Crossing East-West Highway to Penang

It was just a wild idea to go to Penang through East-West Highway(EWH). Well, actually this was our second time crossing the EWH and the main intention was to usher and entertain our kind Abg Hj Sazali (AHZ) a.k.a Bg Gandot, Kak Hjh Lela (KHL) and their daughter Azimah & Husband. We departed Kemaman at about 13:00 hrs and believed us we did not make any hotel booking at Kota Bahru Kelantan aka KB where we planned for our pit-night stop. Unlucky us, all hotels at Kota Bahru were fully booked. To cut the long story short, we arrived at KB around 22:30 hrs and thanks to Kak Nik & Abg Nik Yusuf for willingly accomodating us at their house in Langgar, KB. Otherwise, we have to find some other alternatives for us to stay. The lessons learnt: Plan first before you do anything.
We had a good dead sleep after a very exhaustive journey. The next morning, we started our journey heading Rantau Panjang - a duty free zone and a border town of Malaysia and Thailand to do some shopping.

Rantau Panjang is famous for its ladies' scarfs, local handicrafts, clothings, cheap T-shirts, and fake-branded items like shoes, hand bags, etc. Nevertheless, sad to mention, the place is crowded and dirty. Despite that, people from as far as Sabah visited this place for many reasons. We spent about one and half hours there before we started our crossing.
The starting point of the crossing is from a place called Kpg Bukit Pak Mud or Village of Uncle Mud's Hill. The point-to-point distance is about 230 km through winding and hilly roads. EWH is clossed for vehicles during dark due to its unsafe condition and spooky. The highway facility, such as, R & R, etc. is limited and sometime you will experience the wild elephant pedestrianing the highway which can be exciting but intimidating.

As the car need to be refilled with PETRONAS Premium Unleaded gas, our stomach need to be filled with good foods & bevearages too. We stopped in the mid-way of EWH and spoilt us with the local cuisine. The service was slow, but the restaurant's hygiene was superb, the foods & drinks were excellent and damn cheap. ABZ and KHL despite their diabeticity, finished scrumptiously 2 sets of the menu.

Along the EWH, we stopped for photo shoot at the highest peak of the highway of the famous Malaysian Crocker Range. The weather was nice, cold, windy and cloudy - I mean the cloud was just around us which made it difficult to catch good photo shoot.

Alhamdullillah, we arrived at Penang around 21:30 hrs. To AHZ and KHL, we would like to record our sincere heartfelt thanks to both of you for your kindness and everythings. may Allah swt always give His Blessing to bot of you.