Yesterday was a day worth remembering: Jess' first time behind a wheel in Malaysia! Although I can't say it was totally legal, it was probably a better choice than to have a beer-smelling friend drive an overloaded ride- he was definitely sober, but u can never be too careful with Malaysian cops. So yah, after we had our fun in Mont Kiara- a suburb where many expats live- the night was cut short because one of my friend's had a 6am flight to Vietnam. We, all 6 of us, hopped in on a myvii with the decision that I'll take us past the bridge where, if there were one- a road block would be.
Not saying I was completely confident about all this- mind u, I haven't driven since March where I briefly took the wheel of my baby Rav4 for a month- because not only do they drive on the left side of the road, everything in the car was on the other side! Being a habit, I reached with my left hand only to find myself scratching the air because, obviously, the seat belt was on my right side- duh! Then I made another routine move with my right hand for the hand break n gear switch, which were obviously on my left. Even worse, I only realized the signal was actually on the right side of the wheel, not the left when we hit the road...
So, u can imagine how everyone felt for the whole 5 minutes of my driving- probably sweating balls because I know I would have been! A bunch of really brave people indeed! Not saying I was a horrible driver- I have a clean driving record, yay me!- but first time driving in a long time n under totally different "conditions"? U'd have to applaud everyone for their courage- or stupidity, whichever way u see fit!
But nonetheless, it was an experience worth all that freaking out. I never thought I'd be driving in Malaysia, let alone someone else's car. Though, I do have to say, it's ridiculously inconvenient to be driving in the city because traffic will just drive u mad. So save urself the trouble, walk or public transit. Actually, the public transit here isn't that great either, but it's getting better- I hope! In any case, a car won't be in my consideration while I'm here in KL. Gotta love being a tourist!