Renting a car for our KK-Kundasang-Ranau trip - funny moments

by MKA,

For those who are thinking for a holiday in Kundasang, Sabah, you might well just go ahead with that idea as you'll never regret it. It is a great place especially for nature lover, more particularly for those who like mountainous weather and tropical jungle and its flora and fauna. I believe almost all visitors from outside Sabah will use the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) as the entry point to this beautiful state of North Borneo. Thus, the best option for transportation in my opinion would be self-driving, only for those accustomed to driving on the left-hand side, and have a valid driving license of course. With this option you can stop at things as and when you like en route.

There are few car rental companies offering all types of vehicle ranging from small little Perodua Kancil to a gigantic van, all readily for hire at the airport. However renting cars from these proper companies means you have to pay a premium price in exchange of a reliable and professional service. A cheaper option is to hire a car illegally from the local people that doing this similar kind of business. Arrangement must be made preferably two weeks prior to your trip. Rates are normally 20-30% cheaper than the normal car rental companies. Contact? Just google it up, there are many you could find.

I managed to hire a quite new Perodua Alza. A RM 50 upfront payment must be made thru TT upon confirmation of rates and availability of cars two week prior to the trip. It is advisable to give a reminder one day prior to the trip in case the guy forget with or without purpose. However, funny things happened on the day of our arrival. The day before we did tell him that we'll touch down around 4.30 pm. But he expected us to show up at the collection point in front of main entrance at the same time. We had to explain to him that we need time to collect our checked-in luggage as well as immigration clearance. But that was not all, that guy did also tell us that he is waiting at a roundabout in front of the KKIA entrance. But when we got out of the terminal building, there was no roundabout or anything like that to be seen. We even had to walk for quite a distance in searching for the said roundabout but all was in vain. Suddenly the phone rang, it was the call from the same guy. I could feel that he was quite desperate but disguised in a friendly tone asking for my whereabout. I started to give my account of the place where I was standing by telling him the landmarks that I could see. Suddenly he said "hold a second, which airline did you fly with?". I said "with Malindo". Then he replied "is it Malindo Air?" demanding for confirmation. "Yes it is" I replied with full assurance. Then he said "my goodness, you must be in a Terminal 1, I am waiting for you in Terminal 2". He added "all of my previous customers flew with Air Asia that is the very reason why I've been waiting for you here". Its also explains why we couldn't find the mysterious roundabout. Apparently KKIA has two terminals, T1 and T2 which is about 10 minutes driving apart albeit in the same airport compound. We didn;t know this until we arrive at the airport.

So we waited for another 15 minutes before we saw a black Alza arriving bearing the same registration  number as I've been told earlier on. The guy who drove the car was not the same guy we've been dealing before. The driver claimed he is the friend of the "Ustaz" and brought to me on behalf of his "Ustaz" friend. After paying the remaining balance of the fee as well as submitting a copy of my ID and driving licence, the car was handed over to me by showing to me that they key is already slotted in while the engine was still running. All dealings were done at the comfort of the kerbside.

After loading all the luggages into the car as well as setting up the GPS, we were good to go. With full confidence I started to press down the fuel paddle. As the car started to move forward, suddenly the alarm went off. We were quite puzzled as to what causes the alarm, but I kept driving the car. After about 100m, I started to realise the handbrake was still engaged after seeing the light indicator still illuminated. But there was no hand-brake lever to be seen at the usual spot. I had to pull over and scratching my head. After a while I came to realise that Perodua Alza uses a "leg brake" style instead of normal hand brake. After being engaged, the paddle on the left most has to be pressed down further to disengage. That was good lesson for the day.

We continue our journey to the hotel in KK to have a rest before continuing to Kundasang in the next morning.