Lunch @ Merlin Restaurant, Muar (29 Dec 2007)

Last Saturday, a group of us from 8GCC decided to drive down to Muar to meet our Type-R brother and have lunch at Merlin Restaurant (good seafood they have there). We were lucky enough to be joined by Napiioo (who was back from the East Coast) and Namio (who was not working due to production shutdown over the weekend. I should know, since we both work in the same place!)

Let's see. Ah, yes. We were supposed to meet up at the Shell petrol station at 1.00pm. I came from my office, and arrived at 1.15pm. Not surprisingly, I was the final 8GCC member to arrive. The others were already waiting: BLZ83, NAPIIOO, NAMIO, Convoy leader Takashi24 and Sweeper Hanne. Today, I was without my navigator, Kenjiez, who's usually riding shotgun.

A quick briefing by Takashi24, and we're off to Muar. From him, just two things:-

1. Keep your position lights and fog lamps on (so we know who's in the convoy)

2. Stick together, no overtaking.

Didn't really know what the speed limit was, so we decided on a reasonable figure ourselves....

The road to Muar was initially crowded with other vehicles, however, as we cleared the outer limits of town, traffic thinned as we headed single file towards our destination. This gave our sweeper a chance to catch up with the rest of the convoy (got stuck in traffic lights some way back).

In contrast to what you may encounter on the Ulu Yam trail, the road to Muar was a relatively boring experience. It's two lanes all the way, and as straight as the PLUS highway. You could probably take off and land a small airplane on it if you had too. Thus, within half an hour, we were at the bridge to the bustling seaside town of Muar.

Bro Takashi24 took us through the old bridge, past STMicroelectronics. That stretch of road had a few traffic lights within meters of each other, so our rather smooth ride adopted a more intermittent start-and-go stance.

Up over the old bridge we went, following the flow of traffic left, taking the first turning right and going straight past the first traffic light, going left at the next traffic light, we turned into a lane beside the row of shophouses to our right (that's about where my GPS map ends). No worries, as a short distance further, amidst a low density housing estate, was our destination - Mei Lin Restaurant (actually, it' MERLIN Restaurant - "Mei Lin" must be what the Chinese words spell out....)

Map to Merlin Restaurant

Lunch was a filling and satisfying experience, as the dishes were well chosen and ordered by our lead man, Takashi24. Food was good (especially when you're hungry...! Mr. Green ). Unfortunately, our Type-R bro was working, so he couldn't make it to our little outing. As a result, we've postponed our visit to the Muar Honda SC to another day.

Map to the Tanjung Emas Jetty

So, next destination was to the Jetty area where we hung out for awhile before heading back. Our next destination was Martech Sdn Bhd back in Malim Jaya (where they made custom exhaust and extractors)

Jetty area with a special roundabout.

Takashi24's GF took his ride as she was a little tired and would be heading straight back. So, Takashi24 joined me instead, and so, taking over as point man, I lead the convoy out of Muar using the slightly further, but less traffic light congested, second link.

As we cleared the final junction and turned left back onto the main highway just meters from the new bridge, my short career as convoy leader came to an abrupt end as one of the guys (I think it was Namio) shot past me. So, our convoy literally disintegrated as, one by one, all FD's blasted past me, including our sweeper (hrrmph- talk about insubordination!), disappearing into the distance faster than schoolkids on the last day of school! 10 seconds later, it was just me and Takashi24's ride cruising along sedately over the new Muar bridge.

OK. I thought those guys were just playing, but with not a Civic in sight, I believe I had some serious catching up to do, if I was to avoid being the last one back in Melaka!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, with correct use of my right foot and sticking to 4th gear, I managed to catch up with the rest of the group in a short while.

Thanks for waiting, guys. Really appreciate it!

The journey to and from Muar took up my remaining 7 bars of fuel, so I was at 0 bars when I drove into the Malim Shell station for refueling. Hence, going for an 8GCC convoy almost always results in poor FC.... Still, I managed to travel a total of ~550km since my last fueling stop, so I'll have to break my FC record some other day....

Well, look forward to our next outing - Ulu Yam, perhaps...?