Travel Teluk Intan I: Tyre Troubles
Every November, my family makes a trip to Teluk Intan for All Souls' Day. This years trip was pretty eventful, as it kinda went wrong from the get-go. First of all, mum actually didn't wake up on time! That's the most shocking thing. Usually, when she had a trip, she would not sleep well. The whole night long, you could hear her getting out of her room to pack something obscure that she might need for the trip. In and out, up and down the stairs. When my sister reached our door step at 6:00 AM, I was wondering why my mother had not come down. I sent Little Monster to investigate. Turns out she had just woke up! And I thought that she was the one who knocked on my brother's door at 5:30 AM! Due to that, we started our trip 45 minutes late.
My brother-in-law was not feeling well and he had been working pretty late recently at work, so I was the designated driver. For the first time in years, it was a rainy trip to Teluk Intan for All Souls' Day. Stopped at Shell station some where before the Sungai Buloh rest stop to fuel up. Saw that they had a Costa, so I was a little excited. But when I discovered that it was MYR10 for a cup of coffee from an automatic dispenser, I decided to save my money.
The drive was pretty smooth, and we reached Bidor in below two hours. As we left Bidor and crossed Sungai Bidor towards Teluk Intan, I felt the MPV lose control for a brief moment. I didn't think much of it and continued driving. Some 30 minutes out of Teluk Intan, near Kampung Baharu Coldstream, things started getting weird. My sister's Nissan Serena started getting very bumpy although the road was smooth. I immediately stopped the vehicle and switched on the hazard lights. With no proper road shoulder, it was pretty dangerous because lots of trucks ply the trunk road between Teluk Intan and Bidor. With a big umbrella, I went down the road to warn oncoming vehicles of the hazard.
No surprise that the tyre gave out, but what was shocking was the fact that it looked like a serious blowout. We could see the rubber and fabric was shredded through, and the tyre was halfway out of the rim! BIL tried to change the tyre. He managed to loosen all the nuts except one. Even 90 KG of body weight on the tyre iron could not budge it. Since we could not settle the problem ourselves, Sis made a call to the motor insurance auto-assist service. They promised that a tow truck operator would call us within an our. During that time, several people stopped to take a look and offer friendly advice. We explained the situation and they went on their way. Police vehicles also drove past without giving us a second glance. Couldn't be bothered.
Some forty minutes later, two Indian men on a motorcycle stopped and were very confident that they could rescue us. One of them ran into one of the houses beside the road and came out with a long metal pipe. He used it to lengthen the lever so that he could easily apply more torque on the nut. That's physics at work. Haha. Watching him work, the fella was definitely very experienced. He put in the spare tyre in less than half an hour, and recommended us a tyre shop at Kampung Batu 12 to get the tyre fixed.
To be continued...
My brother-in-law was not feeling well and he had been working pretty late recently at work, so I was the designated driver. For the first time in years, it was a rainy trip to Teluk Intan for All Souls' Day. Stopped at Shell station some where before the Sungai Buloh rest stop to fuel up. Saw that they had a Costa, so I was a little excited. But when I discovered that it was MYR10 for a cup of coffee from an automatic dispenser, I decided to save my money.
The drive was pretty smooth, and we reached Bidor in below two hours. As we left Bidor and crossed Sungai Bidor towards Teluk Intan, I felt the MPV lose control for a brief moment. I didn't think much of it and continued driving. Some 30 minutes out of Teluk Intan, near Kampung Baharu Coldstream, things started getting weird. My sister's Nissan Serena started getting very bumpy although the road was smooth. I immediately stopped the vehicle and switched on the hazard lights. With no proper road shoulder, it was pretty dangerous because lots of trucks ply the trunk road between Teluk Intan and Bidor. With a big umbrella, I went down the road to warn oncoming vehicles of the hazard.
No surprise that the tyre gave out, but what was shocking was the fact that it looked like a serious blowout. We could see the rubber and fabric was shredded through, and the tyre was halfway out of the rim! BIL tried to change the tyre. He managed to loosen all the nuts except one. Even 90 KG of body weight on the tyre iron could not budge it. Since we could not settle the problem ourselves, Sis made a call to the motor insurance auto-assist service. They promised that a tow truck operator would call us within an our. During that time, several people stopped to take a look and offer friendly advice. We explained the situation and they went on their way. Police vehicles also drove past without giving us a second glance. Couldn't be bothered.
Some forty minutes later, two Indian men on a motorcycle stopped and were very confident that they could rescue us. One of them ran into one of the houses beside the road and came out with a long metal pipe. He used it to lengthen the lever so that he could easily apply more torque on the nut. That's physics at work. Haha. Watching him work, the fella was definitely very experienced. He put in the spare tyre in less than half an hour, and recommended us a tyre shop at Kampung Batu 12 to get the tyre fixed.
To be continued...
Comments
Think my sister's tyre burst.
@Anon:
Catching up. :D