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23 Aug '08 - 618 W, 1 I A Letter To The United States

I don't usually write long letters nowadays thanks to the internet, which allows you to communicate immediately to family and friends with concise information almost everyday, if need be. This has the result of never requiring to long letters to tell other people the various things that happen to you in a single long document.

Recently I've had to write a pretty long email to Irfan and Alya's Atok and Opah who are still in Ohio playing with little Alya.

I should try to summarize the email here, however I will just let you read an excerpt from it.

From the Federal Highway we decided to take the Sprint elevated highway that would cut across the University Malaya hills to PJ.

As we went up the highway a speed sensor tagged the car in front of us at 65kph. It moved sideways into the left lane and slowed down. The speed sensor tagged the Alfa as going 60kph which then was replaced by a 85kph. A look at the rear view mirror indicated that a white van was barreling at us at high speed. I couldn't immediately change lanes because of the previous car. So I accelerated a bit, perhaps going to 70kph to overtake the car so I can change lanes.

There was a corner. Suddenly the car skidded and started to spin clockwise. I tried to regain control and did for a second. We started to spin in the opposite direction and the front and left quarter of the car hit the left side of the road, which was a chest-high concrete wall with a railing on top. We skidded backwards and the rear right quarter of the car hit the wall on the other side. Then we stopped on the left side of the highway, nose pointing in the wrong direction just above the University Malaya entrance, with Ain's old apartment building in view across the Federal Highway below.

Also, another person stopped to help call Sprint highway services and flag oncoming cars. He said that a lot of cars crashed here because of wet roads. Not because of puddles, but just because the roads were slightly wet.

It began to rain again. I noticed other cars were slightly skidding. Most regained control and went on their way. However, while I was inspecting damage to the front of the Alfa, one Waja driven by a Mat Salleh made a very loud-sounding emergency brake. He was heading my way. I ran closer to the Alfa and the wall, but he kept on coming. I jumped onto the railing to avoid being hit. And the Waja stopped a foot or two from the Alfa and the wall. He apologized, reversed his car and went on his way.

After waiting another five minutes, a red Gen2 safely overtook our crash scene. But about 30 meters down, it spun counterclockwise and hit the left wall of the highway full on smashing its engine, folding its hood and cracking its windscreen. It slid backwards to hit the opposite wall as well. The person who helped me also went to help the driver.

Soon after highway services arrived and helped direct traffic. Still there were minor accidents, fender-benders occurred causing three more cars to stop to check for damage. Afraid that Ain and Irfan would get hit by a car, I flagged down a minivan where a Chinese lady and her family agreed to take the two of them away from the crash scene. She took them to SS22, I learnt later.

It happened on the 18th. Everyone is okay. Car is at the mechanic's. The adventure continues.

Gah.