Diary : Still on Choice of Vehicles.....

Yang Berbahagia,

Encik Hazem Abdul Rahman

MD , 
Land Rover Malaysia/ Sime Auto Concessionaire

cc:

Yang Berbahagia,

Major [rtd] Hasbullah bin Zakariah

Manager, Service dept, 

Land Rover [Malaysia ] Sdn Bhd

Sirs,

I was at Land Rover Malaysia  last Sunday, trying out your beautiful Defender double cab 90 under the watchful eyes of Miss Shilah.

I was actually there to book Land Rover Single Cab 110 on special offer but was told by this young lady that all have been snatched up like 'goreng pisang' by the East Malaysians! My God ! These people paid cash mostly, just like the Cameroon Highland vegetable farmers!

I was  already forewarned by Major Hasbullah some 3 weeks earlier at Sime Darby Medical Centre, but did not take his warning seriously.

My interest in the ageless Defender is beyond 'sales and purchase' actually. We are a group of intrepid over 60 year olds, Malay Collegians, partly mad 'boy scouts',out to relearn the world, so to speak. [ http://translandjourney.blogspot.com/2012/07/diary-when-it-all-began.html ]

Initially in our discussion, we were thinking of doing it either in an old 1985 onwards Defender 110,[ probably refurbished Series 1]  with the ever dependable TDi engine ,or the conquering ageless 4.2 litre 1996 or less, Toyota Landcruiser. Both for the obvious reason that if we developed engine trouble in the desert of Mongolia or China our hearts would not 'bleed' if local fellows cannot repair them,. We just leave the vehicles there and hopp on to the other one. And if they can, and we expect any Ah Kow can repair these two, we will happily carry on.

But we being' British' thought that we owe Defender more loyalty than a 'cheapo' old Japanese badge, albeit the old  unbeatable beast,Toyota Landcruiser..... Defender, despite it's smaller cc, it  has more character though.

[ http://translandjourney.blogspot.com/2012/07/choice-of-vehicle-tentatively-at-our.html ]

And why use old 1980's and 1990's old vehicles when we can use new ones with more sophisticated  more powerful engines, less guzzly and can debunk at the same time this fallacy amongst long distance 'translanders' that  'newer means more electronics and electronics means trouble on a long transland journey'. We have to give our fledgling motor 'industry' a bite at fame !

Our choice as to whether to go Toyota [ Hilux in this case, the  new 3.0  turbo diesel double cab ] or to still remain true to our original spirit and sentiment and be 'British',  despite the ' general'  world trend  towards 'de-romanticized' transdland journeys, and be practical, and thus join the bandwagon of  every Tom , Dick and Harry, all going 'Japanese'.. this to my mind is still  still  not yet concluded.  We are still discussing the pro's and con's


We symphatise with you guys at Sime's Land Rover over the Mindef's uncharacteristic decision to go ' all Chinese' [ my God, Chinese !!!!!! ] in their vehicle of choice for  the army 2013 onwards.

These generals must have all their heads examined !!
Too much kwaey teow maybe ??
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNvs3YDBgeM&feature=related ]

I look forward to further fruitful conversations with you guys.

[ http://translandjourney.blogspot.com/2012/07/diary-change-of-route.html ]

Your Humbly,

Dr Hj Nik Isahak Wan Abdullah

Senior Consultant Cardiologist 

Sime Darby Medical Centre

Subang Jaya

Selangor, Malaysia




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from grand pa  of Jubileeintan 69 :



السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Go for it Doc Nik Howk. Even if they offer reconditioned Defender  Tdi 110 Stationwawons or reconditioned Discovery Tdi would be wonderful


'car wash utube', click down here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzEDY7P8Vps&feature=related

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Grand pa , tell us more about Discovery Tdi, what year, reliability and is it Ah Kow proof , I mean easily repaired any where devoid of sophisticated 'electronics'  like the Series 1 Land Rover ?
What year and what price ?


Nik Howk


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from grand pa of jubileeintan 69 group :

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركات

The Discovery does all the Defender does but in luxury. A brother in law used one , I merely borrowed a few times. I did mention Nik Ariff uses one for umpteen years now.

click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9pP4Jnk6H4&feature=related

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across the board i heard it has its problem with 'reliability', grand pa ............
the choice can be quite personal grand pa as judged by this  video,
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo3ud2ysh0I&feature=related ]

nik howk


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Nik Howk,


If I were you I would like to travel in comfort.
You have not seen the new Ford Ranger  Truck, 3.2 litre turbo diesel.
Superkiasu like Malek Noor and miles of space. Sexy too !
They will cause a storm in Kuala Lumpur end  of this year.
Can forget about Defender or Hilux.


Pak Chu


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howk, 

we have discussed the rangka of the route. there are various combinations. now we need to zoom in go to next level.  do we want the easy/difficult route? farflung/shortest? touristy? etc. this decision will impact on the duration, expense, type of vehicle, mental prep, bekal etc. and the sooner we work out this the better.  

anyway the possibilities:

1. kl- either via west coast ie phuket and ranong or east coast via surat thani -hua hin - bangkok (thailand)

2a bangkok-chiang rai -luang namtha (thailand/laos petronas route) or 

2b bangkok - udon thani-luang pabang -luang namtha (thailand laos route recommended by nazru)

3.luang namtha - jinghong - kunming- guiyang -xian - lanzou -anxi  (china)

4a anxi -hami- osu -almaty (if we want to enter kazakhashtan to meet besan ntr) or

4b anxi- hami - aksu- kashi (if we want to by pass besan ntr and enter kyrgyzstan) or

4c anxi- qiemo - yulian -kashi (enter krygyztan via south route). all a, b and c done or partly done by petronas.

......

and the above is only about  a quarter way.  jenoh nak tulis all the various options. it is best that we meet and pour over the map 

w.a


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Peng,


we take the toughest, most romantic, longest route.
with accent on safety of course



Now Pak Chu though has thrown a spanner in our planning, Peng.
i thot we have decided amongst us that we choose either a toyota [ new hilux or  old landcruiser ]or a defender...now this new animal called the ford truck, i know nothing about it. 


personally i have gone thru 2 hilux in the last 6 years...., one a double cab which i sold off last year..a find a wee bit softy, the undercarriage long shaft broke after less than 2 years  plying the hills of gua musang. ! i am now driving a brand new working man single cab, manual.  too early to say anything but if i were to go by its popularity amongst the chinese contractors in gua musang, it is a tough work horse. the  tray at the back can be changed to a proper sleeping area, if you can cross over to golok or haadyai and add a long canopy....after the canopy, the workman vehicle look like an 'suv' !
ample space for storage of 'barang2' and good sleeping area. put in a 'bedpan' for those emergencies, we already have a caravan for 2.


peng, can you please check out with your 4wd friends familiar with this new animal called the ford ranger truck 3.2 turbo diesel. is it here already ?


nik howk


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from Doc Azman,
22nd July

Aswt,

Nampak bersungguh puak ni nak travel, jalan3.

Just back from Tapah & Ipoh for 2 night trips.

Ohhh, sakit badan weh, specially backpain.

East-west highway at night, raining, saw 5-6 cars masuk parit tepi jalan. Nothing serious. Ada yg tow truck sedang tarik.

On one road, not a very close corner & at 60km/hr, my car slipped & swerve a few times.

Before that I was traveling at 80km/hr constantly, you still can feel the tyre gripping the road fine.

I think these people put oil on the road. If only only it is not raining, I would have stop and check the road for oil.

Wallah waalam. Just to remind the extend trick that people do to get business.

Doc Azman

V69 S'H, iPhone4

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from Peng,

23th, July

 

howk & bab

is the meeting on 27th on? after tarawih?  perhaps in ramadhan it is better to meet daytime if at all, say sat or sun after zuhr/before asr?

from the book: long way round, chasing shadows accross the world, by ewan mc gregor and charley boorman who rode round the world , just them and 2 motorbikes:

"i...gazed out at the ocean and thought back to the day when charley and i had sat in a little workshop in west london, surrounded by motorbikes, with dreams of open road in our heads.  all we knew then was that we wanted to get from london to magadan (pacific coast of siberia).  with maps laid out in front of us, we drew a route, arbitrarily assigning mileage to each day, not knowing anything about the state of the roads..  we guessed our way from west to east, across two continents, from atlantic to the pacific....time and again we were told by experienced travellers that our plans were wildly optimistic and that we didnt know what we were letting ourselves in for.  i'd never ridden off-road and charley had never properly camped.  the chances of failure were high they said. yet here we were in madagan, as far around the globe as it was possible to go, and we'd arrived one day ahead of our schedule"

salam
wp

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On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 11:35 PM, Nik Isahak Abdullah <drnikisahak@hotmail.com> wrote:

peng, let meetafter ramadan. we have  alot of time.

like charley, i do not like to plan tooo much...just get in your car and drive....worse case scenario, reach phuket can turn back if things do not appear right.

good case scenario we may even take another route back from london to kL via the kyber pass on our way back.......

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ok, meet  aftrer raya then.
insyaAllah we will get to further than phuket, to istanbul at least

salam, wp


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Peng,


i am proposing that we drive back from london via spain turkey, syria, iran, pakistan, india and if burma is open via burma , if not ship back from chitagong, bangladesh....all in a 3 month to 4 month journey.............
i think the new ford ranger or the new hilux 3.0 litre turbo would be tough and comfortable enough to withstand the continous journey.
insyaallah !


Nik Howk

Diary : A Change of Route...

"Life is just three breaths, one that had just  finished, the present one not yet exhaled, and the next which is still unsure"
an old sufi saying......



“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” — Steve Jobs

5am, 28th June

Subang Jaya

Woken up just now at 4am with a 'bloody' toothache. Did the tahajjud, to no avail. Still painful. Went down to the kitchen to take one more ultracet tablet [combination of tramal and paracetamol ] and decided maybe a spot of 'writing' would take the pain away.

Just 4 hours earlier finished 3rd discussion with Peng and Bab on Transland Journey, over roti canai and popia. Another Malay Collegian [ Anwar Ibrahim's classmate , ?class of 64], Mohd Faizal Ismail, from Merlbourne, joined the discussion. He had earlier in the year wanted me to do the Australian outback with him. That has to be postponed or brought forward to December this year.

For now, Kuala Lumpur - London,   via the SILK ROUTE, has to take priority for 2013.

Myanmar probably would not open up it's borders in time for our trip next year, so the Myanmar- Nepal- India route is out of question. We would attempt the 'old' Petronas Adventure Team route via Cambodia's Vientiane- Hanoi- XIan- Xinkiang route and crossover to the Russia's many  S'tans, then head for the Caspian Sea, entering Norway via Helsinki, then right on to London. Time frame ? 2 months. We do not want to miss the many World heritage places  peppered along the way.

To avoid extreme winter cold, we need to leave  early, perhaps on the 6th day of Eid next year in mid August. 


Peng , the most intellectual of us three will firm up on the route detail. Bab will look into visa issues and 'carnet de passage' for our vehicles. As for myself, I would need to make some friendly visits  and call old friends in Sime's Land Rover and UMW Toyota for some much needed friendly 'advice' and help.

Between us we decided we are not doing this transland journey with the ubiquitous 'Landcruiser' afterall. We are firm believers in change, 'the old giving place to the young upstrarts', so to speak. Young 'upstarts', like  Hilux and Land Rover Defender 110, also deserve a decent bite at fame. We will give the new 'Hilux' a chance and  at the same time we do not want to forget our most dependable Land Rover Defender as well. It is after all an icon and we,  despite all pretenses, ARE BRITISH. Only our bottoms are not white !


My other friend , Nadzru from Ranhill Apakahnamadiadah retorted the other day that 'we are a bunch of old semi- retarded boys scouts' !
On second thought, at 60 +, for all three of us, that is a nice compliment.
'Thank you Nadzru !'

The 'bloody' pain has disappeared already. Magic !

Time for subuh Prayer.




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click here :
http://www.google.com.my/search?q=hilux+dual+cab+pictures&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-my:IE-Address&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XSTxT-H0FonkrAfl8P29DQ&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=632


These new 'Jap Wannabees' may takeover from the aging 1990's Landcruisers



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grand pa and doc man,

I know you grand pa is a 'cherookee, landy stiff upper lip type' of man while doc man and myself are basically 'toyota cheapskate' people.

Doc man is still impressed with his prado 1997 even though it now lay rusting in his garage and repeated urge from yours truly to part with his Prado has so far failed. I want to redo his 1995 Prado for my Transland Journey. 

Myself, having gone thru Hilux double cab 2.5  turbodiesel auto for 6 years from 2005 , and now switched to a  new 'marhein' 2.5 diesel single cab Hilux, minus all the frills. My previous twin cab was OK but after only 5 years of usage mine started give funny sound every time when I engage the auto . 4 years and the auto start making this kind of sound is quite disconcerting. The undercarriage is also 'softy softy'. In the 3rd year, my mechanic outside Toyota had to replace the nut and bolt holding the shaft to the back axle joint. And I am no 4wd man thru and thru. Just the occasional jaunts in the forest of Gua Musang.

I am keeping my fingers cross with my new Single cab, working in my farm....no more auto for me though, at least not on my 4wd. Toyota does build Hilux for tough work but I would stay away from it's auto.It is not robust enough.

Having said that to be fair to Toyota, I did a fair 250k kilometres in 5 years on the previous one, one quarter of the mileage on hills and mud in 4wd mode.


This current single cab, just in 5 months covered 30k kilometres plying between KL and Gua Musang twice a month,  the rest mainly used in permanent 4wd mode ,25 days a month on the hills and in mud . Pretty hardy type of work I must say, but I am worried about the soft undercarriage.


I thot the single cab is spartan  but 4 weeks ago I test drive Sime's pick up Land Rover in PJ...it gave my Toyota an instant 'SUV'  status. Land Rover Defender is  really just not any man's transport. It is a 4wd truck in permanent 4wd mode with an attitude........certainly not for sissies.

Doc man, what say you about Prado.?

grand pa, tell me more about the Defender 110, manual or auto....I am still open to Land Rover as our vehicle for our Transland Journey, especially Phase 2 and Phase 3, where we are doing the Mediterranean/Moroccan/ Libya /Tunisia/Algerian coastline countries followed by the Moscow/Siberia/Vladivostok phase. 

Probably need time to get used to it, the landy I mean, but the rating given by some motor 'analyst'  are quite disturbing........

At the end of the day, my question now is : when I do get down to doing it , do I do it with a 'Jap wannabee' or do I do it with the 'British iconic Land Rover' ?....[.England  by the way, my God !, played like a bunch of sissies in the Euro. They deserve to be booted out! They are just millionaires in boots ]

But of course the Land Rover is another story.

Or should I follow the rest of the crowd and settle for the safe option :
LANDCRUISER, the 1990's type I mean, with 'ZERO'  sophisticated electronics where even Ah Kow in Jerantut or Muthusamy in Mumbai can repair under the tree.

nik howk

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click here :
https://www.google.com.my/search?q=land+rover+defender+pictures&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-my:IE-Address&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=eyXxT7vxJoWsrAeMwKy-DQ&ved=0CEUQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=632


....perhaps nothing is more 'romantic' than driving one of these beauties in the desert sand of Morocco. Landrover enthusiasts look for the old 1990's Defender110 with TD5 engines. The present modifcations, using bedford's puma engine, according to them, is 'too' sophiscated for transland journeys !
My God ! This beast make Hilux single cabin feels like an SUV !
...an Hilux single cabin is super tough nut.....a work horse. 

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