a roof that overlooks the coastline of Batu Ferringhi. His mom collects art so their house is packed with beautiful paintings, sculptures and other tasteful art knick-knacks. John and his parents saw the ASX and approved of it, adding that it looks like a cool, young version of the Nissan Murano.
John’s parents took us out to the Penang Swimming Club for dinner and his mom shared a secret with us – there’s a bakery called Sunflower in Tanjung Bungah that makes the best hard-to-find sugee cake and layer cake. Guess what we bought the next day before we drove back to KL? That’s right – sugee cake and layer cake. They didn’t disappoint!
The Rockstar Hotel
… unfortunately isn’t very rockstar. Breakfast is until 10am – wait, which rockstar wakes up before 12 noon? Jokes aside, the service was pretty slow but other than that, it’s a nice place, especially for a group of young buds. And how can we not enjoy a hotel that provides an iPod dock with a pretty bad-ass sound system? And with Elvis Presley looking on as we take a shower?
The End
Overall, it was a great prelude to our honeymoon. We got to drive my favourite car for a whole three days (I insisted on driving most of the time) and I got to experience Penang with someone whose family originates from there. We miss the ASX so badly now!
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