Tuesday, 8am, I overslept and started my day trip in Johor Bahru a little later than planned. Anyway, it would be an easy day trip till after dinner and there was no schedule to adhere to, so it was okay to be a little late.
I planned to start from Taman Maju Jaya (顺利花园), behind Plaza Pelangi, and walk to KSL City Mall in Taman Century (世纪花园), taking a roundabout route through Taman Pelangi (彩虹花园), Taman Sri Tebrau (a.k.a. Dai Mah Garden, 大马花园), Taman Sentosa (大丰花园) and Taman Melodies (美乐花园). Along the way, I would go for eateries that I had not tried before and do some shopping. (See map at end of this post.)
Crossing the Singapore-Johor border on a weekday was easy except for the long line of blue workers' buses, ferrying Malaysian workers after their work shifts, that usually began forming on the road leading to Woodlands Checkpoint after 8am — this was why I preferred to go over earlier.
At exactly 9am, I was through JB customs. 9am was also the time that most stage buses would depart from the bus terminal below JB Sentral since most of them started at the same time and with frequency of 30 minutes. I had time to visit the washroom, check the exchange rate (S$1 to RM3.25), and breathe in the aroma of freshly-baked coffee buns from Rotiboy Bakeshoppe — I would buy some on the way back at the end of the day.
I went down to the bus terminal at 9:15am, and checked the schedules of buses that would stop at Plaza Pelangi. As expected, the next myBAS T14 and T20 services were scheduled at 9:30am, but T11 was at 9:20am. I waited few minutes before the T11 bus opened its door for boarding. My start point would be in Taman Maju Jaya, next to Taman Pelangi, where I would have breakfast at one of the eateries there.
12 minutes later, I stepped off the bus, into the hot embrace of the sun, and crossed the Tebrau Highway using the narrow pedestrian bridge to Plaza Pelangi.
Jalan Maju, the street behind Plaza Pelangi, was known as "newspaper street (报馆街)" to most local folks. Some repainting works, on the outer walls of a row of shophouses, was ongoing resulting in several eateries, including Restoran Yi Bao (顺利面粉粿), being closed for the day. There was a new restaurant called Tian Xin Lou (添心楼) serving Cantonese dim sum. And the relatively-new Restoran Jianghu Weidao (江湖味道), across the street, would open at 11am. With a long list of eateries along this street, it was also a food haven for me.
A "Newspaper Stand" mural was painted on a wall along an alley, and behind the mural was Restoran Soon Chiang (顺江肉骨茶), which served traditional bak kut teh (pork ribs soup). Without further ado, I stepped in. I had bak kut teh with spare ribs and rice to go along. The old-taste bak kut teh was served in a traditional way — reminded me of Yu Kee Bak Kut Teh (佑记肉骨茶) in Kota Kinabalu. I tried not to eat too much to reserve some stomach space for lunch later.
After the late breakfast at around 10am, I walked down Jalan Maju, passing more restaurants, a cafe called Sistas that would open at 1pm and Sweet Blossom Coffee Roasters at one end of the commercial section. I would visit the coffee roaster sometimes for its coffee beans — but not this time as I still had coffee beans from Batu Pahat, Chiang Mai and Pontian at home. I also walked through the residential estate of Taman Maju Jaya to Taman Pelangi.
15 minutes later, I entered Pelangi Leisure Mall via its rear gate. The mall housed a Giant hypermarket, which was my usual joint for groceries. I intended to get some dry rations that were "Made in Malaysia" as imported goods might not be cheaper than in Singapore.
I spent about an hour in the hypermarket and bought 5Cs — cookies, chips, cakes, cereal and a can of sup kambing. The canned mutton soup was something new, at a pricey RM14.90, but I decided to get one to try. I saw a Singapore-brand hae bee hiam (dried shrimp chilli) on a shelf and realised I had forgotten to get a jar from Grandma Ong Mee Hoon Kueh (王奶奶面粉粿), which was right beside Restoran Soon Chiang.
Leaving Pelangi Leisure Mall, my next stop would be in Taman Sri Tebrau. I used to walk through Taman Sri Tebrau to Pelangi Leisure Mall and would have my meals around the estate. But, after the dilapidated overhead bridge, over Tebrau Highway, near Crystal Crown Hotel was sealed off two years ago, I changed to crossing the highway at Plaza Pelangi and my visits to Taman Sri Tebrau was drastically reduced.
From Pelangi Leisure Mall to Jalan Keris was just 10 minutes’ walk through the residential estate of Taman Sri Tebrau. Some of the houses along the road had already been converted for commercial use. I counted 4 car wash services along a short stretch of road — Malaysia has too many cars and very few pedestrian walkways.
I reached the row of shophouses, along Jalan Keris, with coffee shops, restaurants, bakeries, etc. I had not been to this area for quite some time. Zainal's Place had renovated, Restoran Wang Xiang (万香生肉面) had moved out, a new Restoran Rasa Ribuan (千里香餐室) had taken over, and a pastry shop, called Yong Sheng Gift Shop (荣成礼坊), which I had visited once during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The time was 12pm, just 2 hours after breakfast. Trying to stretch the time a little longer, I stepped into Yong Sheng Gift Shop and looked around. The shop had some traditional pastries that caught my attention. I bought a box of sun cakes (太阳饼), a box of durian chess cakes (榴莲棋子饼) and 2 packs of classic heong piah (香饼). I had bought some biskut wangi (heong piah) from Chai Huat Heng (再发兴饼家) in Pontian a week before and would like to compare their tastes and textures.
Then, I walked into Restoran Rasa Ribuan, which served Hakka delights. The layout of the restaurant had not changed much. The positions of the kitchen, tables and cashier were the same as the previous Restoran Wang Xiang. I had Hakka yam abacus seeds (客家算盘子) and 4 types of yong tau foo (酿豆腐). The dishes were nice. I should visit Taman Sri Tebrau more often.
Beside Rasa Ribuan was a straight road to Taman Sentosa and Plaza Sentosa was at the other end of the road. I had not walked along this road before so I decided to take it. Right behind Rasa Ribuan was a residential unit that had been converted into a restaurant selling Penang food. It was called Ninja GeGe (忍者哥哥) but it was closed on Tuesday. I made a note to check it out someday.
It took just 10 minutes to reach Plaza Sentosa and I entered the plaza from its rear exit. Plaza Sentosa had always been a quiet mall with many unoccupied shops. But, there was a Mr DIY outlet on the second floor, probably the largest in Johor Bahru. I went to the outlet to look around, not hoping to get anything but just to waste some time before going for coffee. I spent about an hour in the shop and bought 2 packs of cleaning wipes — I would start spring cleaning during the December school holidays.
2:30pm, I came to Taman Melodies after crossing the Tebrau Highway from Taman Sentosa using a dirty pedestrian bridge. The only entity that had ever "washed" that bridge was probably a storm. The bridge in Pelangi was narrow, the big one in Taman Sri Tebrau was sealed off for 2 years and this one was dirty — I used to called it the "bridge with urine stench" some years back. There was no stench this time.
I came to The Portal Cafe, housed in a bungalow, just a stone's throw from the overhead bridge. The exterior of the cafe was plain but inside was spacious and cosy. It was pretty quiet on a weekday. I had a roasted hazelnut coffee and a carrot cake. The carrot cake was mild-sweet. It reminded me of the savoury one that I had in a cafe, called Marketplace, in Ipoh Old Town in April 2024. I had not tasted another savoury carrot cake since then.
4pm, I left the cafe and walked down Jalan Meranti until I hit Nimmies Pastry Cafe, which I had visited once to try its nasi lemak croissant and award-winning fish n' chip. Then I continued along Jalan Beringin, passing several restaurants and cafes, including the second branch of Palates & Bagels Cafe by TAM. The cafe was renovating when I was last here in August 2024. I would visit it someday.
At the road junction with Jalan Balau, I turned right and headed straight to Hotel Holiday Villa. KSL City Mall was behind it.
I had wanted to have claypot chicken rice, for dinner, at a spot next to Hotel Holiday Villa, but it had closed down with a "For Rent" notice. Disappointed, I continued to KSL City Mall and reached the mall at 4:30pm, ending the walk for the day.
I had walked a total of 5.1Km from Plaza Pelangi to KSL City Mall, excluding any walking within shopping malls and eateries, and accumulated over 20,000 steps. The walk was a good way to exercise while exploring Johor Bahru — and eat too.
It was a little early for dinner, so I explored the mall, window-shopped in Daiso, and checked out the stalls in Glutton Street on the basement level. To be frank, KSL City Mall was becoming more a females' paradise with numerous hair and nail salons. If it was not for a number of restaurants here, I would have said it was a boring place — well, I was never a shopper.
At around 6pm, I went to Empurau Kopitiam (忘不了咖啡店) where I had visited once to try its chicken rice. I ate their KL Hokkien Mee this time with hot green tea. I was thinking about getting some of their curry puffs to take home but decided against it since I wanted to buy Rotiboys on the way back. I would probably visit the restaurant again during breakfast and try its coffee with curry puffs.
After dinner at 6:45pm, it was time to head back. I went to the waiting point for Service F100 at the main entrance of KSL City Mall. The queue for the shuttle service was short and the bus came within 5 minutes. Then I was on the way to JB Sentral.
After alighting at JB Sentral, I went to Rotiboy to buy some Rotiboys. Confusing? The shop was called Rotiboy and their signature coffee bun was named "Rotiboy". I bought 5 pieces at the promo price of RM15.20. This was not the first time I had bought 5 pieces at one go. Thinking back, I should have bought other flavours to try.
At JB CIQ, clearing customs was a breeze using the auto-gates. However, the blue buses were still in operation to ferry a long queue of Malaysian workers to Singapore. As usual, they hogged the lanes, while waiting for the workers to board, resulting in long waiting time for public buses that were held up in the queue.
At around 7:30pm, a SBS Transit Service 170X came along. After boarding the bus, I look behind the bus and noted that the line of blue buses had disappeared. That was why I had mentioned that the better time to return to Singapore on a weekday was around 7:30pm or later.
The bus took just 5 minutes to cross the Causeway. I was through Singapore customs and on the bus home by 7:45pm.
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