Waze-ing around

I am now, an avid Waze user. Not out of sheer interest to discover new routes (I'm neither adventurous nor attracted to the idea of being a cabbie). Rather, the sinking feeling that without Waze, I will be driving around the Penang island like a hamster running around on wheels. Getting tired but not getting anywhere.

 

It was with this fantastic manmade invention that I managed to reach places. Or avoid getting lost thanks to a wrong turn or two. Though I've to say, my journey(s) will always somehow require driving through  back lane alleys, narrow housing streets and stretches of roads that seem to lead to nowhere and then, there it is. My intended destination. Just when I thought all hope is lost and the only way to go is homeward-bound.

 

Driving is no longer a chore but when one drives in Penang, it is an entirely different ballgame. I should not be surprised because I did drive around in KL and as they say it, nothing beats KL drivers (or speed demons, if we're to term them the right way) and traffic jams. However, Penang drivers have to cope with so much more. In KL, I would curse at those teenagers riding their bikes like they're the next Valentino Rossi. But how do you react when your speed is cut by old men on ancient looking motorcycles zigzagging across the road at their own sweet leisurely pace? Worst still, some of them will actually smile while doing it, leaving me with no choice but to return the smile (with clenched teeth. Doubt they'll notice the difference though). You'll also find many of the road cleaning workers leaving their cleaning tools right on the streets, instantaneously becoming a challenge for drivers to avoid them while driving.

 

I was at Gurney Drive last evening and for the first time, saw a car that stopped in the middle of the roundabout! If a KL car would inch its way to enter mainstream traffic, this young Penangite chap was comfortable enough to just flick on his signal board and waited. And wait he did, causing a backlog of road users who were unable to pass the roundabout until he moved his Kancil ass. Oddly, no one honked. It was as if that particular stretch of Gurney Drive was enveloped by this few seconds of 'Zen'. People were happy enough to wait and did not see any fuss in raising hell. My blood pressure did go up before I'm reminded that I'm not in KL. Guessing I've to act like Penangites when I'm in Penang (despite my car's registration number, reminding all and sundry that a Selangor girl is behind the wheel).

 

With Waze, better traffic conditions and learning to accept that nothing is impossible on Penang streets, I really think I'm settling down. The next goal is to hunt down the food joints!