journey down south

cuti-cuti malaysia 2010 :  
johor- singapore - johor

this is the first trip with my mum and her friends this year. all 38 of us, me being the youngest. it was really fun being around them. you get to witness different people with their own style of representing themselves (literally) and the old old couples, which makes you wonder if you'd end up anywhere close like them.. :)

through out the journey down to johor, we were entertained by the karaoke session. these ladies absolutely love to sing while they travel. they never fail to bring their karaoke cd-collection. but mind you, they are all oldies (some of which from me not knowing any of them, i now know the melody by heart.haha).

our first destination upon arrival was the Sekolah Maahad Tahfiz Al-Akhyar, somewhere near JB (i think.mind you, through out the whole journey in johor, i have no idea on my whereabouts. johor is just too big for me :S ) for the record, this is a private school and no, these kids are very well off (most of them at least). they were excited to meet the ladies and show off some of their skills. we were entertained by a nasyid and a few hafazan by the younger kids.

 

later that evening, we were brought to Danga Bay for dinner. since we came by bus, we were dropped off near the Marina Club at Danga Bay. we then took the little train that brought us along the tiny road which led us to the food place along Danga Bay. along the way, there were fun rides, clubs, pretty pretty landscape, lovely sea scenery, all of which i experience at a glance (the ladies were not fond to the idea of walking THAT far. well it is a long walk and everyone was getting hungry already).

Saturday: HELLO SINGAPORE! :)

our first stop upon arrival in Singapore was the Haw ParVilla. this is a place where.. ok so i don't really know what this place is but i just know it is an awesome place to take silly pictures! :) 

 

next destination: Arab Street

we stopped by Singapore Zam Zam Restaurant for lunch. they are supposedly famous for their nasi briyani, Singapore style. well, they were delicious mind you but being me, i could hardly finish half of it! opposite the restaurant, is the mosque. we stopped by for zohor, however it started pouring cats and dogs. while waiting, we stumbled upon a solemnization ceremony held within the mosque. it was supposedly between a Singaporean-born Pakistani groom with a Malaysian bride (i'm not so sure bout the details here. we randomly chatted with this Malaysian who was there to take pictures on behalf of the bride. so, you can say that i am assuming :P).

so, in the rain we ventured along Arab Street. honestly, it looks like Jalan TAR to me, minus the foreigners, the shoulder to shoulder crowd and the noise. you can also say that it is the posh-er version of Jalan TAR. hehe. mostly sell materials and clothes, which some were pretty little things but i wasn't really interested in purchasing materials at that moment. my eyes n my mind was fixed onto what they had in for us next.

next stop: Sentosa Island

ok.firstly, this would have been an AWESOME place if we went to ALL the right place and if we had a WHOLE DAY here. unfortunately, we didn't and we wasted time at places we don't really wanna be :( we went in the underwater world. ok, heads up: this is similar to Aquaria, KLCC. and we went to some sort of museum which triggered alot of anger amongst us, being malaysian and all. they did NOT even mention Malaysia or let alone Johor in their history! they are practically re-writing history! i mean, come on. even we include Singapore in our kajian tempatan and sejarah. pfft!

at the end of it, we wasted half a day here. by the time we came out, it was almost 7 and it was still pouring cats and dogs. *sulk* not liking this part, AT ALL! (this is also the part where i vow to come back here, soon!)

and so, we left Singapore, with an aching body and an aching heart. due to not so good time management by the tour guide, we didn't get a chance to go to Orchard Road, Geylang or even Tangs, all of which i wanted to go. my Singapore Dollars didn't budge -_- i went back to johor with a lot of Singapore Dollars, which really pissed me off. thankfully i found a money changer that had the selling rate equivalent to the buying rate. so i didn't really waste that much. just not much souvenirs for me :( *sulk*

day 3: we went around johor in the rain. we traveled to kota tinggi for nothing. went round n round until 5 in the evening. i had my lunch at 4 at Plaza Angsana, JB. we had the famous mee rebus. i'm not sure if they were THAT good or we were just too hungry. while waiting for the bus to pick us up, we met the (used to be) famous Zaiton Sameon. for us youngsters, we might not know her that well but to these ladies, they used to idolize her. her mesmerizing voice hasn't changed a bit, despite her tragic accident.

final day, before leaving Johor, we stopped by Princess Elizabeth School for the Blind. honestly, you will be very touched and amazed with these kids. they are sent from all over Malaysia for their education. they are mostly blind, or partially blind or just a blur case which would be better off here then in a normal school. those who can vaguely see, guide those who are absolutely blind. their facilities are just enough for them, only with 4-5 students per class, they get full attention with in-house caretakers as well as teachers. even though they cannot see, yet their other senses are much much more alert as compared to ours. imagine them being blind, yet their highest achievement in SPM is 7As. that is much more then we normal kids can do :S it definitely makes you feel very very thankful for what you have :)

our last stop was Tangkak for lunch before shooting back to PJ. the journey back was surprisingly short (maybe cause i fell asleep most of the way through). we managed to arrive back before the jam starts. thankfully :)

overall, it was an OK journey. i wasn't that happy with schedule through out the journey. most of it was aimlessly driving around and wasting time. Singapore was utterly disappointing. but Singapore itself is quite an amazing place. i'm still wondering how they managed to get their citizens to fully oblige to their rules and regulations. why can't Malaysia be such? it would be a much much safer place, don't you think? well, either way, i love Malaysia despite its flaws:)

Singapore round two anyone? 

buzz me! :)

xoxo