| The green line is the
route we took, from Johore Bahru in the south up to Ipoh we used
the north south highway and from Ipoh to George Town (Penang Island)
we took local roads. We traveled some 1000 Km's (including side & city trips) spend a total of RM 115 (88 liters) for the gasoline and RM 70 for toll on the north-south highway and the Penang bridge. Hiring the car costs us RM 1938 (including the costs of returning
the car at a different city) for a total of 10 days. Total costs
RM 2123. Click on the menu for a more detailed report. Useful links for travel info and hotels
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Driving Malaysia
from South to North,
Johor Bahru to Penang
We've done it! Grace, my wife and I have been driving all by ourself from Johor Bahru in the south of Malaysia all the way up to Penang island in the North. OK, it wasn't a mind boggling stunt but believe me, there were some persons who thought we lost our senses, taking unnecessary risks etc.. A little timid we started our journey in Singapore. Never hire a car in Singapore lah… Traffic is jammed and some streets are restricted to more than two passengers and you would have to pay all sorts of fees. So Aurora Travel who arranged the carhire suggested picking up the car in Malaysia's most southern city. Use the menu to read all the episodes of our journey and see all the pictures.
Conclusion: driving in Malaysia is as easy as in Europe maybe due to a relatively low population (22 mill.). Drivers are well disciplined and there are no unruly users like kamikaze tricycles, minibuses and killer trucks/buses. Just cars, taxi's, some trucks, highspeed buses (on the highways) and motorcycles in the cities. Along the highway there are plenty of gaspumps, R&R facilities. Top speed on the highway is 110 Km's. Local roads 70/80 Km's and in the city 50 Km's. You almost never see police/traffic police.All roads we traveled were in good condition or being repaired. (no water absorbing asphalt seen yet).