Welcome to Old Town Spring

Spring is a suburb just North of Houston. This town is having major development during these few years. But Spring, is not a new town by itself. This town was establish in the late 1800s and go through modernization in 1910s.

With all the development happening around Spring, the community chose to retain the old town and preserve it. So now, the town is known as Old Town Spring. This two streets are fulled with charming and rustic old shops, fire house and US Post Office.

Toy shop that still sells toys

This is the ice cream shop. the best.

School

Antique shop

The US Post Office.

Now this town has become a tourist attraction not only to outsiders but provides as a relaxing weekend walk to the locals. Me and a bunch of friends visit this on Sunday evening. The weather was cold but pleasant. We parked nearby with a fee of $5. I always love seeing charming little cottage and antique shops. What makes it more interesting is that the business is open.

I choose to buy an ice cream shop at a local cafe. It was a small and old cafe with equipments dated back to the 70s. The ice cream was so good! I pick Strawberry which has frozen strawberries in it. The portion was very generous.

We all walked both streets and passed by few shops - it is interesting on how many tarot cards stall are here though. I did not buy anything other than the ice cream. To the locals, Old town Spring is famous for it's crawfish festival every February.

I have to be honest that I actually Google-ed "Driving in USA" before I arrived here. Driving on the wrong side of the road is intimidating. I am not gonna drive for a couple of hours but for months! I knew, however, that this awkwardness will last about 2-3 days.

My rental car is a Chrysler which is a full size car. Despite of that, Texan particularly Houstonian drove big cars. Have you seen the size of the pick-up trucks? Monstrosity I tell you. Not like our usual Toyota Hilux in KL. It is tall and huge.

So far, I drove all the way to East Houston, quite near to Galveston. My longest drive would be in couple of weeks when I will be overnighting in San Antonio.

So Malaysians/Asians/Britons, here's the tips and tricks of driving in the USA:

1. They drive fast.
In Houston Interstate that is. The speed limit is around 60-65 MPH, but the drivers usually drives about 70-80 MPH. They are really fast including the trucks. Stay on the farthest right if you are driving slow or according to speed limit. Do not drive to slow or you'll get pull over by the Po-po.

2. Trucks everywhere
Big 18 wheeler trucks are normal at the Interstate and don't be shocked to see them driving on the left lane (fastest lane).

3. Speed traps and Po-po
Well, certain area such as the Houston Downtown area are infested with speed cam and even police standing by the side road holding a speed gun. Try to follow the speed limit or be average. They said ~5 MPH over speed limits are fine.

4. Interstate vs. Freeway vs. Tollway
Yes, it is confusing at first. Interstate is the long stretch of highway connecting states and city. In Texas, the famous Interstate is the 610, 10 and 290 and in Houston we use I45. Interstates road are toll free. This is considered as the main highways.

Freeway or Feeder as the name suggest is free and it is located next to the Interstate. From the Interstate you can exit the highway to the Freeway to get to your destination. Freeway serves as an alternative road that goes with the same direction as the Interstate. the difference is that Freeways has a lot of traffic lights. Sometimes you can avoid the jam on Interstate by exiting to the Freeway. There is ramp to/from Interstate every 2 miles or so.

Tollway or Expressway is a bypass paid route. (yes, toll!) Normally the toal costs around $1.00 and mostly will be electronically operated. Your car rental are equipped with EZTag so just go through the EzTag lanes which is ON THE LEFT! Otherwise, there are also the exact change booth and ash booth.

5. Fuel cost in USA 
Fuel costs differs from states, city and service station. In LA the fuel is $3 a gallon while in Texas, the fuel costs around $1.37 per gallon. Feel free to choose the station or oil providers. How to refill fuel? Credit cards are the best. Here, you choose fuel by pressing on the buttons on the pump instead of lifting the desired nozzle like in Malaysia.