Azlan Mahmud
Late last year, we started planning on where should be our next holiday destination during Chinese New Year, and later decided that the best place would be Langkawi. So the search to find the best deals on flight took place, as it was Chinese New Year period, most of the airlines pricing was on the higher side but then we recalled that there was this new airlines called Rayani Air, we decided to have a look at it and booked the flight since the price for the 4 of us was wayyy cheaper than other competitor airlines.




Fast forward to the day of departure, 7 February 2016, I did not sleep early that night due to my excitement and was looking forward to the trip, was spending the whole night planning on what to do and where to visit upon reaching Langkawi. Once I had finished all those planning, I decided to check my email. What happens next was absolute horror.


Rayani Air send us an email at 12:30am, yes thats right, They let us know that our flight has been cancelled just  less than 13 hours before our flight, LUCKILY I checked my email, How many of you would check your email last minute? What if its a company email not synchronised to your smartphone?. Thats it, One full day is gone. If only the flight wasnt rescheduled we would probably have extra time to spend in Langkawi.

We left home and took a Grabcar to KLIA2 at around 6:00pm, reached KLIA2 around 7pm, check in process was smooth, we did try to ask the counter staff on why was our plane cancelled, they could not give us proper explanation, kept telling us it was a technical problem.







We wondered around the airport, had dinner and everything and finally went to the gate at 7:30pm, as shown in the picture above, the gate should be opened at 7:40pm., we waited... and waited.. and waited.. yet it is still not opened.. They finally opened the gate at around 8:25pm..

8:53pm, No sight of any airplane.

More waiting, waiting and waiting. No proper explanation from Rayani Air staff, people were getting restless, babies crying, some of these (uninformed) passengers have been waiting here since this afternoon, words cannot express how we felt that day.

An old lady lying down on the floor helplessly waiting for the arrival of our flight


Even the rayani air staff couldnt do anything.


Stranded passengers waiting cluelessly on when will they be able to fly

We were given something to eat while waiting for the flight
FINALLY, I spotted an airplane outside the window, and that is definitely must be our flight.





From the promised 1pm flight, cancelled, later become 8:40pm, and here we are, boarding at 12:30am.


Interior of the Rayani Air plane

We finally reached Langkawi at around 2 am, took our bags and went outside the airport, took the rental car and drove to the hotel, 3 am by then, Reached the hotel and slept immediately, one day that could be used exploring Langkawi was gone down the drain.

End of misery you say? Not quite yet, Stay tuned for Part 2...
Azlan Mahmud
DRL only



Positioning Lights (Fiesta DRL stays ON)


Dipped Beams



Dipped Beam + Foglights


High Beams + Fog lights




Tail lights + Rear fog lights



Azlan Mahmud




I recently passed my JPJ test after a very long wait, all these waiting, are all JPJ's fault. Really, waiting for the L license, then I need 1 month before I can proceed with the JPJ Test. Now that I have passed the test (will blog about that in another post, quite a crappy experience too). I must get my P license ASAP.. And things arent going out as planned. Let see..


On the week before my JPJ Test I called JPJ (0383159200) asking how long will it take to get my P license, the girl on the phone say no need to wait, straight go JPJ bring document can process. 

2 days later (still before JPJ test) I called them again, this time 1 guy pickup the phone, say boleh after 3 working days

Wednesday 19/2 I JPJ test and lulus, 20/2 I go to JPJ WPKL/WANGSAMAJU queue in line, when my number is called, they keyed in my IC number and said my record is still not in the system. Fine. I go back home feeling that I have been conned by the 1st jpj girl over the phone.

Today, 10 am I called JPJ Hotline again, a guy picked up the phone and I asked weather my records are in already or not, gave my IC number, he said yes.. Even tripled confirm with him. 2pm I went to JPJ WANGSAMAJU/WPKL . Waited for 30 people before they attended me. Same crap, oh sorry your record is not in the system. WHAT CRAP IS THIS????? 

Frustrated, on the way back home I called again the JPJ Hotline, told them about this and they were also surprised. They then asked me to call 0341450800 and ask to talk to Bahagian Pengujian. Even there I was redirected 3 times. Later En Ghani on the phone told me that they havent keyed in the record for people who passed the JPJ test on the same date as mine, 19th.. They only keyed in up to the 17th.. And gave me his private contact number for me to call him this Thursday/Friday..

Haihhh will see how it goes la.. Tired of this shit already..

Summary

1st phone call to JPJ --> She say can instantly go

2nd phone call to JPJ --> He say need to wait 3 working days

1st time over counter --> She said no records, need to wait 3 days

2nd time over counter --> She said need 2 weeks

3rd phone call to JPJ --> They were confused , redirected me to bhg ujian. Spoke to En Ghani and he said to call him this Thurs/Fri..


We'll see how it goes then





Azlan Mahmud
As a boy who is very much interested and passionate on anything related in automobiles, I have been longing for this one time of my life.. 17 years old! Wonder why? Because in Malaysia, you are only allowed to take apply for your driving license once you have passed your 17th birthday. My birthday was in March, but as with pretty much other 17 year old's here in Malaysia. This year is the most important year as we had a once in a lifetime Examination. which is SPM. I don't really want to talk about that so lets just continue.

The final papers of SPM are coming, unfortunately for me, I had to take Arabic paper whereas most of my friends from government schools don't, so my exams ended a week later then them. I couldn't really concentrate on the paper as I was getting excited on getting my driving license, so you might be wondering, which driving institude/academy did I choose? That was a non-existing issue for me because there's one neighbour who is a driving instructor, I applied to get my driving license from her. Just after finishing the last paper on Tuesday, all the Form 5's students (well theres only less than 50 in my school) went for a relaxing vacation at Eagle Ranch Resort, Port Dickson for 3 Days and 2 Nights. We left on Friday , said goodbye to each other and parted on our own ways. Sad isn't it knowing that you might never ever will be able to meet your friends again.. Oh yeah, before that. I had asked my old friend Ariff to join me to take the driving license as I dont wanna take it alone, and I was still in Port Dickson when Afiq WhatsApp'ed me saying that he is also interested in getting his license. I immediately told my driving instructor that Afiq wanna tag along with us..

The next week, (on a Monday or Tuesday I cant remember), sharp at 7:30 am, Ariff and Afiq gathered at my place as we were going to attend the KPP course which is around 5 hours in total.


This is essentially a talk on the usual Highway Code, what do you need to know and prepare before hitting the roads and yada yada yada. But most importantly some tips and tricks to pass the upcoming computerised test. The book as in the picture above contains the 500 questions that might be asked during the computerised test, and to be honest, some questions were quite silly and I didn't bother finishing them anyways.

The next week, halfly prepared, we went together to MyEG Danau Kota for the computerised test, when we reached there, it was full of after SPM students like us eager to get their license too. We gave our details to the counter and was given a number. I was at number 49 if I am not mistaken, yeah we had some time to study before entering the computer room, but did we study? mehh,  Everyone else was busy reading questions and last minute preparations, the three of us was laughing and chit chatting all the way. Eventually I got called in to do the test, pheww, I got 48 out of 50! I was targetting to get full marks but I guess this is alright since the passing mark is 42, Afiq and Ariff also got respectable marks.

On the 24th of December, again the three of us went to the Theory class (3 hours), here we learnt absolutely nothing something about how the car works and yada yada yada, I dont think this class was necessary, such a waste of time.. There should be an Amali class afterwards where u were supposed to "Hands-On" with the car's engine, and so on and so forth but we didnt do that..

All we had to do after that was to wait for our Learners permit to be issued by the Road Transport Authority (JPJ laa apa lagi), and you know what? They were so called in a process to upgrade and implement their new and buggy MySikap system, we were the ones who had to suffer due to this.. Other people got their Learners permit at most 2 weeks after the Theory class, but us? A month. But luckily for me, my next door neighbour had a contact with someone working in JPJ. I went to JPJ to meet him at 4:15pm, note that JPJ closes at 5pm and there was still a lot of people waiting for their number to be called. I felt a little bit guilty because I didn't have to take a number and just proceed to settle my Learners permit due to the help of my neighbour's affiliate.




There it was, my learner's permit, took so long!, but finally its in my hands now, I called up my Driving Instructor and set a date for the driving lesson. She told me she had booked the JPJ test on the 19th of February 2014 which was fine for me as I need it as soon as possible and the learner's permit needs to be 1 month old before I can sit for the JPJ test.

I will stop here now, we will see again in my next blog post, see ya!
Azlan Mahmud
Some might say that we are paying so much for our cars here right in Malaysia, but, do we? Here are some of the things might make you think differently. I'll give you one example,

user posted image


This is the price of a normal Volkswagen Passat in Malaysia. So, do you think its expensive? Now let me show you, the price of the same Volkswagen Passat, but this time in the United Kingdom.

Do note that in UK the car is at bare minimum and most of the features we get on the Malaysian market are optional features to them, so I configured a matching specification of the VW Passat on the VW UK website and here is the result.

user posted image

See what I meant? The difference is just around RM5000, and yet the Passat in the UK does NOT offer leather seats like the ones we get here.

Please take note that is conversion is a DIRECT currency conversion without any factors such as the salary of the rakyats, the petrol prices and the general cost of living.. Because this is how we Malaysian's compare laa.

Think about it, comments is appreciated.