Temenggor Dam - Belum Rainforest

In the 1970s, construction began on a highway across the region and at the same time the Temenggor Dam was built for hydroelectric power generation, creating a man-made lake spanning 70 kilometres up the Perak River and 30 kilometres up its tributaries. The flooding of the area created many islands out of what were once hilltops. Pulau Banding, the location of Belum Rainforest Resort happens to be one of the islands as a result of the flooding.

The Belum Rainforest is a pristine forest, being the largest untouched forest reserve in Peninsular Malaysia. Although not as famous as Taman Negara or Endau Rompin in Pahang and Johor, it houses over 3,000 species of flowering plants, including three species of the largest flower in the world – the Rafflesia. It is also the natural habitat of 64 species of ferns, 62 species of mosses, and has a lake that is home to 23 species of freshwater fish and 5 species of turtles. And the entire forest is 4 times the size of Singapore!

The bridge that we whizzed past...

Actually I'm quite embarrassed to admit that despite residing in Perak for 17 years, I did not realise that there were such a wonderful virgin forest to be explored. I knew the existence of the dam, but damnit I didn't know there was a resort! *blushes*



I was quite fortunate to be able to explore the northen side of Perak during the BMW Eco-Blogger Diesel Drive where we drove from KLCC - Mutiara Damansara - Tanjung Malim - Tapah - Ipoh - Gerik - Pulau Banding (Belum Resort) and then the same route back to KLCC the next day.

We were treated to glasses of Cava bubblies as we arrived!

At the Belum Rainforest Resort, I was awed by the tranquil and lush green scenery. The thick green canopy that span across the dam was so picturesque that I had to reluctantly depart from nature the very next day.

My Bedroom facing the lush green forest was awesome!

Dinner was arranged at Sidai. It was a BBQ buffet style with ample of booze. There was even a golf buggy car to take you from the lobby to the restaurant in case you're lazy to walk, like me.. ahem.. ahem....

Every sitting was individually name-tagged with a pot of wheatgrass.
Mine died a dryful death last week.

A fun-filled dinner amidst the forest!
WHo would have guess that we can booze with the greens?

My fair share of wine!

The next morning awaits, with some fun-filled activities which I have never done before...

Nature Excursion - Bamboo Rafting
What a great surprise!

Everyone getting ready to dip in!
The water was cool!

Mr Sixthseal is my partner on bamboo raft.
Equally my driving partner too.

Paddling, paddling and more paddling.
Actually I'm doing most of the paddling and he was busy taking videos.

Hmmm...
Can always stop and pose for the camera.

Some decided to paddle with hands..
Kononnya lebih cepat, tapi rasanya seperti biasa saja.

Huai Bin takes a dip while I paddle back alone.
Always doing his Sixthseal stunts. Read here.

Seriously, the whole journey/event was so well-organised that we all felt disheartened to leave especially to part with our BMW's. Someone came up with the brilliant idea of hijacking the cars right before we turn into KLCC. I would if it's not illegal but then again, I wouldn't want to be wanted for running away with just a RM300k car. If I have to, I would have ran away with a Bugatti Veyron - at least it's value is worth the chase.

The bloggers ec0-drive gang and the organisers...
(Btw, we were posing with the RM20k BMW bicycle in the background)

Bicycle : RM2k, BMW: RM18k, Owning it: Priceless

HAHAHA....

BMW Efficient Dynamics & The Ultimate Driving Machine

My Beaming Beemer *I wished*

Photo taken by Aaron

If you are wondering whether you have been reading the wrong blog or this post is in the wrong blog, I won't blame you. Since when did Eiling ever do a car review? NEVER. Technically, I'm a car noob. Asthetically, I appreciate the design of a car and its speed. That's all I (as a typical lady) cared about anyways.

Ok, so how often one gets to drive a beemer (if you don't own one and so do your parents)? Never. Although I have been chauffeured driven in a 530i, M5, M6 Coupe and a 750i, I actually haven't driven one! So finally, the day has arrived. The day I get to tickle the throttle of a BMW with my own foot of course! It was an imensely good experience.

Before I go on and on about BMW and its Efficient Dynamics products, let me introduce to you my driving partner for 2 days from KL to Hutan Belum in Perak and then back to KL. We were invited by BMW Efficient Dynamics to test drive its new diesel cars!

The notorious Huai Bin from Sixthseal.com.

Yeah, so you can imagine how exciting (or rather dangerous) the driving excursion was for those 2 days. I had to make sure that I was heavily insured and of course I had to also make sure that the airbags are working!



To get a clearer picture of BMW Efficient Dynamics, it is actually a continuous strategy by BMW to reduce fuel consumption and emission levels, while at the same time enhancing the vehicle's performance and driving pleasure. In short, a diesel car need not look, sound and feel like a diesel truck!



So this is a rundown of what I knew about BMW Efficient Dynamics and it's not one but 2 (320d Sports and the 520d Sports Edition) of the 4 new models of the diesel lineup which also includes X3 xDrive20d Executive Edition, and the 730Ld. (Note that: i stands for petrol models and d for diesel in BMW models)

Listening to Aris for instructions.

1. To drive comfortably, you must first know how to sit properly. A perfect car for each person is a car with at least 4 fingers space gap between the top of your head and the car ceiling (is there a technical name for it?). And the legs must be bent for proper braking. One must always know how to operate the car properly to realise the full potential of the car!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Photo taken by Aaron
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. The BMW Advanced Diesel has a 4-cylinder turbodiesel engine with a lightweight aluminium engine block. The 320d, with 177 horsepower and 350 Nm of torque takes just 8 seconds in 0 to 100 km/h acceleration while the bigger 520d takes 8.4 seconds because it's a larger car.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   I like the cool engine start stop button without twisting a key!
   
   
   
   
3. Auto Start Stop function that automatically switches off the engine when the car is at a standstill and in neutral, then restarts it as soon as the driver presses the clutch pedal again. That means if the engine is not running, it's not using any fuel.
   
   
   
   
4. Gear Shift Indicator. The monitor on the dashboard shows the shifting of the gear and also the fuel consumption rate.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Photo taken by Aaron
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Brake Energy Regeneration is when you take your foot off the accelerator, the kinetic energy is captured and channeled to the battery which reduces the power that the battery takes from the engine. This lowers fuel consumption. This is a smart car too. When it is raining, it sends a signal to the braking system to ensure that it is kept dry for better braking on wet and slippery roads. I like!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Photo taken by Aaron
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Taking Corners. I love it when I take corners with the beemer. Taking a bend above 100km/hr is no problem when you have a car like this. I like it how I can instantly switch the gear to sports mode and then lower the gear shift as I come to a curve and then you can switch it back again to normal driving mode after the bend. It sticks on the ground like a lizard!
   
   
   
   
7. Electric Power Steering. If the steering wheel is kept in a constant/straight position while driving, the electric motor is inactive and does not use any energy.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. The 320d does not have the iDrive and you have to go for the 323i for one. However, the 520d comes with an iDrive and I like how you can have a GPS, radio/CD/Multimedia, telephone, BMW services and whole lot of other functions on screen.
   
   
   
   
9. It's so fuel saving that we drove a total of 1000km with a single tank of diesel! For the 320d, the average consumption was around 7 litre/100km on the highway (there were some traffic). For the 520d, the average was around 8.4 litre/100km with quite heavy traffic. This is a big difference compared to a petrol car. The same 5 series petrol BMW that went with us had to refuel twice for the same distance!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. It's so awesome that even the Audi TT has to stop for me. Muahahha....
    
    
    
    

Sometimes, you kinda feel invincible driving that ultimate driving machine. This includes hitting at 180km/hr and don't feel anything like scared and shaky and adrenaline rushing. Probably I'll feel the rush if I have a chance to hit 200km/hr. It also includes overtaking dangerously because you know that you can do it in time! Now that I'm back to driving my own car, I drive very carefully and safely...



Of course, there were concerns with the Euro2M diesel that we have compared to the 4/5M that the Europeans are using now. In fact, half or more cars in Europe is now using diesel and BMW sold more of its diesel models than the petrol ones.

According to BMW, it has done adequate testings to ensure that the engines should be running fine with the Euro 2M fuel and the engines that we get here are the 3M capables and not the 4/5M like those in Europe. Another point to note is that they also removed the DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) due to the sulphur levels of Euro 2M which also means one less thing to replace or fix! haha...

In general, as a car-specs-ignorant-lady-like-me, just ignore all those points and just go get one because all I cared is that it is fast, nice, quiet and makes me look and feel good. Isn't that convincing enough? Oh, and it's fuel-saving and less CO2 to the environment. Need I say more?



(Note: This might sound like an advertorial but it's not because I was really utterly impressed with the sheer ultimate driving pleasure I derived from those two days that we also thought of hijacking the car right before turning into Petronas Twin Towers on the last day.)



Enjoy these short-time-wasting clips:

Me driving the ultimate driving machine with Ivan giving instructions.

Huai Bin having his turn while I camwhore.

The other posts:

My previous post - Diesel Myths

Eyeris - Tickling the Throttle (and other lessons learnt at the BMW Drive)

Saimatkong - BMW 3 Series & 5 Series Diesel Car Test Drive @ Belum Resort

Robb - BMW Drive

Sixthseal - Breakfast @ Mandarin Oriental and Police Escort

Kim - BMW Efficient Dynamics - Day 1

Shaolin Tiger - BMW Eco-Drive Experience - Diesel Rocks!

Suanie - How a Bimmer saved my life...twice

KY - 10 Things I learnt from BMW Drive

Eco-Bloggers Diesel Drive 2009 - The Diesel Myths

I grew up, living 25 years of life, having the wrong perception of diesel. I must admit that I am a noob in petroleum, gas and cars. But I do know very well that my car cannot run without petrol! And so, I was truly enlightened by the BMW and Petronas team during the 2 days of Diesel Drive to Hutan Belum in Perak.



If I could still remember, when I was young, my dad used to have a diesel Pajero as a company car. And that's how the perception of diesel stuck with me for the rest of my life till last week. I used to think it's less-powered, dirty, noisy and it's only for trucks and lorries. Partly it was true because afterall, you do see many trucks and lorries using diesel and the emissions from their exhaust pipes are smoky black! Thus, I think I have an important mission today to bust some of the myths of diesel and diesel engines.



A myth is defined as "a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone." Therefore, what you heard about diesel all these while might be the myths you're stuck with!





Myth #1: Don't assume that everything you heard about diesel or diesel engines is true.

Ivan Khong fueling up.

Photo taken by Aaron

Myth #2 : Diesel powered vehicles are slow, sluggish and underpowered.

That's not true from my real experience with BMW diesel drive last week. The diesel powered vehicles are capable of outstanding performance. Today's diesel engines has the latest in turbocharger and fuel injection technology, which has placed diesels high on the performance scale. Turbochargers tend to improve power at high engine speeds.

Survey from us shows that Efficiency is in line with Dynamics!

Photo taken by Aaron

Myth #3: Diesel are used for towing because of high torque and low horsepower.

Torque, is also called moment or moment in force. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist or twisting force. For example, a small tape motor, the one you find in home audio systems has high RPM, low torque and a large pump motor has low RPM, high torque. And RPM (revolutions per minute) is a unit of frequency of rotation.

While there is some form of truth there, many manufacturers are actually coming out with diesel engine passenger vehicles due to advancement in diesel engine technology and apparently Audi is one of the first to run diesel under racing conditions with reasonably good results too.

Photo taken by Aaron

Myth #4: Diesel engines are loud.



I certainly have experienced this. Don't all trucks and lorries that run on diesel are noisy? This myth was true for the longest of years, but thanks to the innovation of a feature called "pilot injection," modern diesels have become extremely quiet. By introducing a small dose of fuel, just a few ten-thousandths of a second before the main shot of fuel, the combustion is hence "softer" and noise is reduced considerably. The BMW diesel engine powered car is decently quiet.

See Dad, no smoke!

Photo taken by Aaron

Myth #5: There must be smoke, if not no power!



This is the greatest myths of all times. I do see billowing black smoke from trucks and lorries and I was then clouded (pun intended) by the thought that diesel must emit black smoke so that it has power! But today's diesels have come an extremely long way in almost eliminating the unburned fuel and sod formerly associated with diesels. Power and torque can be made without the black smoke.



While older generations of diesel engines are well known for billowing diesel soot (the black smoke emitted from the exhaust pipes), new diesel engines utilize clean diesel technology, such as diesel particulate filters and exhaust gas recirculation systems, to greatly decrease the amount of polluting emissions. In fact, due to breakthroughs in clean diesel technology, diesel engines now emit less harmful greenhouses than a similar sized gasoline engine. And diesel fuel has a 10 percent higher energy content than gasoline and also provides additional lubrication to the engine.

Heng proves that the tissue is still clean!

Photo taken by Aaron

There is a one-to-one relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency. Because diesels are more efficient than conventional cars, they generate less carbon dioxide (about 20% less CO2 I was told) However, diesels emit larger amounts of two other pollutants which are:

• Particulate Matter: Diesel particulates are harmful to human health as well as aesthetically unpleasant.
• Oxides of Nitrogen: While less visible, is a key ingredient in the formation of urban smog, and also can contribute to the formation of acid rain.

So is it a big deal? Well, according to the California Air Resources Board, they are. Currently only a handful of vehicles—from Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW—can pass California's strict diesel emissions guidelines.

We stop by at Gerik Petronas for toilet breaks...

Photo taken by Aaron

Myth #6: It's hard to find diesel fuel/pumps.



Hahahha.... this is so not true. In all 900 Petronas stations nationwide, all of them are equipped with diesel pumps. It's much easier to pump diesel nowadays because the diesel pumps have a smaller pout than the petrol pumps so drivers would not have the pump-wrong-fuel problem again.



Petronas Dynamic Diesel is formulated with superior detergency to prevent injector fouling, excellent corrosion protection and good antifoaming quality, by delivering satisfactory engine performance for optimum power and improved fuel economy. For more info, please log on to their website on their Dynamic Diesel here.

Sashi says, go pump Petronas Dynamic Diesel now!

Photo taken by Aaron

Please correct me if I am wrong. I might know my wines and which region it comes from but when it comes to fuel, I am lost! But I'm slowly but learning more about cars and fuel. I hope you can look at diesel in a different light now and I have put it in a way that even a noob like me would understand. So girls out there, brush up on your diesel knowledge. By the way, the diesel fuel is not BLACK! (I've always thought it is....) *blushes*

Dynamic Teasers?

Weekends are usually quiet for me as I tend to stay a lot at home to keep up with the untouched house chores and car washing. However, last weekend was one of the bests I've ever had! It is indeed a great weekend drive to Belum Rainforest Resort in Perak. And that's because I get to drive a beemer instead of my old-beaten Ford.

These photos are just some teasers on the detail of my weekend excursion to Perak with Huai Bin (my driving partner), KY, Suanie, Kim, Shaolin Tiger, Eyeris, Cheesie, Cindy, Saimatkong and Robb.

Flag off point at KLCC Twin Towers...

First car that Huai Bin and I drove was the BMW 320d (d meaning a diesel model) with the car number plate WTE 6569. You know what, being spontaneously superstitious, I called my dad to buy some 4D just for fun and the number 9569 came out 1st Prize on Magnum 4D! So close yet so far!!! Or else, I might have been able to afford the downpayment!

This is a pretty sight from the rear on the morning we left Belum. Huai Bin was driving the 1st leg in this BMW 520d. I like the WTF (what the f*ck) 5377 number plate! Bought the 4D as well (just in case!)

This was me driving the 2nd leg passing the Jambatan Raja Muda Nazrin (bridge), on the way to Ipoh. The photographer is sitting on the divider when this shot is taken! Cool eh?!!

The Efficient Dynamics run on one tank of diesel for the whole journey from KL to Belum Resort and back!

These are just teasers! More coming your way!

So, what do you think of diesel cars? Please do share your views with me....

Next post : The Diesel Myths