The Shanmugams welcome a princess

On the 24th of January 2013 we welcomed the much awaited princess into our family. Kashaani Rhea Kavin born to Kavin Jayaram and his wife Nisha .

                                            Kashaani at birth

                                               One month old Kashaani

                                                     
                                                     Two month old Kashaani

Classical Route in a Classic Car by Two Classy People in January 2013

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In all our travels we had always planned to do a road trip in our faithful 47 year old Volvo 122 around Malaysia someday. When David retired in December 2012 we thought that this will be the perfect time as both of us were ‘jobless’ and time was on our side. For David he said it was on his bucket list and as for me it was a trip I was going to do with my soul mate and best friend to mark our 30^th Wedding Anniversary.

With a full tank of petrol , a suitcase in our Volvo boot and a GPS on our dashboard  we left very early on the morning of the 3^rd of January 2013. We drove to the Kota Kemuning Toll and headed towards Banting that was going to take us on the coastal route. We saw Banting waking up to a normal working day and passed by many oil palm plantations and stopped in Morib to appreciate beauty by the sea and on to Sg Pelek for a thosai and to Sepang . We left Selangor and crossed over to Negeri Sembilan driving through Lukut and Port Dickson. We reached historical Malacca in the afternoon and stayed the night at The Hatten Hotel in the city.

The next morning after a hearty breakfast saw us driving to Merlimau , Kg Batu Gajah and Sg Rambai , stopping to take photos of beautiful old mosques and kampong houses. The simplicity of the kampong folk is to be acknowledged as we got waves and smiles as we drove our Red Sexy Lady through the quiet roads. The Johore border welcomed us with some beautiful structures and a stop to have hot goreng pisang in Muar. We had lunch by the sea at Pantai Leka Parit Jawa and carried on towards Kukup passing through Batu Pahat and Pontian. We stayed with our good friends who cooked us beautiful home meals. We also took a ferry across to Pulau Karimun to pay our Indonesian neighbours a visit. A memorable stop was at Tanjung Piai which is the southern most tip of the Asian Continent the 1^st axis of The Peninsular.

The Sunday 6^th of January 2013 beckoned us to drive to another one of our neighbouring countries , Singapore. We drove through numerous oil palm plantations and arrived at Gelang Patah to go through the toll at Tanjung Kupang into Singapore. Our red Volvo cruised along and we saw many uptight Singaporeans actually smiling and waving at us. Two nights in Singapore was a treat as we stayed at The Berjaya Singapore , a gift from our son. We bid Singapore farewell on the 8^th of January and drove again along old roads to Desaru in Johore and a blissful stay at Sebana Cove, thanks to a very special and dear friend. The 3 nights we spent there also saw us being treated to a yacht outing into the sea and many awesome seafood dinners at Sg Rengit. We also drove to Kg Punggai which is the 2nd axis of Semenanjung .

 On the 11^th of January saw us doing a long haul from Desaru in Johore to Cherating in Pahang driving through numerous Felda schemes . We went some bumpy roads and some of the most beautiful roads through lush green oil palm trees. Saw huge rivers as the Sg Sedili Besar flowing into the south China Sea and drove through the busy town of Mersing. Our old faithful not only drew smiles and waves but also a free breakfast at a small coffee shop in Endau the last town in Johore State before we went on to Rompin in Pahang. We drove on and  reached Pekan the royal town that brought us to the old Sultan Abdullah mosque for a photo moment and it being a Friday we heard the call for prayers for our Muslim brethren. The drive from Pekan to Kuantan was adventurous as we went in circles for a while and then were treated to a fleet of F 16 fighter jets doing a practice run in the skies over Ceruk Paloh. Drove into a bit of traffic jam in Kuantan and then on to Cherating in the beautiful east coast of the Peninsular and spent the night in The Impiana Resort. We went to bed very tired after a long drive of about 500km but were soothed by the sounds of the waves of the South China Sea.

The sounds of the sea woke us up on the 12^th day of January 2013 to get into our car and head towards Kuala Terengganu. Crossed border at Kemaman into Terengganu state and passed by Kijal , Kemasik , Kertih the Petronas town , Paka ,Dungun and came to Tanjung Jara to view the most beautiful part of the east coast, the epitome of serenity as we stopped to breath in the smell of the sea and watch the waves rush to shore. We reached Kuala Terengganu for lunch and was awed by the beauty of the town. Stayed at the Primula Beach Resort which was beach front and a walk on the beach just made us realize how beautiful our beaches are and how good our God is to have created such beauty.

On the Sunday of the 13^th of January saw us driving straight to the Crystal Mosque , as we told our children the first time in our lives we are driving to a mosque on a Sunday instead of a church but it was worth the visit. What a piece of architecture and beauty and pictures of our Volvo against that background was simply awesome.We continued our journey in our trusted Volvo and headed towards Kota Bharu in Kelantan passing through Gong Badak , Batu Rekit , Kg Rhu Sepuloh where we stopped for some photos by the beautiful beach , Kg Penarik , Fikri , Kuala Besut the last town in Terengganu and we crossed over to Kelantan. A simple welcome to a very simple state with no arches or structures to arrive at Tok Aman Bali the first town in the state. We stayed the night at the Grand River View Hotel in Kota Bharu and that night met up with one of David’s squad mates who treated us to some delicious authentic Thai food at Kengsom Restaurant.

The next day we drove to Pengkalan Kubor which is the 3^rd axis of the Peninsular and drove towards Jeli where along the way we saw Buddhist Temples with huge statues of Buddha and yes this is in the ‘Muslim’ state of Kelantan. At Jeli we met up with our past President of KVK , Dr Anuar who was just delighted to see us and after lunch with him we drove through the East West Highway to come to Pulau Banding with a rest stop and some picturesque views of the Titiwangsa Range. We stayed the night at the eco friendly Belum Rainforest Resort and bonded one in nature and went to sleep with the sounds of crickets and other insects of the forest.

Awoke from our slumber , got ready , into our faithful Volvo and were off again on to Grik , Baling and saw the ever famous Pedu Lake and drove up to Changlun all through the old roads and got into Bukit Kaya Hitam to visit another neighbour of ours , a favourite of KVK , Sawadeekap Thailand. After the necessary clearances we drove to Songkhla and stayed at the Rajamangala Pavillion Beach Resort  for 2 nights . Was hosted to a much awaited Indian Dinner by our friend who is a diplomat at our Embassy ,  walks along the beautiful Samila Beach with a short photo stop with The Golden Mermaid and a pamper session in Hatyai.

On the 17^th of January after 2 restful nights in Thailand we drove from Songkhla right across to Satun to get to Wang Prachan the border town and got onto Wang Kelian back into Malaysia. The next stop was history being made for us as we got to Kaki Bukit the 4^th axis of the Peninsular because  at the beginning of the trip we decided to stop a all 4 aixises and with God’s Grace we did it. We drove on to Kangar for a quick late lunch and decided we would drive on and we came to Yan to more awesome beaches .  We then drove into Penang Island ‘ the birthplace ‘ of our PF 5522 by the old ferries which was so exciting as we had not done it for awhile.

After a night at my brother’s place we drove out of Penang took the coastal route to Bagan Serai where we visited St Joseph’s Church and drove to the quaint town of Kuala Kurau amd sat by the river to chat to a few old men who were enjoying a cup of coffee . We continued our journey to wards Simpang Ampat , Pantai Remis and Sitiawan and Teluk Intan and we left behind Perak and got in our home state of Selangor. A slightly bumpy drive through Sabak Bernam and Sekinchan we went through  Tanjong Karang , Kuala Selangor , Sg Buloh , Kapar , Klang and we got into the Kota Kemuning Toll and reached HOME at 9.20pm on the 18^th of January 2013 after 15 days on the road and we clocked in 3294 km and our Volvo ran like a charm without any hitches.

This amazing road trip made us fall in love with our Old Faithful all over again and with Malaysia as we met the most beautiful people and saw the untouched beauty of our country and everyday was a brand new day with an awesome journey ahead.