Blogs from Johor, Malaysia, Asia - page 11

Day 48: Kulai to Johor Baru Today was the first day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, and all Muslim shops and restaurants were closed from dawn to dusk. We would have been in big trouble if we’d embarked on our trip a month later, as many times the only restaurant we came upon was a Muslim one. We were blessed to have timed our spur of the moment trip perfectly. Today was also a Monday holiday for yesterday’s Merdeka, or Malaysian Independence Day. So we woke up early, refreshed from our long night of sleep, and the streets were quiet and empty. A Chinese restaurant was open across the street though, and we enjoyed a calm and relaxing breakfast, eating delicious handmade wonton mee with sweet, strong coffee. We watched the sky brighten, enjoyed the ... read more

Hi all, just a quick update covering our last couple of weeks in Singapore and S.E. Malaysia. After a pleasant 8 hour flight from Brisbane we landed in steamy, sultry Singapore - 'The City State' just 36 miles north of the equator. Tina's never been before but my last visit 15 years ago was as a penniless backpacker and my memories were not that fond. Fortunately, this time around was much better. Singapore is a striking blend of the ultra-modern opulence of the downtown business district, with its skyscrapers and the plush top-end shopping malls of Orchard Road, contrasted with the shabby racousness of areas like Little India and Chinatown with their street-front eateries, chinese baroque architecture and burning offerings and incense sticks on every street corner. Staying in a Chinese enclave to the east of ... read more

Hi everyone, Well as it turned out we did not return to Koh Tao, but travelled on to Koh Phangan instead. We stayed at a small but perfect hotel on a white sand beach (what other kinds of beaches are there?) One of the outstanding things we found on this island is an Italian restaurant run by an Italian chef and his wife from Northern Thailand, who make all their own pasta, some of the best food we have eaten outside of Italy, not really what you would expect to find on a small Thai island. On to the ferry after a few days and on to Samui largest of the local island group sporting an airport and many resorts, still very relaxing which had we known of our next journey we would have appreciated ... read more

Included in our package tour is a trip to Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The place is quite similar to the Philippines. The tour guide fetched us from our hotel at 7:45am. Since we were only 5 in the group, we were able to save time in the immigration. From previous tour with big group, we spent an hour waiting for the rest to passed through an immigration. Many hours were wasted just waiting for the others. According to our tour guide, Johor is the third largest and one of the most developed states in Peninsular Malaysia. three time bigger than singapore in terms of land area. It is situated at the southern tip of the peninsula, just across the straits of Johor from Singapore. It is connected to Singapore by a road and rail causeway. A ... read more

Took the hotel transfer to the long distance bus station in Kuantan, the twenty minute journey cost more than the price of our bus tickets for a three and a half hour journey to Mersing! We were punctual as ever purchasing our bus tickets two and a half hours prior to the bus departing. We left our bags at the station and headed to the near by shopping centre where I had spotted a Starbucks. Killed the time nursing our frappucinos and taking advantage of the free wireless. We ate an unusual cheese and pineapple roll on the journey down. We arrived in Mersing just before dark and headed to the Embassy hotel. This was the cheapest place we have stayed on this trip so far, at less than eight pounds for the night. To be ... read more