This
is the part one of my Johor- Singapore trip. Second part link here*
Hello
everybody! After the brief part time job in July, I decided to travel to south
Johor state and Singapore. The reason for me to do is because I rarely been to
the Southern part of Johor state of Malaysia. Meanwhile, the last I had been to
Singapore was 9 years ago before for me this time travelling there again…
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| Singapore downtown... Part 2 will be talking more about it... |
In
that trip, I had travelled 3 destinations which 2 were in Johor state and
Singapore.
·
Johor
is considered as one of the large states in West Malaysia. Basically, Johor
already covered the majority southern part of Peninsular Malaysia or also known
as West Malaysia. It is the only state with two coastlines facing to
Malacca Straits and South China Sea as well as the only state in Malaysia which
shares border with Singapore, a small city state. Most of the Johor economy
hub is in the southern part of Johor also known as Iskandar region. Southern
part of Johor is thriving and being much benefited due to its proximity with
neighboring country, Singapore. In Iskandar region, Johor Bahru especially, the
Singaporeans spend their money when the national celebrations or occasions are
around the corner. This made Iskandar region an economy hub with highest cost
of living in the Johor State (compared to the northern Johor and eastern
Johor).
·
For Singapore, it was being part of
Malaysia, but it got its independence since 9th of August 1965 due
to political and racial tensions reason with Malaysia federation in the 60’s.
Then, the Singapore founding father, the late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew who was a visionary
leader being able to develop Singapore from a fishing village into the city
with first world kind of living and facilities. That was really a
miracle as Singapore a nation without any natural resources also could
develop to this date first world status, which is largely due to their leaders
and civilians were good in managing resources effectively and being creative
and innovative in searching for resources. Well… This year, I made my plan to
visit Singapore on its eve of National Day (9th of August) was to
get to look their amenities and of course food and culture there compared to in
Malaysia.
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| Pontian Kecil main T-junction to Johor Bahru and Batu Pahat. |
In the first day of the trip (7th
August 2019), I departed from express bus station of KL
TBS (Terminal Bas Bersepadu) to
Pontian Kecil, Johor in the early morning. It took about 4 to 5 hours to reach
there. Upon reaching there, I was hungry and craving for their own local
delicacies. Under the hot and scorching sun, I had finally found a restaurant
which was specialized in cooking for wanton noodle. There had a few choices of
wanton noodles such as ketchup sauce, chili sauce or dark soy source wanton
noodle. However, ketchup or chili sauce wanton noodle were the norm for the
locals there to patronize there, according to the owner of the wanton noodle
restaurant. The picture below was the ketchup wanton noodle that I had order,
it cost only RM5.00…
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| Ketchup Wanton Mee. |
After finishing my lunch, I simply strolled around
the town of Pontian Kecil, Johor… Pontian Kecil, Johor is used to be small fishing
village in Pontian District back then, however, as the time goes by, it is gradually
developed into a small township that is connected with the other eco-tourism
places in the district such as Kukup Fishing Village, Kukup Island and Tanjung
Piai National Park. Pontian Kecil is also a gateway to Pekan Nanas (the then
largest Pineapple can industrial area) and Johor Bahru too. Due to its proximity
with Johor Bahru and Singapore, many people from there will come there to have
a short vacation in Pontian Kecil. Here are the photos of Pontian Kecil of mine
there…
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| Pontian Seaside Recreation Park. |
In the evening roughly 3 o’clock, I took an
intercity bus from Pontian Kecil to Larkin Terminal, Johor Bahru. The bus trip
cost me for RM5.40 and it took roughly an hour to reach the destinations.
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| Pontian - Larkin Johor Bahru intercity bus. |
Upon
reaching there, I immediately took a grab car to the so-called hotel. I was shocked
when I reached to the hotel, it was a renovated bungalow guest house. The guest
housekeeper told me this guest house was the most budget hotel in Johor Bahru.
I booked that guest house room for RM30.00 without any facilities that will
have in hotel room such as air-conditioning and water heater shower.
Fortunately, there was a toilet in my room, so I need not to share with others.
This guest house name is Southern Guest House located in Stulang Darat, Johor
Bahru. It was
also roughly 10 mins to the CIQ Malaysian side customs.
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| The guest house room I booked |
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| 5-10 mins walking distance to CIQ Malaysia customs |
In the
night, I came to JB city center to have my dinner. My first dinner there was
McDonalds in City Square Mall. It is unusual as City Square Mall that time were
jostled so much Singaporeans than Malaysians. It was easy to distinguish
whether they were Singaporeans or not by listening to their conversations. Normally,
Singaporeans tend to speak more in English compared to speaking in Malay, Mandarin
Chinese and Tamil regardless of their races. So, it was so fascinating for me
lah…
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| An alley nearby Jalan Wong Ah Fook at night |
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| Jalan Wong Ah Fook at night |
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