Johor and Singapore trip 2019 (7/8/19 - 9/8/19) part 2 - Singapore One Day Trip from Johor bahru

This is the part two of my Johor and Singapore trip. Part one click link here…

Jalan Wong Ah Fook and Sungai Segget, Johor Bahru.

In the next early morning (8/8/19), I walked from the guest house to the CIQ Malaysia checkpoint in order to get into Singapore. The reason why I wanted to get into Singapore on that timing was to get to feel their National Day’s eve atmosphere as well as I had been 9 years for me didn’t visit there. The Malaysian’s side customs checking was very fast, nevertheless, it was getting slower and long queue when I reached to Singaporean’s side of customs - Woodlands, Singapore. Fortunately, it took less than 20 minutes in order to get my passport stamped there.

Malaysia CIQ checkpoint

There were 2 types of buses get us into Singapore downtown area, which were…

·       CW02 Causeway Link Express Bus from CIQ Malaysia Customs to Singapore Queen Street.

·       170 or 160 or 160x SBS Transit Bus from Larkin Terminal, Johor Bahru to Singapore Queen Street.

Waiting for CW02 express bus

After arriving to Queen Street, I followed a group of people heading to the nearest Bugis MRT station. Then, I made myself an Ez-Link Card there. Ez-Link card is like Singapore version of Touch n Go (Malaysia), where it can literally take you to everywhere in terms of the usageof public transportation. Also, it is being sold at each of the MRT stations as well as nearest 7-eleven stalls in Singapore. I bought Ez-Link card for 12 SGD and 7 SGD was usable.

Ez-Link Card.

Singapore is a small city state, one can easily reach to a destination by just commuting the designated MRT. It was a few stations to reach to Chinatown from Bugis station (along Downtown Line)Chinatown in Singapore, in the previous time, known as Kreta Ayer (Corrupted Malay of “Kereta Air” and in Mandarin Chinese is called as 牛车水). There basically are a variety of Chinese delicacies there for us to give a try… I went to the Hawker center there to try Singapore Hokkien Mee, it was differed than in Penang and Kuala Lumpur styles of hokkien mee… It was indeed stir-fried prawn hokkien mee… I also had visited the Buddhist tooth relic temple there in Chinatown. Here are the photos in Chinatown, Singapore.

Mosque Street, Chinatown (Kreta Ayer), Singapore.

Singaporean Stir fried Hokkien Mee...

After finish visiting Chinatown, I took MRT to Marina Bay there to have a view of Singapore Skyscrapers. These picturesque photos of mine gave a sense of Singapore is so prosperous city compared to in Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia. The pictures below were showing Marina Bay, Merlion Park and Financial Hub of Singapore, Victoria Theatre, National Gallery Singapore as well as parlimen and supreme court of Singapore.

Victoria Theatre of Singapore

Parliament of Singapore

Oh yah, I also got visited Singapore National Museum (reachable from Bras Basah, Circle Line MRT and Bencoolen, Downtown Line MRT stations), Their museum collections were almost similar with Malaysia until 1965. Post-independence Singapore was totally different from Malaysia already... It had becoming more united, prosperous and thriving first class nation while Malaysia still have a minor racial tension issues. Oh yah... It is free entrance for Singaporeans, but for non Singaporean Citizens it cost 15SGD and Student Price cost 10SGD.

Singapore National Museum nearby Bras Basah and Bencoolen MRT stations.

The late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew

There was also a place that I did like to visit in Singapore before I was departing to Malaysia. Originally, I intended to visit Geylang of Singapore, a place where prostitution and brothel were legalized there (to have a look of the red-light street). Unfortunately, I went wrong place to Geylang Bahru. Geylang Bahru is just a house planning area with nothing much there. Hence, I just seek for anything to consume there, oh yah I found Singaporean Chicken Rice stall there. Then, I ordered their pork char siew rice, instead of chicken rice… (both the same price SGD 2.50). That stall did offer Char Siew Rice and Chicken Rice, I tried only Char Siew Rice there, the taste just as same as in Malaysia, no difference.

Geylang Bahru MRT station.

Char Siew Rice

In conclusion, Singaporean foods are cheap for them, but for me and the other Malaysians those are so expensive. We pay x3 times to purchase foods which are almost similar with Malaysia.

Checking the time on my watch it was still early to go back to Singapore, that timing was at 4pm. So, I decided to go to the nearby Queen Street bus terminal place to loiter around – Kampong Glam. Kampong Glam is the Arab-Malay enclave in Singapore downtown area. There have lots of Arabian, Mamak and Malay eateries stalls and restaurants lah… For me, it is still more or less the same foods as in Malaysia, no difference as well as these foods Malaysians could find it nearly at all roadsides, mamak or simply a restaurant in Malaysia. So, I didn’t order food there instead. Here are the photos I captured there…

Arab Street

Masjid Sultan, Singapore.

Finally, 5:00pm, it was the time for me to go back to Johor Bahru, Malaysia. I took SBS transit bus 170 from Queen Street to Woodlands custom. As compared to CW02 express bus, this SBS transit bus stopped station to station. It took about slightly more an hour to reach to Kranji Sungei Kadut and there was really congested amid the eve of Singapore’s National Day. I was literally “genius” as I didn’t care about bus driver’s advice of that day would be really jam and took alternative express bus or MRT to customs. After being stuck in the traffic for roughly 30 minutes, I had decided to walk from Kranji to Checkpoint of Woodlands in a bid of going back to JB as fast as possible...

Here are the photos I had taken along the way to the Woodlands checkpoint. Sungei Kadut to Woodlands checkpoint was roughly 5km, it took me a solid an hour to reach there. Then, waiting at the checkpoint there to get my passport checked and yeah! I finally made my way back to Malaysia by crossing the causeway bridge.

Walking 5km to Checkpoint from Kranji, Singapore.

That was my first-time crossing causeway bridge by foot. It was being said that Johor Bahru – Woodlands Causeway Bridge was length about 2km. That was indeed a “leg day” for me. Tiring experience.

Causeway bridge towards JB

Malaysia CIQ checkpoint

Speaking of tiring, look at this picture… There were many people including me queuing up at Malaysian Citizens electronic passport checking line… Again, this is also my first time to see that crowd in order to getting back to Malaysia.

On the next day 9/8/19 - Singapore's National day, it was the last day for me in Johor Bahru. After I had check-out from the guesthouse, I simply strolled in the JB city centre.

Here are the places I had strolled around before going back to Kuala Lumpur.

Stulang Laut, stulang laut is a suburb which is facing towards Johor Straits and Singapore. Stulang Laut also has its duty-free zone shopping mall as well as ferry services to Batam, Indonesia and Singapore (Harbour city or Changi).

Stulang Laut beach

Foon Yew Independent High School

And then these temples as well as Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim…

Johor Chinese Old Temple

Arulmigu Rajamariamman Devasthanam Temple.

Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim

Okay… time to end this blog post regarding of Southern Johor and Singapore. Initially, before visiting to both Johor Bahru and Singapore, I thought that living in Johor Bahru and working in Singapore was a good idea. Until… I had visited both places, my delusion was totally disappeared. Yes, you can get three times (x3) more money in terms of currency there in Singapore, however, you are indirectly sacrificing your health and money by sleeping late and waking up early in order to get to there almost everyday basis. For me, I will stay in a place and get a job in that place (eg: Live in JB, work in JB or Live in SG, work in SG).

Alright, that’s all of my today’s blog post. I hope you all are enjoying reading my blog. Please do subscribe to my blog too. Thank you, see you guys in the next blog post.

Johor and Singapore trip (7/8/19 - 9/9/19) part 1 - Pontian and Johor Bahru

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…

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 9^th 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 (9^th of August) was to get to look their amenities and of course food and culture there compared to in Malaysia.

Pontian Kecil main T-junction to Johor Bahru and Batu Pahat.

In the first day of the trip (7^th 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…

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…

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.

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.

The guest house room I booked

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… 

An alley nearby Jalan Wong Ah Fook at night

Jalan Wong Ah Fook at night

Promoter Job Experience at Sunway Velocity (5/7/19 - 7/7/19)

Hello everybody! Have you all ever heard of Heineken 0.0 Zero percent alcohol beer* before? If you have not heard before, then this blogpost will have a brief expose regarding this newly launched non-halal product in the market to you guys...

Basically, I've got a part time job as a promoter of Heineken Zero at Sunway Velocity Mall, Kuala Lumpur from 5th of July till 7th of July which was a month ago. Prior of going to work, there was a product training session done by the event company and every new part timers of that company were required to attend the training session. Product training session is in fact a norm of all event or promoter company as it is done to ensure all the promoters convey the correct and accurate selling points of that particular product to the customers. Therefore, the next paragraph I will talk more about selling points of Heineken Zero...

Heineken Zero is an almost zero percent alcohol content drink. Its targeted market are those who could not bear with significant alcohol percentage drinks. "Now You Can" is the prominent and catchy slogan of Heineken Zero in a bid of spreading the message that it is suitable to be drank at almost every occasion in our daily life, such as drinking before driving, drinking after working out, drinking during lunch and meeting. However, it is still regarded and labelled as non-halal beverage just like ordinary Heineken other products. This is because it still remained more or less 0.05%* of alcohol content after undergoing alcohol extraction process. Besides, it is still having the same great taste as usual Heineken beers as it has undergone the fermentation process along with regular Heineken beers prior of undergoing alcohol extraction process.

Me as a promoter

Although I had explained these features and selling points of that product, however, many of the customer still refrained from buying and even trying Heineken Zero. Some of them gave me a direct reason of not buying Heineken Zero is that these zero percentage alcohol beer is tasteless and making them hardly to be drunk. Yeap, that's right... Most of the customers purchase alcohol there were to get the feeling of "getting drunk", instead of having consciousness after a few drinks. The following reason I got them is that this newly launch Heineken Zero is being too expensive for them to purchase. Indeed, Heineken Zero there was selling at higher price compared to regular Heineken beer. So, there was a rhetoric that "would you buy an expensive beer but taste more like Barley with water and very little alcohol percentage?", definitely not, right? These drawbacks didn't deter my spirit from pushing the sales of Heineken Zero. In fact, actually there's quite a number of people bought that Heineken Zero after I persuading them to give it a try. Besides, I should thank to my supervisor and the other promoter friends there too for helping me to push the sales a little.

The other promoters and supervisor there were nice. They had helped me to draw some customers towards my booth to try Heineken Zero. Then, my supervisor was also sparing out the time to guide me on how to set up the booth and where to keep the booth after the working hours. In fact, he told me that when he was a promoter, the supervisor usually rarely shown up to help and guide you to set up booth and draw customer towards the booth. Then, we had a chance to have chit chat when there was no crowd in the mall yet. Apart from that, the other promoters there were willing to exchange their sampling product with mine in order to get to taste Heineken Zero product. Therefore, It was quite enjoying and fun to have part time job there for a few days, indeed...

What inside of the booth. A beer chiller container with a tap to draw excess water out from there.

Ice making machine...

Alright, that's all of my today's blog post. I could say that promoter job is an easy job as long as you practice communicate and dare to speak with customers. Previously, I had a thought that promoter job is very hard as it requires us to speak all details thoroughly to the customers. However, it turns out to be in the opposite way; when a promoter stumble upon a few of customers, all you need to tell them is just some key selling points of that particular product and asserting that now there have a free tester to try and some promotion offers to them. Ya, in fact, it is better to use KISS aka "Keep It Short and Simple" approach towards the customers as we may not know they are interested to it or not.Lastly, it was also an opportunity for me broaden my social circle as I met some experienced promoter friends there and a nice supervisor.

See you all in the next blogpost, bye...

Seremban One Day Trip 28th of June (Public Transport in Seremban and Big Bad Wolf Bookfair)

Hello everybody! I am back here again...

Well, my first year sem 2 semester break was officially started by 20th of June 2019 till end of August (you may click on this link to read my blog post regarding of the end of Semester 2). For me, it's too bored for me just to keep staying at the same location for the whole semester break even though I, myself have found a few part time jobs as well as doing workout and gardening at home. Therefore, I had made use of my time to have a short trip to the nearest town or city in Kuala Lumpur, which is Seremban.

Seremban downtown, Jalan Dato' Kelana

The reasons for me opting to travel to Seremban was because of recent Big Bad Wolf Bookfair at Mydin Seremban 2. I had never been going for any of Big Bad Wolf Bookfair before (but, I go for Popular Bookfest Malaysia every year), that's why I was taking this opportunity to make a visit there. Besides, personally I myself never really been to Seremban city before, almost all the time I am just passing by Seremban when I am going to any of the southern places in Peninsula Malaysia as well as Singapore. In fact, from my personal view, I think that Seremban city is just like a passing-by city when someone is going to further south (Melaka or Johor) or Singapore. So, this blog post is going to talk about brief facts, public transportation and Big Bad Wolf Bookfair in Seremban.

Seremban is the capital city of Negeri Sembilan state. It is once known as "Sungai Ujong" (End of the river) and had been flourished and thrived after discovery of tin ore (bijih timah) nearby there in the 19th century. Basically, all the development of modern history of that place, Seremban is almost similar to what was happening in other Federated Malay States of Britain in the late 19th century. The only difference compared to the other Malay States is the establishment of the state.

Historical map of Negeri Sembilan state

The establishment of Negeri Sembilan state in Malaysia has a distinct story to be told. It was once made up by 9 of the smaller districts which majorly of whom were Minangkabau descendants. However, Negeri Sembilan states in present has only 7 districts as some of them were been transferred and annexed into the neighbouring Malay states under British Colonisation. Minangkabau is an unique sub-ethnic of Malay which is from the West Sumatera. Unlike the other Malay ethnic, Minangkabau practices Adat Perpatih (Maternal Customary) in their life compared to the Malay in the other states where they adhered to Adat Temenggung (Paternal Customary) in their life. Moreover, their state leader (Yamtuan Besar) was chosen by each smaller districts democratically. Besides, Minangkabau architecture is somewhat distinct from the other Malay architectures. Their houses built with croissant alike rooftop which are also known as Rumah Gadang. Rumah Gadang can be seen everywhere in Negeri Sembilan. Here are the pictures of Minangkabau architecture in Seremban... So, this is why Negeri Sembilan state is somewhat unique in Peninsula Malaysia.
Minangkabau style....

Alright, I will talk about my trip in Seremban. My trip began by commuting LRT from Kinrara BK5 station to LRT Bandar Tasik Selatan, then change to commute KTM train to Seremban. It took more than an hour to reach the destination. Upon reaching there, I walked to Terminal 1 Seremban. Terminal 1 Seremban is the integrated bus station in Seremban which is enable travellers or city dwellers travel from one place to another place. It has express bus services which take us to the almost all the states in Peninsula Malaysia as well as Singapore. Then, it has the local public bus service, which is known as MyBus. MyBus takes us to travel within the city of Seremban and to the other townships in Negeri Sembilan such as Port Dickson, Nilai and Jelebu. In fact, Terminal 1 Seremban is within walking distance from KTM Seremban train station. Once I arrived there, I immediately find for a bus to commute to Seremban 2. After searching for few minutes, finally I've found a bus to Mydin Mall in Seremban 2.

KTM station Bandar Tasik Selatan.

Terminal 1 Seremban bus station

KTM station of Seremban

Speaking of Big Bad Wolf Bookfair, I thought it will be so grand just like what had in Popular Bookfest Malaysia at KLCC. However, after arriving there, the exhibition was not that big and it was held at the shopping mall carpark lots. I went there just to read a few books and then go back to Seremban city again. The difference of Big Bad Wolf books exhibition compared to Popular Bookfest Malaysia are that Bookfest Malaysia charges entrance fee and it is annually done under air-conditioned big hall. Oh ya, Big Bad Wolf Bookfair does have their largest bookfair annually at The Mines but the crowd is still lesser than in Bookfest Malaysia one.

I took grab car service from Seremban 2 to Seremban downtown. Seremban city downtown is quite big and has some tourist destinations such as Seremban Lake Garden, Centipede Chinese Temple and Pasar Besar Seremban. Unfortunately, I only managed to visit Pasar Besar Seremban which was the nearest place I can go by walking in Seremban downtown due to time was constraining.
Here are some photos of Seremban town centre...

The famous Pasar Besar Seremban

Alright, that's all of my one day trip in Seremban. Seremban's public transportion efficiency is still not yet on par with in Klang Valley one... I hope one day, Seremban's public transportation will be improve in terms of efficiency and facilities so that it will be an ease for the tourist to travel in Seremban as well as in Negeri Sembilan. That's all about my blog post. Hope you enjoy reading my blog post. Thank you, see you guys in the next time...

Throwback of my last year longest part time job...

Hello everybody...

This blog post is going to a brief summary of my last year longest part time job... (Dec 2017 till Mid of March 2018)

I was so fortunate to have a chance to get to experience office job by December 2017. That was during the period when I had just finished my STPM examination and waiting for results to be announce on early March 2018. After a week of getting my STPM result, then I quitted the job.

Basically that job is known as personal assistant aka general clerk for two of the Unit Sales of Manager of Insurance Company in Maluri, Kuala Lumpur. I was kinda shocked when I was told to work for two bosses (my initial thought was just serving for a boss). My job scopes there, for me, were moderately challenging back then. They assigned me to do quotation on the customer demand basis, key in data of policy summaries as well as calling to medical centre to urge for medical report of customers. Some of the Ad-hoc tasks, they did also ask me to do. For example, one of them threw to me an abundance unsorted documents for me to sort out...

Initially, I got my momentum to work until a certain time, perhaps it was a month later, I almost lost all my momentum to work. When at that time I had lost of my momentum to work, I began to simply doing work. This made them so frustrated, I even got warning and salary deduction twice (ouch*). The second time of salary deduction really got me triggered and I immediately quitted doing that job. After more than a year, I am looking back of it, then I felt like I was wrong, I shall keep myself motivated when working so I can get work done easily.

In conclusion, we should always keep ourselves in positive so that we will be able to get through life easily. Positivity is just like a magnet, when we have it, then it will attracts more positivity into our life. Gradually, this will greatly reduce ours tendency towards negative thinking, complaining and whining all the time. Complaining and whining won't help in solving the problems. The best way to be positive in life is to approach more positive thinking person, exercising regularly and read some positive vibes articles. 

Febuary's trip: Northern Expedition of Peninsula Malaysia and Thailand (13/2/19 - 15/2/19) finale

Resuming from the previous part, part 2

On the last day of our trip (15/2/19), that guest house host brought to tour around the prestigious Melati Lake (Tasik Melati) in Perlis. It is just few kilometers away from the town centre as well as Beseri town of Perlis. Indeed, Tasik Melati has an appealing scenery which is able to lure morning joggers to jog around the lake while enjoy looking the scenery. For me, I felt that lake is like the miniture version of Taiping Lake in Perak which has a calm and tranquil scenery along with beautifully designated pavilions on the lake for the joggers and visitors to take a break...

Here are few photos of Tasik Melati, Perlis.

Harumanis Country House host and me

After visiting Tasik Melati, it was the time for me to say goodbye to Perlis State. I was about to depart to Kuala Lumpur (going back to face the reality). That host sent me to the nearest KTM station in order to go back to Kuala Lumpur. Upon arriving to there, I realized that the ticket from Perlis to KL Sentral was sold out already. Therefore, I ended up to have a backup plan to commute Komuter from Arau, Perlis to Butterworth, Penang first since I have relative staying there as well as I could make use that chance to travel in Georgetown, Penang.

Magnificent view of the scenery in Arau, Perlis

I need not to explain much of Penang, since Penang (island part) is usually regarded as the popular tourist destinations and heritage site among the foreigners. 

Here are a few photos of mine when I had my 'touch n go' visit in Penang island. 

Ferry service from Penang Sentral (Butterworth) to Penang Island

After finishing my 'touch n go' daytrip, I took ferry back to mainland again to meet my aunt. She treated me with the local delicacies there such as Laksa and Cendol. Then, she brought to visit the nearest temples in Butterworth such as Tow Boo Kong (9th Emperor Temple)...

Then, I booked express bus to depart from Butterworth to Kuala Lumpur in the evening. That was the end of my Northern Expedition of Peninsula Malaysia. We may have explore so many mainstream tourist places in Malaysia, however, we can't not try to visit some rural and not mainstream places in Malaysia. Although these places may seem to be so rural and outback compared to the renowned tourist destinations, but these places indeed are hidden with the tourism potential to be discovered.

Alright, that's all for this series of travelogue sharing. I hope you guys enjoy reading it. Be sure to subscribe to my google+ and my blogger account. Tqvm. See you in the next time, bye.