One last trip

Our time in Asia is nearly coming to an end now:( But it's become almost a tradition that in these last days we make a day-trip to JB. JB stands for Johor Bahru, the nearest city in Malaysia from Singapore. Actually it lays on the other side of the Causeway, which is the main link between Malaysia and Singapore. A little over a kilometre long bridge connecting Singapore with Malaysia. Because both countries are now independent states you need to clear customs each time crossover from one country to another. So a simple day-trip like we do today leads to passport checks and getting extra chops in your passport;)

There are many ways to get to JB, besides driving yourself you can either take a normal city bus, a coach, a JB-taxi, a private taxi or just walk.

Today we took a coach, after the normal city bus, this is the cheapest way to JB. Well besides walking obviously;) Special coaches commute between Singapore and JB and vice versa each day. You buy a ticket at one of the ticketing booths of the coach and JB-taxi terminal located at Queen Street (Queen Street Bus Terminal). And a short time later you can get on the bus and you're on your way to JB. The plus of a coach over the normal city bus is that it doesn't stop at every bus-stop along the way. Once you reach the causeway everyone needs to get off the bus and pass Singapore customs. Then it's everybody back on the bus again and continue along the causeway untill you reach the other end of it and are about to enter Malaysia. There the same routine, once again everyone off the bus and queue up for Malaysian customs. Once cleared that you can go your own way already and you're the on the edge of JB. From that point you can simply walk into city centre.

Another interesting fact perhaps... Singapore law requires that every Singaporean-registered vehicle leaving Singapore must have at least a three-quarter-full gas tank, due to the fact that the Singapore Government wants to discourage Singaporeans from going over to Johor simply to buy cheaper petrol. Foreign-registered cars are exempted from this requirement.

What did we do in JB then? Well after you overcome the culture shock:P You do some looking around and compare what's changed since last time..which is usually not that much if you compare it with the rate things seems to change in Singapore each time. You do some shopping cause prices in Malaysia are cheaper. And of course eat and drink;) By that time the sun went down already and we made our way back to Singapore again. We choose to walk this time and make a few photos along the way. Once we were back in Singapore again we took first bus and later MRT back to my sister-in-law's place. And so ended our final outing for this holiday.