To be precise, the job of a driver-guide is to explain to the guests the scenery or local food while driving. I have always enjoyed this kind of work.

It’s somewhat like a self-drive tour. The only difference is that travellers hire someone familiar with the place to drive them around and explain the sights along the way. Travel experts call this “hire & drive”. What makes such an operation interesting is that we often learn to see things of the outside world from these foreign guests.

We drove along Route 4 and onward to Route 1, and then drove into the colonial style double-decker ferry towards Penang island. The Australian travellers were seen busily snapping pictures during the short half-hour ferry ride as if they were about to publish a travel book of some sort!

In fact, Australia used to be a British colony, too. What thrilled them was the historical similarities between the Straits Settlements and their home country. One of them said in excitement: Lee, it looks like my home! She couldn’t wait to see the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower standing beside a traffic circle outside the Penang port, along with Fort Cornwallis. I told her: We have a lot more than that, like the unique Snake Temple… .

Actually, the 3D2N Penang stopover was a little too rushy for our guests coming all the way from Australia. Kek Lok Si and the Botanical Gardens alone would take up half a day!

Besides the colonial buildings which they loved so much, the local Nyonya culture, Penang food and other little things such as road name & etc have made the island a piece of travel gem.

While the way these Mat Sallehs travel might look care-free and aimless, in reality they were adopting a typical “see as you go” mentality, which was what I felt I needed to learn. I loved chatting with them in private, from there I would get some idea how they thought about Southeast Asia.

Upon leaving the island, I asked them what Penang impressed them most. They told me long stories of people and things they saw, and that the coconut milk chendol was irresistibly good. OK, that was my 34 years back!

Now back on the Federal Route 1, the main arterial road on Reliance’s Batik Route known for breathtaking scenery and colourful social fabric. We made a brief stop at Taiping Lake before going to Ipoh railway station for its stunning colonial architecture. After that we drove into the Old Town for the fabulous Ipoh white coffee and then proceeded to Kampar for the famous curry chicken bun. Although curry chicken bun was popular among Asian visitors, these Mat Sallehs were just as eager to savour it. “Let me try!”

There were plenty of roadside stalls along the main arterial road selling all kinds of local stuff such as petai, pomelos and chempedak which attracted the attention of our guests with their looks and smells. But where’re the durians?

Next, we would stay two nights in Cameron Highlands. Back then Cameron was still not yet overdeveloped like what it is today. All we had were tea gardens, vegetable farms, flower orchards and forests. We stayed at Strawberry Park, and went to the Smokehouse for English afternoon tea, followed by a leisurely jungle walk in the evening. Occasionally they would yell in astonishment at the sight of a withered Rafflesia, the world’s biggest flower. The weird thing is, they could tell you everything about this unique plant. Looks like they really did their homework before coming here!

Leaving Cameron, we drove along the meandering road flanking the Main Range before joining Route 1 again in Tapah, making a brief stop at the little town of Kuala Kubu Bharu en route to KL, where we visited Batu Caves, KL railway station, Moorish buildings, Chinatown, museum and the national monument. I nevertheless had a feeling they were unimpressed.

In historic Melaka, another Straits Settlement, they proposed that we should stay two nights next time because they were so fascinated with the old buildings and cultural legacies on Jonker Walk. Indeed, there’s so much to see, from the Melaka Sultanate to the Portuguese, Dutch, British and the Japanese, and no one would ever get bored!

Our guests had a very fruitful and enjoyable trip going round the Malay Peninsula. As for me, the trip prompted me to rethink the “global village” notion as well as many questions that never before came to me, having spent several days with foreign tourists for the first time in my life.

Sending them back to the Singapore hotel, I told them: Goodbye! I’ll see you again, probably in Australia?

More in the Isshōkenmei series

(Lee San is Founder and Group Executive Chairman of Apple Vacations. He has travelled to 132 countries, six continents, and enjoys sharing his travel stories and insights. He has also authored five books.)