The Long and Winding Road

There's something abt the old trunk road that I find strangely romantic.

It's like a former love from your younger and poorer days. Where compromises have to be made, things were harder to come by and it was all so simple. Yet you were happy and enjoying every minute of it.

The highway in contrast, is the love you found in the later days after you'd established yourself. Now you cld afford much more and there is stability, but somehow, it felt a little empty. A little bland. A little too monotoneous.

The old trunk road may be much longer and a lot more winding compared to the highway, but it makes for a far more memorable ride.
You'll pass by kampungs, rivers, small towns (some of which are just 2 rolls of shophouses along the main road), ghost towns, hills, valleys, industries of all kind and a handful of abandoned construction projects. Each has their own story - some historical while others merely by association. Like the bend with the temple round the corner that has claimed a great number of lives. Or the area smacked right in the middle of nowhere where our old car once broke down as we were making our way home in the night.

I tell myself, one day when I finally get my license and become proficient enough, I'm gonna take a slow drive back to Taiping via the old road and re-visit the many familiar places that used to capture my imagination when I was a child.

The old trunk road.

I really like the sound of that.