Chapter 1: The West Coast
Disclaimer: Before anyone reads this travel blog with the expectation that it would be as detailed as other write-ups, the reader might be in for major disappointment. Averaging more than 300km (travelled 2,200km in 7 days!) per day, apart from the places we stayed for the nights, most of the stops we did were simply photo breaks (with a lot of doing its). Though it was really as tiring as it seems, this trip was a good introduction to Peninsular Malaysia and left us with motivation for more detailed exploration.

While most driving fanatics rave about the beautiful Federal Route 3 along the east coast, not many people knew that there is also another costal road that goes along the west coast (Federal Route 5) linking Johor Bahru to Ipoh. The idea of a road trip was thus conceptualized by my cousin who wanted to do the 2 costal roads in 1 journey that will cover all 11 states in Peninsular Malaysia (though I have to confess due to time constraints, we did not do the west coast road). As we would have gotten very near to Thai border, we would cross over to Betong (in Thailand) for a quick stay before heading back south via the east coast. Will explain later on the historical importance of Betong to the independence of Malaysia/Singapore.

Due to everybody's busy schedule, we decided to start the road trip on the 2nd day of the Chinese New Year as it was the only time where all of us could take leave (we did face some opposition from other family members on travelling during the festive period but perhaps I will leave the details out). Starting from Pontain Kechil (my parents' hometown), a small ex-fishing town 60km away from Johor Bahru, we headed straight for Taiping in Perak (destination for our first night stop) via the North-South Highway. I recalled there was torrential rainfall on that day though somehow our feelings were not dampened. For this stretch of the journey, we passed by the states of Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Selangor and Perak.

It was already almost midnight when our car drove into a rather bustling Taiping (were stuck in a minor traffic jam as many residents were out having supper near to the lake). A local friend told us alot of people were back in their home town for the Chinese New Year celebrations (there are hardly anyone left nowadays as most of them are working in Kuala Lumpur or other cities). As we were all so sleepy after the day's driving, we quickly checked into the New Champagne Hotel (RM93/S$40.43 per double) and had a rest. While the hotel was a so-so 2 star establishment, its close location to the lake could be a boost.