A Round Trip...

...on the Bas Bandar.

Since the 'Bas Bandar' service was launched more than a year ago mad redo1 and the AKSes have been planning to get a ride on it. Unfortunately there were always reasons for the plan not going accordingly.

But on Monday, we were determined to get ourselves on the ride, which is still FREE as the fleet of buses has not been approved by the Commercial Vehicle Licencing Board to be used as a commercial vehicle due to some features on the buses which do not meet the board's guidelines.

Since it was a holiday in kT we had ample time. First, we came quite early when the bus driver informed us that the next service would be at 1.30pm. Thus we went to the Delima Kuning restaurant at Giants first to fill our hungry stomachs.

Then there was the kT Autoshow at the Terengganu Trade Centre, showcasing a number of latest edition cars, SUVs, trucks and bikes from almost all car-makers. A cool RM88k would see mad redo1 travelling up and down the country on a HondaCBR1000, which is something that he really wants to do someday.

Berg on the other hand, wanted to buy a 4 ton truck manufactured by Inokom. Not that she is interested in trucks or vehicles of that kind, but because the purchaser of the truck will be given a free 32" LCD TV. For her, that was a good reason enough to buy the truck.

We knew that by hanging around the autoshow meant we missed the 1.30pm bus trip. Thus we settled for the 4.30pm which gave us abundance of time to hang around for quite a while more.

Finally, we got onto the bus. Of course this was quite different from the normal buses with all the decorations and pictures are meant to put Terengganu arts and culture to the forefront.

There were quite a number of people taking advantage of the free ride to go around and it would be much better for tourism if there is a schedule of the bus service and the route it takes, together with interesting places that it goes through.

Despite the 'park bench' like seats, it did not stop the 'pakcik' from enjoying immensely to the extent that it took him to dreamland. The AKSes could not help themselves from having a giggle after looking at the 'pakcik'.

The bus that we took went through the Waterfront that faces Pulau Duyong, Chabang Tiga and then straight to the Terengganu Muzeum and the Islamic Civilization Park (TTI) on Pulau Wan Man.

The bus stopped for a while at the TTI which gave some of the tourists there the opportunity to take their pictures with the unique bus much to the amusement of mad redo1. But on the other hand, mad redo1 would also photograph himself with the old double decker buses in London if he is given the opportunity.

Then it was time to go back. Berg enjoyed herself very much and certainly the recently added cushion on the bench gave the ride a bit more comfort than I imagined it would be when it first came into service.

The Bas Bandar service offers two routes: to the TTI via the places that I mentioned above and the other one is to Chendering where it will go through Batu Buruk Beach, the Terengganu Palace, Masjid Terapung and Noor Arfa Craft Complex (NACC).

Enjoy the ride!

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