Malaysia,Bintan Is., Singapore

[ramkya1]

Hai BHP'ns,

I could finally upload some photos of my trip to Malaysia, Bintan Islands (Indonesia) and Singapore trip last month. The delay was due to image shack acting up, it took too long to load the pictures and was jinxed. I went to Picasa and uploaded all the pictures and it uploaded OK.

The whole trip was good, some rains, I'm not going to give lots of details. Many ppl already know what's there to see or have already seen it.

My consuming interest was cars; I snapped lots of car photos which biffed my family; there they were waiting to to photographed and I went clicking away at cars!!!!! I had to trade-off with them or face a civil war; for every 5 family photo, I car photo was the deal; I could live with that with the help of a 2 GB card and a lap top to dump content from the Sony HS1.

Malaysia was full of the Proton brand, Bintan Island (Indonesia) Toyota country and S'pore a paradise of all cars. I could see mind-blowing bond-type cars of all makes.

I was lucky to get a Fortuner with a driver "amenable" to extra income; I drove this truck for half a day sight seeing on Bintan Island, Indonesia. One hell of a roomy car, great steering contorl, great braking, lots of power on the diesel block, but nowwhere near a Scorpio in terms of pick up and the Josh on the engine. On converstion from Indonesian Rupiah to INR it should costo 12 L; guess with duties etc, it should land at around 16 here.

Here's a linky to the photos.

Picasa Web Albums - ramky - KL,Singapore

Happy Driving,

--Ramky

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[rohan_fonseca]

Great pics. Pick of the lot "what's this one"(dunno what it is!) followed by the proton.

[mobike008]

Good Pics. Thats a wonderful destination for a holiday.

[avkurian]

hi, nice pics.. interesting how the names of vehicles are changed for different markets. The Nissan Latio is the Nissan Tiida here (pronounced Teeda).

And your pic marked Modified Proton is of a Subaru Impreza.

What is the capacity of the Fortuner diesel engine? Here it is sold in two petrol variants, 2.7L and 4.0L. IMHO the 2.7 is way insufficient for a car that size.

Cheers..

[ramkya1]

Hai Mobike,

Bintan Is. was real value for money, Indonesia turned out to be more economic than Malaysia and surely S'pore. I'd love to go there once again just with the wife.... without kids; too much skin on the beachs and pools for comfort.

Kurian,
The one I drove was 2.7L D. Lots of room; but I was expecting the kick in lines with a Scorpio, was disappointed. It's a great cruiser and swallows, holes, bumps and off roads like velvet. I had to go of narrow roads to give way; Fortuner did that with a shrug. A truck that size could do with 1000 CC more to make it sprint instead of a lumbering giant.

Happy Driving,

--Ramky

Originally Posted by avkurian

hi, nice pics.. interesting how the names of vehicles are changed for different markets. The Nissan Latio is the Nissan Tiida here (pronounced Teeda).

And your pic marked Modified Proton is of a Subaru Impreza.

What is the capacity of the Fortuner diesel engine? Here it is sold in two petrol variants, 2.7L and 4.0L. IMHO the 2.7 is way insufficient for a car that size.

Cheers..

[mail4ajo]

Guys, looking for advice on quality 3 and 4 star hotels to stay in KL and Singapore. Decided on resort hotel in Genting. KL and Spore to be decided.

[reignofchaos]

One of your pics has a wrong label. To call that car a proton is blasphemy... its a subaru wrx sti.

[1100D]

The "Whats this one" is a Toyota MR2 and are you being sarcastic somehow in calling the Imprezza a Modded Proton?

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by 1100D

The "Whats this one" is a Toyota MR2 and are you being sarcastic somehow in calling the Imprezza a Modded Proton?

Hai Folks,

Sorry, no offence intented.... back off. I admit it was wrong labeling.

Is Proton that bad a brand; I found the Protons better than some of the Marutis here. The cab we used had 75 K on the odo and looked and moved well.

Hai Ajo,

It's good time to be traveling to Malaysia, the tourism year is on. We stayed at the:

Federal Hotel , Malaysia: URL

Federal Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Pretty decent and centrally located for all shopping. Near Loyat Plaza for all electronic shopping, don't buy any electronic items from S'pore, more expensive than KL by 30%. Loyat is the place to do it. Alternatively, S'pore duty free shops in the Airport is the best bet, the duty free allowances are great now. Near the Federal Hotel there are pavement shops with T.shirts for fentastic bargain prices, cheaper than China Town or Little India by 20% .

For Veg food you have one restaurant bang opposite Federal, there is NOTHING else in the vicinity.

Genting Resort is mind-blowing, but very very expensive, change now if you have an option, stay in KL and travel to Genting. We stayed at the :Golden Landmark, S'pore.

http://www.goldenlandmark.com.sg/


Happy Driving,

--Ramky

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[Sks_Biker]

There is another restaurant Sri Rekha (on Jalan Sultan Ismail) about 5 mins walk from the hotel you mentioned (both veg and non veg avaialble) . I usually have food there. I passed by Federal many times but never noticed a veg restaurant there.

Thanks for the tip. Will check it this week

[finneyp]

Nice pics Ramky! Thanks for sharing!

Nissan Latio resembles MM Renault Logan.