Secluded Johor Bharu - Part 7

9 - 12 July 2012

Little India of JB

Do you know that JB has its own Little India? Well, I didn't. So, it was a pleasant surprise especially when it came to food. The most popular restaurant is Nila Restaurant which seemed to be always full. The choices for breakfast are plenty. In fact, they have two restaurants in the same vicinity. 

All photos are copyrighted. Do tell if you need to use them. I can be reached at sivakay2009@gmail.com.

Secluded Johor Bharu - Part 6

9 - 12 Dec 2012

Bujang Firefly – Dinner and River Cruise

From Desaru, we headed to Bujang Firely Floating Restaurant for a nice seafood dinner and to end the day on a boat watching fireflies. We went for a set package dinner (RM65) with some add-ons which came up to RM70. Not bad as we had 4 plates of rice,  steamed fish, fried squids, green vege baby kalian, tom yam soup, fried eggs and fruit drinks. Taste was average but service was fast and staff friendly. 

Lebam River - seen from the boat

At about this time it started to drizzle. I could see the disappointment on the boys' faces as they know that you cannot see fireflies on a rainy day but thank god it stopped. By 8pm we were seated in the river cruiser with life jackets on for our night cruise on Sungai Lebam (Lebam River). I can’t explain the experience but this trip is one I would strongly recommend as it was so beautiful. Lost for words. 

The restaurant - can you see the ferry ?

There were colonies of fireflies sitting on their favourite ‘berembang’ trees all along the river. Seems they live in the mangrove swamp feeding on the leaves.

Those are the 'berembang' tress

The guide cleverly threw small amounts of water scooped from the river on some branches especially the low lying ones and out flew the fireflies flickering their lights for all to see. The boat was maneuvered quite to the edge to give us a closer look and at one time the boat hit a branch mildly and many flew so near to us. Some children caught some and were ever so mindful not to squash them. Harish held one in his closed palm and gently let it go later. The firefly has a lifespan of only 15 days.

At the entrance

Really everyone, this MUST be experienced. We couldn’t take pictures as it could scare the fireflies away and all of us were silent except when they emerged people went 'oohh' and 'aahh' and 'wow'. It was a great way to end our Johor trip.

The tickets are RM20 for adults and RM15 for children below 12. The cruise lasts for about 30-45 minutes. Life jackets are provided. The roads leading up to this place is rather hidden so please do some research before heading there. If you are planning to go to Desaru, include this in your itenirary.

All photos are copyrighted. Do tell if you need to use them. I can be reached at sivakay2009@gmail.com.

Secluded Johor Bharu - Part 3

9 - 12 Dec 2012

A Night Visit to Danga Bay

By 5pm, we had freshened up and left the hotel heading towards Danga Bay. This waterfront themepark was easy to locate as there were plenty of road signages for direction . Soon we were driving past the Straits of Tebrau. 

The coastal road along Tebrau Straits

We stopped awhile at the bridge to take in the breeze and see the famous Causeway that links Malaysia to Singapore. In fact Singapore is visible from the Straits.

Singapore visible from JB

At  Danga Bay, we watched the sunset, spent time at the amusement park, visited the dining places and strolled on a tricycle. 

The ferry cruise available at Danga Bay

The tricycle 

For dinner that night, we just packed food and ate in the hotel room. If you like spicy Indian food, give Restoran Nila in JB town a try. Food is tasty including the rice.

All photos are copyrighted. Do tell if you need to use them. I can be reached at sivakay2009@gmail.com.

Secluded Johor Bharu - Part 5

9 - 12 Dec 2012

All the Way to Desaru

We scouted for Desaru Beach in the road-map of JB provided by the hotel and bingo, we decided to head there. This was a last minute plan as we ran out of things to do in JB. Do you know that Johor is the only state in Malaysia which has 400 km of beach stretching on both its east and the west coast? So how can we NOT do one of its beaches, right?.

After a good breakfast at Restaurant Nila, we started for Desaru which is 98km from JB. Not very near. So,we took the Senai-Desaru Expressway hoping to reach there fast. 

The touch-n-go card ; u need this to pay toll - just get it at the rest stop

This expressway was completed in 2011 and connects Senai in western Johor to Desaru in eastern Johor and it measures a total length of 77 km. Massive expressway.

Nearing the bridge

The best part is it shortened our travel time from Senai to Desaru from 2.5 hours to just 1 hour. Toll charge is  RM8 one way.

The short stop - hardly any vehicles

The drive was smooth as there were not many cars and we stopped at the River Bridge to soak in the scenery. Actually stopping at the bridge is forbidden. But the view and photo shoot of the Johor River was worth it. And guess what, it seems that this is the longest river bridge in Malaysia.

Isolated Desaru

I am not sure why I describe Desaru as isolated but that’s the best word to explain it. I just didn’t see or feel the hype as explained in all the tourism brochures. Is it because we went to the public section of the beach? I am not sure. After all, it is the school holidays.

Entrance to Desaru

The moment we entered the archway welcoming us to Desaru Beach, we saw rows of private hotels and beach resorts. But all was quiet and just buildings. We couldn’t see any activities taking place along the stretch of road.

My foot path - soft white sandy beach

I was the only one at this part of the beach

Alas when we entered the public beach area, we found easy parking and soon the boys and N disappeared into the water. I looked around the whole place and noticed that there was a public bath and toilet facility, one food stall and many barbecue pits. 

Finally some fun time

The beach was indeed sandy. The water was not crystal clear but still so much better than Port Dickson or Penang. 

Some dead wood on the beach (or was it alive?)

Some sea creatures stuck on the wood 

The beach stretched till your eyes can’t see where it ends and as there weren’t many people we felt like we had the entire beach to ourselves.

Pretty, right?

Sand spa

For lunch, we had the best ‘nasi goreng kampong’ (village fried rice) ever. We spotted a few horn bills while having lunch too. By the way, this was the only food outlet that was open.

Unexpected guest during luncheon - a hornbill

At about 4pm, we left Desaru Beach.

All photos are copyrighted. Do tell if you need to use them. I can be reached at sivakay2009@gmail.com.

Secluded Johor Bharu - Part 4

9 - 12 Dec 2012

JB’s Places of Interest – those that we checked out

Sultan Ibrahim Building

In the morning of Day 2, as we parked for breakfast in JB town, we were awestruck by a huge British colonial building perched mightily on Timbalan Hill. This is the Sultan Ibrahim State Secretariat Building. 

A towering structure-too bad it hasn't been converted into a museum yet

We entered the compound to check out and learnt that the current state secretariat has moved premises to Kota Iskandar and so this is basically an empty structure. What a waste. Hope the state govt does something creative to maintain this gigantic structure as a national heritage. 

Giant windows

We did speak to a guard who showed us some remnants of war on the structure i.e. cannons fired onto the building. During the 1940s, the Japanese used the building as its fortress and command centre. 

See the holes - those are a result of canon balls!

The building is open to public and admission is free. We didn’t get a chance to enter the premises as some refurbishing work was going on but I would recommend a visit as the grandiose architecture is so impressive. 

The Glass Temple

The Arulmigu Sri Kaliamman Temple is located close to Tebrau Road next to the railway tracks. It was built in 2010 using 300,000 pieces of coloured glass imported from Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Belgium. Wow, that's a lot of hard work. 

The glass temple as you enter

A closer shot 

Unfortunately, we missed the opening hours by half an hour. So, we just took pictures from the outside. 

Some of the glass on the main door

The temple is heavily promoted as a place of interest in JB but I didn't see any road signage directing tourists to the temple. 

the only signage just before u enter

And the area surrounding the temple need better maintenance - the Johor Tourism Board should invest some funds into landscaping the place a bit. What is the point of marketing the place so much when money is not invested to better maintain the area. Some landscaping and tiling up the area will go a long way. 

All photos are copyrighted. Do tell if you need to use them. I can be reached at sivakay2009@gmail.com.

Orderly Singapore - City of Buildings

10 Dec 2012 - Singapore Day Trip 

Driving to/in Singapore

On 10 Dec 2012,  we crossed over to Singapore via the Causeway. 

The Causeway-see the long crawl

We were stuck in a long traffic crawl which usually is the case at the Causeway. First we stopped at the Malaysian checkpoint for passport clearance. Then continued the crawl till we reached the Woodlands Singapore checkpoint. 

Woodlands check-point - make sure you have your documents ready!

We had to fill up the declaration form then head for the primary and secondary clearance. Primary being the document check and secondary  the vehicle check.

Expressways and Avenues

Finally we entered Singapore at about 1pm.  We made a mistake of not carrying a Singapore Roadmap or GPS. Soon we found out that navigating the streets of Singapore was not as easy as we thought it would be. So the rest of the journey was spent cruising the streets freely or should I say aimlessly . 

Nice clean roads lined up with trees on both sides

I must say that Singapore has top class roads. All signages are in English. They have the names of the main expressways abbreviated to AED, CVE, BTE, PIE etc although as first timers we didn’t have a clue what this meant. Surprisingly, there was an obvious lack of signages for places of interest. 

Some old colonial buildings and a mosque

If at all we saw one, it is usually near the place of interest, which defeats the purpose. We also went pass many Avenues which were actually colonies of residential apartments (called flats here). 

These are residential areas

The Singapore govt builds these flats for its people and every colony is self-sustainable meaning all kinds of facilities are provided for the people so that they need not come out of their colonies other than to work.

An old mosque

We stopped at one colony just to check out the place. Everything seemed so organized. People actually follow the systems and rules that are in place. At the ground level of these flats are sitting benches where people come out to get fresh air, chat and mingle.  We saw many old folks which means the children are all at work in town. 

Every flat is connected to its own food court, market (dry and wet) and sundry shops. Drivers give priority to pedestrians. Everyone parks their car in the same way and at allotted spaces. You can never see a haphazardly parked vehicle. Keeping colonies green is also the in thing. Parks for people and well trimmed lawns are a common sight. Every town has its own primary and secondary school.  Great town planning.

Chinese colonial shophouses

In Singapore it is all about maintaining a system and abiding by it. Even the paint of these flats have a colour-coded system and somehow the paint always seem fresh and new.

So orderly.

Skyscrapers and Kindliness Quotes

I remember seeing places such as Aljunied, Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Geylang, Clementi, Jurong, Pasir Ris, Punggol, Serangoon, Tampines, Tuas, Woodlands, Seletar, Paya Lebar, Kallang, Choa Chu Kang, Chinatown and Bukit Timah. I think we just about covered all of Singapore except maybe Orchard Road.

The financial hub

Everywhere you go you see rows and rows of buildings and skyscrapers. And there seems to be development all over not just concentrated in one place. There was one area full of Chinese heritage houses. The traffic lights too move fast so I can never complain that we were stuck in traffic.

You can see the expatriate/ international community here

But soon we discovered that driving is all that we could do as we couldn’t park anywhere and get out for a walk or a drink. Public parkings are in designated areas usually placed in buildings and comes with parking fee. We really didn’t want to stop anywhere long enough to even park.

Dinner in Serangoon

The tribute to the early Indian migrants

We finished the day with a light Indian dinner in Serangoon Road. I was shocked to find this whole place so different from other areas we saw. 

A couple on an overhead bridge - just to add some human touch to the story

It was lacking in cleanliness and seemed chaotic. Then we learnt that this is the hangout area for the foreign workers from South Asia – all out for some fun time before resuming work the next day.

Exit from Singapore

At about 10pm, we started our drive back to the Causeway. We reached JB at 11.00am and were back in our room soon. I was actually relieved to be back in familiar soil. 

Malaysia, I love you!

We saw this scene every night at JB petrol stations - Singaporean cars accessing our subsidised fuel. Pour, shake the tank and  keep moving..at times we had to look for different pump stations because 'Minyak Habis' (no more petrol)

Some Tips :-

1. Go with a map or better still, GPS.
2. Zoom into a few places that you should not miss and just go there only.
3. If using the Causeway, be prepared for a long queue.
4. Know that you can get the Electronic Card (like our Touch-n-Go) at 7-11 outlets in Singapore.
5. Don't depend on the people for directions because (a) they are always in a hurry and (b) they are most likely not Singaporean
6. Don't be shocked that they actually run 'Kindliness Campaign' for their people; something that we assume that people naturally have 
7. Don't break any rules; just do what the locals do
8. Clean your car boot - as the Customs actually DO the vehicle check

All photos are copyrighted. Do tell if you need to use them. I can be reached at sivakay2009@gmail.com.