Today is an exciting day for me. I shall remembered it as the The Day When All Malaysian Rush to Gas Stations. When I say ALL, I mean ALL. It all began at ….
At 5.20pm:
BREAKING NEWS: Petrol will be RM2.70 a litre at midnight tonight.
The new price of premium leaded petrol (ULG 97) is RM2.70 per litre beginning midnight tonight, it was announced a moment ago. The price for ULG 92 petrol per litre went up by 74 sen to RM2.62. Diesel will go up by RM1 per litre to RM2.58. The 78 sen hike or 40 per cent increase for the ULG 97 petrol is still below the antiticpated RM4 per litre price projected earlier and among the cheapest in Asia. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at a news conference. (NSTP, June 4 2008 )
At 6.30pm (As I was walking to LRT Station)
Normally, this road is only this congested when it is raining. Now look at the sky. It’s sunny. Next look at the pathway. It’s dry. Overall, it was a good evening.
Still don’t believe it is a good sunny evening? Alright, can you see that the two ladies sitting and gossiping (I assumed) by the side of the road?? Alright now you believe it was a good evening, but why the heck the road is so congested? It was so bad that the cars are virtually not moving at all. Not even moving from bumper to bumper.
Somehow, my 6th sense (as if I have, ha ha), told me something was wrong. And it was confirmed when I saw the condition in KLCC’s parking:-
The parking was relatively empty compared to the normal day. A lot of empty parking slots indicates many people has left. But why?
From 6.45pm – 9.45pm
Between this period of time, I was in LRT then KTM before I reached the Gardens @ Midvalley after all the squeezing in the train. I was at the Gardens to have dinner with Juleen and Cheryl Leong at Sushi Zanmai. I will be blogging about this restaurant and the food soon. This shall be my first attempt to become a food critic, so stay tune. Anyway, over the dinner more than half of the topics we talked about has something to do with gasoline. So much to talk about that I am convinced, we can write a research thesis about it. The title for the thesis will be “In Depth Analysis and Impact of High Oil Price in Malaysia“. Ha ha ha…
The girls went for a short shopping right after dinner. And…
At 9.55pm , when we were driving back home,
We realized we chose the wrong route home. Imagine, this was the condition in Bangsar at 9.55pm on the weekday. Absolutely not normal, right? The traffic flow was so slow that instantly I felt so sleepy in the car. Imagine, so slow that even Mr. Tortoise would travel faster than our car. As we drove a little further, we realized that the congestion was caused by cars queuing up to get into the gas station:-
We just find it amusing to see the scenario again and again at different gas stations. I guess that’s what kept us calm and steady in the car despite the traffic condition. Nope, we are not part of them because Juleen had already filled up her tank before 5pm… hehe…
1. Bangsar again…
2. At Section 17…
3. Somewhere at Petaling Jaya
In total, our journey from Midvalley to Bandar Utama took us one and half hour which normally take us mere 20 minutes.
At the end of the day, I am happy because of I am part of this historical moment in Malaysia.
What about my view on the fuel price increase?
To be frank, my heart was crushed and it was like a nightmare came true to me when the government announced the fuel price increase. Forty one percent (41%) increase in fuel is too much to bear, really. I pump on average RM300 a month and now I have to fork out extra RM120 per month for the same amount of fuel. That is a lot of money guys! Anyway, I guess instead of being adamant over the issues, might as well I look at the issues through the kids’ eye, assuming everything will be okay:-
P/S: Now I am more inspired to write the Part II of Fuel Saving Tips…but I am very sleepy… yawn…ZzzZZzzzzz!
Putting It All Together 