Hotlink prepaid card validity extended

Remember in a previous post, I said that my wife and I bought two Hotlink data SIM cards when we went to Penang? Well, I decided to keep my Hotlink card and extend the validity, like I did with my previous Digi prepaid card. I did that yesterday when I cycled into Johore Bahru. I paid about RM35 for that, which translates to about $10. As for JB, it looked like it was going to rain and I decided to leave as soon as I can. So after extending my prepaid card’s validity, I went for a quick lunch at Burger King. You can see from the pic above that it was a screenshot from the Hotlink app on my Vivo mobile phone. I wish our telcos here were more like Hotlink and Digi when it comes to card validity.

Singapore passport for travel to West Malaysia

In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s we had this blue restricted passport, called the Singapore Restricted Passport, that was used for travel between Singapore and West Malaysia. his passport was less expensive and I used to use it a lot when I used to travel to Johore Bahru for business, back in the 90s. The beauty of this passport was that you did not have to “waste” pages of your international passport when travelling to Malaysia. So when this blue passport was phased out in 1999, I was sad. I still have mine, as can be sen in the picture above. Opening it up and looking at the dates in there brought back so many memories of my travels to West Malaysia

Decathlon Triban phone holder for my bike

I cycled into Johor Bahru again on Saturday last week. This was a longer cycle than the rather brief one I had a couple of weeks back. This time, I came prepared. I bought this Triban phone holder for my bike. It cost me about $18 and is made of metal. One thing I love about it is the screw-on clamp, It keeps my iPhone very securely fastened to my handlebar and it was very useful in using Google Maps to plot my way. Looks like I may have to drop some oil into the screws as I was caught in the rain during my ride in Johor Bahru. Last thing I want is for the screws to rust!

Ice-blended mocha from Coffee Bean Malaysia

I went to Johor Bahru last week and visited The Coffee Bean there, something I have been doing since the mid 2000s. The Coffee Bean in Johor Bahru still make these ice-blended mochas well…much better than the shops in Singapore. And, I might add, they are cheaper too than our local offerings. Why should we pay a premium for ice-blended mochas which do not have the same quality as those from Malaysia is well beyond me. Absolutely delicious from start to end.

Visiting Johor Bahru on a foldie

After reading lots of field reports of cyclists going into Johor Bahru, I decided to do the same thing. It had been two years or more since I last went into Johor Bahru. With the easing of border restrictions between the two countries, I decided to do just that.

What I did was to catch a bus to Woodlands. There is a direct bus from my house to woodlands and it goes via the SLE. The journey was pretty fast and when I reached Woodlands, I cycled all the way to the vicinity of the causeway checkpoint. Once there, I cycled to the passport kiosk via the motorcycle lane. The check-in was pretty quick and in no time, I was on the Causeway, on the way to Johor Bahru, and took that picture above.

The same thing when I was in Malaysia. I had to cycle along the motorcycle lane to the CIQ check-in and cleared that pretty quick too. I was in Malaysia then and I had to find a way to the city centre. I lost my way quite a few times but with the help of Google Maps, I managed to find my way into town.

Johor had changed quite a bit since I was last there. There are more bike paths now and there is a whole new walking street there. I wanted to have lunch at a chicken chop restaurant I saw online but it was packed. So I made my way to City Plaza and went to The Coffee Bean and had a good, cooling ice-blended mocha.

While at Coffee Bean, I noticed the sky starting to get dark and I realised that it would be a good idea to make my way back. So I cycled to the CIQ and when I passed, I dashed across the Causeway to the Singapore side. It was there that I met some other riders who had the same idea as me i.e. explore JB by bike. After what took some time, I cleared customs and rushed the nearest MRT station as it was drizzling quite heavily. Just as I made it to the Kranji MRT, the rain started pelting down.

This will not be my first trip to Malaysia on a bike. I aim to do so with some friends next time.

Coffee Bean Ice-Blended Mocha

A couple of days back, while waiting for my Mum at the clinic near her place, I decided to patronise the nearby Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. It had been some time since I had an ice-blended mocha. The last time I had one was when I was in Johor Bahru a few years back. In any case, I ordered an ice-blended mocha and when it arrived. I sat back and prepared to savour it. My opinion? The standard had dropped. I do not know what it was. Different ingredients? Less ingredients? I could hardly taste the mocha. And also, it looked like three-quarters of the drink was just ice. And not only that…the price had increased by 50%. Looks like I am going to give The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf a miss when it comes to their ice-blended mochas. I would be better off with an ice kopi from Heap Seng Leong!

Woodlands Waterfront jetty

A few days back, on Hari Raya Haji, I took a ride to the Woodlands Waterfront. This is a place that overlooks the Straits of Johor. Saw lots of people cycling there. Some anglers were trying their luck at fishing. There was also a restaurant at the end of the pier…a Malay restaurant. I thought to myself that this was like Kukup , with a restaurant at the jetty. It was a hot day and I got myself sunburnt. The ride was nice though and I totally enjoyed myself. I might go there more often to relax and get away from it all…and I might give that restaurant a try.

Sixteen Gallons Cafe

Back in the early 90s…it had to be 1993 or thereabouts, I was involved in a company in Malaysia where we supplied DJs and did audio installations in clubs and bars. I used to go over to Johore Bahru almost every Friday night and come back on late Sunday evening. I always had a stack of my personal CDs to play in the bars and clubs there and sometimes, the owners used to be interested in the DJ services we had to offer. I remember that we used to gather at this coffee bar cum pub named Sixteen Gallons. I remember kidding my friends there by asking why was it called Sixteen Gallons? Was it because someone was wearing one of those cowboy ten-gallon hat and someone had one that was bigger? That is the only joke that I remember making about that place but trust me, there was more.

In any case, this was a very hip pub back then. It was almost like TGIF Diners in Singapore’s Far East Plaza. It is/was on the second floor of a shophouse in Jalan Badik in JB, or Johore Bahru for short. There was a DJ playing tunes from a crudely-setup DJ console with two hifi CD players. The speakers in the pub were probably from someone’s old home hifi system that were probably put there after they upgraded. But the atmosphere was simply electric. People came there to strike deals, relax after a hard day’s work or simply to meet and greet. I met one girl there that I was interested in. We had a brief relationship then but it lasted only about a year. Sometimes, I remember going there late at night just to have a couple of mugs of beer and a few smokes. After a while, that business in Malaysia dried up and one of my partners and I had a major falling out. We stopped that business in Malaysia soon after.

I snapped a picture of this bar in 2006 when I was in JB. I just thought that I would go there and have a look to see if it was still there and by golly, it still was. Apparently, the business is still surviving to this day and they have a Facebook page too. I still can remember those days in the early 90s when it was hip and trendy. I might go there one day just for kicks, to relive the old spirit. It is a place that brings back lots and lots of memories…some happy and some sad. That is my story about the place. I wonder what other stories and memories this place might have for others.

Washing cars in Johor Bahru

When my friends go to Johor Bahru, or JB as it is more affectionately known, they go at night. This is to avoid the crowds that stream into Malaysia during the daytime. When my friends go there, it is mostly to pump fuel, have dinner and to wash their cars. There are many such washing companies in JB, like the one pictured above. I went there with a friend of mine some time back and after pumping petrol and eating, he went to wash his car. The car washing took some time, to be honest. There were many Singapore cars waiting for a car-wash as well, as can be seen here. Finally after what took an hour, we came back to Singapore.

Why do we do that, you may ask. First of all, it is about the Malaysian ringgit vs the Singapore dollar. For quite some time, the exchange rate hovered at about 3 ringgit to one Singapore dollar. That means, stuff in Malaysia is much more inexpensive, if we compare it to stuff bought in Singapore. Plus, the food is good, and comes with free entertainment!

Entertainment at Johore Bahru outdoor eating places

About a week ago, some friends and I went to Johore Bahru. We went there to get some groceries and to eat. We selected one of the many outdoor eating places to have our food. I went for a Ramly Burger that was very nicely cooked and my friends bought their own food. But the best thing had to be the entertainment. Just next to the table I was sitting at, there was this screen upon which they were screening movies from the cable network. The show being shown was Spectre. All I can say is, dinner was a very enjoyable experience. I doubt they can do the same in Singapore. The copyright police would come down hard on any eating establishment that does try to do that!