Thursday, July 14, 2011

Malaysia - Johor - Street Scenes


As I was in Johor for half a day, spend most of the time dining and shopping in City Square, did not venture much into the street as there's lack of time. Maybe the next time, we will move around more.

View of the street scene from the food court in City Square.

View of street scene from the outside of City Square



Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Malaysia - Johor - Food Court/Restaurants

Dining in City Square Mall, Johor Bahru wont be a problem, cause there are so many eateries, food court and restaurants to cater to your budget.



Ate some portuguese tarts and had nice coffee for tea break.


I like the concept of the swinging seats in this restaurant.

The next time I would like to try the food at the Sarabat. Sarabat is actually a stall, traditionally Malay-owned, selling drinks such as coffee and tea, and occasionally food as well.

Surprised to see Food Junction Food Court in JB, thought Food Junction is only in Singapore food court. :)


Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Malaysia - Johor - Lunch at Nandos

This must be the favourite part of my shopping trip in Johor Bahru. Lunch at Nandos at City Square, JB.

They are in Malaysia Ringgit and very worth eating here than in the branch in Singapore...hahaha

1/4 chicken with meditarranean rice and peri chips - RM15.90

1/4 chicken with peri chips and peri beans (the beans are the huge kidney beans)

1/4 chicken with peri chips and potato salad



Besides eating, we enjoyed looking at some of the artwork in the restaurant.


The blouse of the girl in the above photo is made up of stickers.

I asked a very stupid question and got a funny answer from my niece, wonder why there are so many chickens decoration in the restaurants hahaha. The main courses are chicken....duh.... hahaha.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Malaysia - Johor - City Square

Hahaha finally arrived City Square Shopping Mall in Johor Bahru after an easy entry from Singapore through the Malaysia Custom. No queues and no fuss, everything go smoothly. :)

The shopping mall is just like any mall in Singapore but the best thing is the prices are in malaysian ringgit.


Prices in restaurants are really worth going there because of the exchange rate, will talk in my next post.


The fashion in Johor is about the same as Singapore and the prices are about the same unless they are on promotion it is worth buying but certain stuff are really cheap.


My niece bought some very nice backpack in the above photo.











Reject shop? Shop selling reject goods?

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Malaysia - Johor - JB Sentral and City Square

PLEASE ASK PERMISSION BEFORE YOU RE POST MY PHOTOS ON TO YOUR BLOG. THERE ARE SOME BLOGGERS WHO DID NOT ASK MY PERMISSION AND REPOST MY PHOTOS WITHOUT THE COURTESY OF LINKING BACK TO MY BLOG. THIS IS LIKE STEALING. PEOPLE, I HAVE SPEND MUCH TIME TAKING PHOTOS AND DOING HOMEWORK ON MY TRAVELLING INFORMATION AND KINDLY SHARE THESE INFORMATION TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN THEM. IF NECESSARY I WILL POST SCREEN SHOT OF YOUR BLOG TO SHOW YOUR BAD MANNERS OF STEALING MY PHOTOS. THE MOST DISGUSTING THING THEY DID WAS TO SCREEN SHOT MY PHOTO AND CORP OFF MY BLOG TITLE AND REPOST IN THEIR BLOG.

Buses make one stop each at Singapore immigration checkpoint and at Malaysian immigration checkpoint. At both immigration points, you must disembark with all your luggage and pass through passport control and customs, then board the next bus by showing your ticket. So do not throw or lost your tickets when you board any buses in any bus terminals or bus stops in Singapore or Malaysia otherwise you have to pay a new fare to board the bus.

For those who wanted to go JB Sentral or City Square, do not board the bus again at the Malaysian Custom. After clearing the Malaysian custom where you have your passport stamped and fingers scan (yes, this is the new regulation where they scan your index fingers on both hands), just follow the sign that read JB Sentral (see picture below). Once you had your fingers scan, they would paste a kind of sticker in your passport, do not tear any of the sticker, they will collect the sticker when you exit Malaysia.(Sometimes there are no stickers.)

We were so lucky as there was no long queue and everything went smoothly on that day.

You wont get lost here, just follow the signboard and you can get to your destination to shop at City Square Mall.

After exiting from the custom, we walked through JB Sentral with lots of shops and money exchange counters too.




View of City Square Mall from the pedestrian bridge that connects JB Sentral to Johor Bahru City Square.


Finally we saw the signboard that read City Square Mall, it takes about 10 minutes from the Malaysian Custom to City Square Mall. It was that easy.
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Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Johor Bahru Shopping Trip - Taking the bus from Singapore to Johor Bahru

Yesterday, I made a trip to Johor Bahru, Malaysia with my eldest sister and her daughter. There are many ways to go up to Johor Bahru. We can either drive up there, take the express bus, coach or public bus. There are two links from Singapore to Malaysia and vice versa. The first link is at Woodlands while the second link is at Tuas. I normally go up to Malaysia via the second link. Been a long time since I use the first link to enter Malaysia.

Yesterday, we decided to take the Causeway Link Express Bus at Queens Street Bus Terminal and enter Johor Bahru via the first link at Woodlands. As my sister stay on the east side of Singapore, it is nearer for her to go to Queens Street rather than to Kranji MRT Station to take the express bus to Johor Bahru. I stay nearer to the central so either way it is convenient for me.

The bus terminal at Queens Street is about 5 to 10 mins walk from Bugis MRT Station. It cost us only S$2.40 from Queens Street to Johor Custom. You can use your EZ Link Card or cash to pay for the fare.

The express bus did not stop anywhere in Singapore, it is a direct bus all the way from Queens Street to the custom at Singapore and Malaysia. It takes only 30 minutes from Queens Street to Johor Bahru with no traffic jam. Expect some jams during peak hours, weekends or public holidays.

Sometimes traffic jams can be so bad that it lasted two to three hours.

Yesterday, being a weekday and non peak hours, we enter Johor smoothly with no traffic jams at all. Peak hours are morning jam from Johor to Singapore (cause a lot of malayisans work in Singapore) and in the evening from Singapore to Johor when the malaysian go back after finishing work.

If you take the bus from Kranji MRT Station, it is about 15 minutes bus ride to Malaysia.

Causeway Link Bus Terminal at Queens Street.

The express bus that we took.

Beside taking the express bus from Queens Street, one can take the non express or public bus or taxi. Depending on the location you are in, you can take the buses from other bus terminals too.

You can get more information from wikitravel on how to go to Johor Bahru from Singapore on the different bus services and also how to get back to Singapore from Johor Bahru.

Please note the bus fares is correct at time of printing, but best to check with the people in charge at the bus terminal or the bus driver himself for the latest bus fare.

PLEASE ASK PERMISSION BEFORE YOU RE POST MY PHOTOS ON TO YOUR BLOG. THERE ARE SOME BLOGGERS WHO DID NOT ASK MY PERMISSION AND REPOST MY PHOTOS WITHOUT THE COURTESY OF LINKING BACK TO MY BLOG. THIS IS LIKE STEALING. PEOPLE, I HAVE SPEND MUCH TIME TAKING PHOTOS AND DOING HOMEWORK ON MY TRAVELLING INFORMATION AND KINDLY SHARE THESE INFORMATION TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN THEM. IF NECESSARY I WILL POST SCREEN SHOT OF YOUR BLOG TO SHOW YOUR BAD MANNERS OF STEALING MY PHOTOS. THE MOST DISGUSTING THING THEY DID WAS TO SCREEN SHOT MY PHOTO AND CORP OFF MY BLOG TITLE AND REPOST IN THEIR BLOG.