From Emily To You » Photos – Olympus PEN E-PL1

Johor Day & Night

Emily — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 07:10:20 +0000

Welcome to Muar, Johor

Visiting South in the middle of June, I didn’t only spend time in Johor Bahru but took the opportunity to visit nearby towns too. We spent a lot of time on the road and I am so guilty of not sharing driving duties. There are two kinds of people in this world; the driver and the passenger and I was most definitely the passenger.

monument in Johor

I have to say though, after 1.5 months since the trip and with so many things happening in between, I am suffering from memory lapse and can’t really recall where in Johor I visited. Looking at the photos doesn’t really refresh my memory since my trip was too fleeting.

Pekan Nanas pineapple

Pekan Nanas clock tower with pineapple motif

Like the giant pineapple, which was so tricky to shoot as the sun was behind it, I had to text my friend to ask if it was in Muar. It was in Pekan Nanas, District of Pontian. Duhhhh!! And the clock tower, I don’t even know where it was anymore. Hopefully, someone will enlighten me. (ETA: It’s in Dataran JB).

clock tower in Johor

According to the internet, one of the newer places to hang out in Johor Bahru is a new development called Danga Bay, Vision City of the South, which is part of Iskandar Development of Malaysia. It’s a little out of the main city area and getting around could be difficult for someone who doesn’t have his own transport but it has its own attractions too; Danga Beach, Danga World Theme Park, Danga World Petting Centre, Danga Bay Marina Club and Danga Bay Festive Street Mall. Some of these attractions are still in development.

Danga Bay Marina Club

Danga Bay Festive Street Mall

One of the nicest places in Johor Bahru, which I have to say is a pretty haphazard city due to rapid development, is Taman Merdeka. I think it is part of the Istana (palace) but I could be wrong. Taman Merdeka is closed to the public from 7pm to 7am. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to stop for awhile.

Taman Merdeka

Out of the many photos that we took in Johor, the one that I like most is this one, our very own Marina Bay Sands! It’s still under construction, though, but it amuses me no end.

Johor Bahru’s very own Marina Bay Sands

Anyway, although this Johor holiday was a little rush, I still had a good time and I took more photos here than in Singapore. As the saying goes, nothing like home sweet home.

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Singapore Hot & Spicy

Emily — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:55:15 +0000

Singapore is an extremely expensive country by my standards. I’m not saying so in relation to my income but in relation to the much lower cost of living in Ipoh. So you can imagine, I was always looking for the cheapest food to eat. I dared not drink too much water too because a small bottle of 500ml water is SGD1.50 or so whereas it would be only about MYR0.50 in Ipoh!

We went twice to Tong Seng Coffee Shop, a halal eatery popular with both Chinese and Malays along North Bridge Road just across Bugis Junction Mall, because of its strategic location and its variety of food kopitiam-style. The cheapest food there seemed to be those that were hottest and spiciest. I walloped them even though I don’t usually go to that extreme. Gosh, just looking at these photos tingles my scalp but at SGD2.50 a bowl of noodles, it was already more than MYR5!

It was full house both times we were there and it was mid-week! That’s how popular Tong Seng is. We opted to sit by the five foot way; at least we get to enjoy the view. Despite the crowd, we were served fairly quickly. Luckily, the elderly waiter could speak Cantonese, a relief to me.

I told a friend that I was only eating noodles, eggs, anchovies and bean sprouts in Singapore. My friend was aghast not at my poor diet but at my stinginess. He said that since I have already set aside a budget for my holiday, I should just go and spend it. I was hoping for leftovers for my next holiday, wherever it may be.

But this isn’t to say that I didn’t eat well or didn’t have a great time in Singapore. I did, thanks to friends who saw to that! Cheers!

Singapore Here & There

Emily — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:18:12 +0000

I was only in Singapore for a total of three days when I was visiting the island country last month. My, it was almost a month ago already, and yet, I still haven’t finished blogging about my trip to Singapore. And I haven’t even started on my tour of Johor yet. That’s coming up real soon, promise!

When I was in Singapore, I spent a lot of time indoors, or riding one vehicle or another. Still, I got to be on foot which was when I at least managed to get some decent photos of the island country. If you have been following my blog recently, you would already know of the places that I visited when I was in Singapore.

I actually went to Bugis Junction two times because of the convenience of the MRT station. I even spent a considerable amount of time checking out the bazaar from one end of the road to another, but couldn’t find anything that I liked enough to pay more than two times the price I would pay if I were to buy something similar in Malaysia.

Just a short walk away, there is a well-known Chinese temple. I don’t know why but every time I travel, I just never have the luck to go in and make offerings to the deities. This time in Singapore, by the time I arrived, the temple was already closed. I think I was late by an hour.

The Hindu temple next door was still opened, though, but I didn’t go in because I was not sure if I would be welcomed since not every temple allows non-Hindus to enter the holy place. I better not try and get chased out. It’s not a matter of embarrassment but I didn’t want to risk offending the deities.

I spent “Chang Festival” in Singapore but the festival is not very significant to the banana me. I didn’t mind even if I didn’t get to eat the many types of “chang” (rice dumplings); I already had my share just before I left Ipoh, though.

When I was planning this trip to Singapore, my friend asked if I would like to try swimming over to Sentosa Island. He’s just kidding of course, but even though I can’t swim, the distance is not far. This is the view of Sentosa Island with its newly developed landscape overlooking from VivoCity that’s on the main island.

Whilst VivoCity is supposed to be an upmarket and modern shopping mall, they have this food court by the name of Food Republic that offers old school menu from the 50s to 70s. They have drink carts too like dim sum restaurants of the old days but prices were definitely not from that era!!

I walked out of the building (VivoCity) as soon as the rain stopped just to capture a photo of this black guy hanging on the “monkey bar”; I have no idea why he’s there. I guess he’s used to show the direction of the wind or something. LOL

Going back to Sentosa Island where we had to pay SGD3 to reenter the island by shuttle train, I remembered to take a photo of this Universal Studios spinning globe before leaving for home.

We were lucky enough to catch the Light & Water Show before saying goodbye to Resorts World Sentosa. Even though we had planned to spend a lot of time on the island but ended up shopping in VivoCity instead, it was a trip that was not wasted. The “musical fountain” saved the day!

Will this post conclude my visit to Singapore? You will have to come back and have a read.

1 Comments

At July 27, 2010, Carol wrote:
Emily your Photos are really beautiful! I've never been in Singapore but I think it's wonderful. Your trip is an experience enviable!