Duking to the Office

I wanted to blog about this weeks ago, almost a few days after I started to use the DUKE Highway towards Damansara. In less than a week, I noticed that the exit route on the opposite side of the road was accessible. This means, in theory, I would be able to use the route from Damansara to Jln Kuching.

So, one day, I took the risk and searched for the route even though I know I would be late for an work if I failed. Heh.....

(Don't worry about the weird sky as this is the car's windshield tinting reacting to the circular polariser on my Nikon D50 which I am too lazy to take it off. Maybe some day.....)

So, you turn off at Jalan Damansara and onto the road towards
the Science Centre and Sri Hartamas. I can tell you this before
hand, that this route is virtually traffic-light free. Yeah!

At the Hartamas junction, keep to the right as if you are going
to Jalan Duta or the NKVE highway. Try not to turn left yet
because if you did, you would end up in Sri Hartamas or the NPE.
And that would be bad.

And so, you will reach this route where it forks out. On the Left
would be the route to the Jln Duta's NKVE entry and to the right
would be the Jalan Duta/Segambut/KL route.

So, you would need to keep to the left. There is a "Jalan
Kuching" sign that tells you to use the right turn off.
Don't do it. Trust me on this.

Now, this is the time to start keeping to the left. Because
in the front, there would be another fork in the road.

See all those cars in the opposite direction? Its the
building up of the morning jam to Damansara

OK, the fork is just right ahead. You will now see the actual
yellow "Jalan Kuching" words in the new sign.

Now, see that left turn? Yep, get ready because the fun
is going to start!

The first fun starts after you take the left turn.
Did I forget to mention that there is a lot of good
turns/conners on this route? Yeah!
But coming from the opposite direction is boring

After that, you will be faced with a nice view of those new Condos,
the ones which looks obscenely expensive, that is. Get ready for
another turn!

Then, there is the big one. This is a nice downhill curve to the right

Whoooo hooo!!! A-ha ha ha ha haa ha ha!

And after that, a nice little S-curve before you meet the
actual main Highway route.

So, you just merge with the road. Nothing
much but a 90Kmh straight stretch.

Now is also a good time to reflect if there was any
hidden speed traps or if your passengers srpung
any leaks in the car....

The front of the Highway is still closed but that is another
matter. As the only exit at the moment is the one which
leads to Jalan Kuching towards the Kepong/Batu Caves

I am beginning to fall asleep already.........
This is a very long stretch which I makes mee feel
vulnerable to speed traps and speeding cars.

And oh, here is the exit. Move along, move along

And the last pleasant surprise from Duke

One final swing to the left....

And a little downhill slope for you to increase speed

To hit the small lazy S-Curve

And you've arrived at Jalan Kuching!

In retrospect, I feel that this route saved me a few minutes as the old route have seven Traffic lights. The backlanes however, would take slightly longer due to the slightly busier than normal traffic behind Kepong and Hartamas backlanes. The alternative route, if there were no 25 minute jams, would reduce my journey to about 18 minutes but I can only try this on a Saturday. As soon as I get my Nokia 5800 back from repairs, I am going to take a video of this journey.

Oh, did I tell you about my Nokia 5800? It refused to retain charge even though I have it on the charger for more than 12 hours.