Malaysians all over have this one very peculiar yet similar trait, and it's been going on ever since we've been introduced to the super efficient (so-called) highways and even prior to Cuti-Cuti Malaysia... it's the "Balik Kampung" craze - a terminology often used for city slickers / folks who return to their hometown, hoping to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city life, a customary tradition especially during the school holidays and long weekends.
I happened to be one of them... last week.
A journey to Kuantan and Pekan was already in my mind since the last three weeks. And knowing for sure that there was this thing called Pekan Fest over the last weekend, I had made reservations for a hotel room at the MS Garden Hotel, Kuantan quite some time ago. A good move considering the fact that 2 - 3 days later, when my brother wanted to book a hotel room at the same hotel, all rooms were fully booked.
FYI, I am not a Pahang boy. I was never into anything Pahang. When Selangor beat the hell out of Pahang in the Malaysia Cup a couple of years back I was elated as hell.
But since both of my parents are from Pekan, Pahang, the Mat Kilau State sort of grew on me. I made it a point to return to Pekan and Kuantan to visit most of my relatives at least once in 3 months. Quite frequent, I think, considering the fact that my parents are here in Damansara, my grandparents are no longer around and there is actually nothing much left for me in Pahang.
Frankly speaking, I prefer to visit Terengganu - for its luscious sea view, cleanliness and that "something" that one could only feel when he or she steps into the borders of Terengganu via Kemaman.
However, I noticed that over the years, that little town called Pekan has grown and has developed into an interesting place. A town that was once without any traffic lights, now can boast the fact that during Pekan Fest that day, there was a tinge of traffic congestion. And goodness gracious me, there tonnes of traffic lights on my way to Pekan. Just like a good friend of mine used to say to me, "you want to know how well a place have developed, check out the traffic". In this case, check out the no. of traffic lights...
Indeed, that is the price we have to pay for modernisation. Everybody seems to be owning a car. And sometimes I feel as though everybody is driving his or her car all at one time.
Which was why the return journey from Pekan to Kuala Lumpur, which normally took me about 2 1/2 hours, extended to more than 4 hours - all because of the ever so popular connotation that "if you return home on a late Sunday afternoon during the school holidays or a long weekend, you'll get stuck like mad on a highway". Bearing in mind - it was on a HIGHWAY. Highways are supposed to be the answer to all traffic problems, yet highways too could not find no solution to traffic congestion. The back to back crawl went all the way from Gombak Toll to somewhere in Karak / Sungai Dua. And there we were, all four of us, in the middle of Karak, thinking that let it be an accident that caused the long crawl, rather than "I should have returned home much earlier to avoid this jam".
A fun-filled weekend turned sour just because of one little issue.
Now, perhaps, the next time I feel like returning to Pekan or Kuantan, I think I may have to resort for any other days apart from School Holidays and Long Weekends. Or perhaps, since the highways are often jammed, maybe I should revert to using the old routes - curvy, longer, one-passageway, but probably less cars on the road.
I've never tried those actually. Perhaps one of these days I should...
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