Where have I heard this before?

Recently I've been counting my blessings. The best do come to those who are patient. I'm thinking here about what I've been through. I sold my car and came back nothing but a few piece of papers. I have felt the heat and regret. But now I'm being redeemed by what I wanted the most. A family.

My sisters coming back home. I'm happy, my mom is happy, Taufiq? im not so sure coz he knows he's gonna get more trouble from kakdee now! hehehehe. But the thing is Dee asked me about her AP and her car. Would it be better to just let the car there in UK or bring it back? A question that I once asked my self in Japan.

Actually my car is totally different than Kak Dee's car. Why? its a two seater, kak Dee's a 5 seater. So better, in short, its worth it. About the repair... its a lot. Im not joking. The tax, at minimal coz its an old car. The worth of the car has already depreciated and not bought at a high price here lately. But the transportation cost, container from UK to Malaysia is surprisingly at its lowest. Not only that she could fit in alot of other things in there making the container worth the trip.

So of course in kak dee's mind shes weighing the cost to usability issue. But honestly, if my car was transported here. I still think Its worth the trouble. The car was still reliable, in good condition and no major repairs needed.

Is the car usable? Yes. Is the cost to transport high? No. Is the tax expensive? not likely considerable coz its an old car. The car is in good condition? It has already changed its Chain once. So theres still more mileage here. The spare parts are also here.... to a some extent.

Finally... I think its a good choice to bring the car back. The burden of dollars and cents are a lil high. But definately on last resort the car can still be sold. Of course thats the last resort. Only if all else cant be helped. If Dee had the chance I say Go for it. Dont make the same mistake I did. Thats my advice.

Toll Prices cut down by 10% after 12? Why not 100%?

I like many others of commuters to KL from Kajang have to pay at least one toll fare for going to KL. Little do we know how much a small amount of money can add up to a month. Just RM 1.80 a day for a month going and coming back would add up to 1.80 x 2 x 20 (days considering you arent going to KL on the weekends) RM 72 ringgit. Sure its not big. But reality check! thats minimum guys... not to say how much you spent for fuel. Actually thanks to the market now fuel is far cheaper but hey when it was expensive, EVERY one didn't want to drive.

So the question in my mind last night, is there no way for me to go back to Kajang from Bandar Utama with out paying any toll?

A quest for being cheap! Turned out to be a fun game! Why? Save money, release the burden of the mind block of driving in KL, you need to pay the tolls no matter where your going!

Last week when my Aunt drove me back she could effectively pay only RM 1.30. Which was already saving RM0.50 from what I was used to paying. The time she took was only 5 minutes more. That means that an average of 10 cents in exchange for a minute! If you look at the fuel, 10 cents is about 500 meters of distance. Is that true? Wait lemme see, 1 liter is roughtly 10 km worth of mileage. If your driving my not so effecient car, Honda cars goes as far as 14 km per liter. So take the average sport cars no matter what the engine size, its easily calculated by 1 liter equals to an average of 10 km mileage. So that means we are paying (as to date RM1.80 per Liter) a little bit more than 0.5 km mileage of fuel. Yerm small maybe. Definately 50 cents aint worth the 4 km extra mile from the usual route.

But then it made me think of ways to beat the Highway. I mean we use highways to save time. So how much are we paying actually to save time? So if we were paying more on gasoline to get to the same destination. The time it takes to get there can be calculated in dollars and cents.

Since it was late at night, I realize that the roads were empty. Why would I want to waste money paying the high way if I dont need to beat a traffic jam? So there I was beating to the roads of KL finding and thinking way in advance to dodge all the tolls that I had to go through. And surprisingly I made it using the route through Sri Kembangan, totally bypassing the Seremban Highway and made it all he way to Kajang with 16 traffic lights, most of the cars were off the roads, and almost two lanes all the way, And I took an extra 5 minutes from the toll route. Did I travel more distance? Yeah for sure. Did I dodge the tolls? Hell yeah! a total of 2.80 actually, enough to cover 10 km worth of detour.

What I found out last night was, If i was going to come back home after midnight. I dont have to pay the toll at all. Theres no need for Highways! Roads are not congested at all! sure it takes a few more minutes but saving half the cost of the trip to KL would mean I can go to KL again at 50% cost next time! Although Saving is only true if I was driving at night say after 10pm but it sure is better than before.

Because before I taught it wasn't even possible to travel to KL with out paying tolls. The fact that the highways gives a 10% discounts is surely something to reflect about how we actually need to go through them at night in the first place.

For now, Good Driving all.
Indra