SO, this is a continuation from
Part 1, the Airasia flight I nearly missed to JB,
the city of crime. Flight landed at 9.55am, 15 mins earlier than the scheldued touch down time of 10.10am on the ticket. After landing in the tiny shack they call Senai airport, I made my way out to the arrival hall. No one was there to meet me, and judging from the people there, very few people were being met either.
I was hoping to try and get my way into the MAS shuttle bus that runs from Senai to Queens St in Singapore, just off Bugis. While the MAS shuttle bus is for MAS ticket holders only, I was hoping, from info by relatives, that they didn't check if you had a MAS pass or not.
The MAS shuttle is RM 12. I went to the counter desk marked "MAS shuttle bus" (next to the car rental counter) and waited. Obviously, I wasn't the only fella with the same idea. There were also a few people there, and one asked my if I was also going to Singapore. The only problem was the counter, in typical Malaysian fashion, was not manned!
It was 10am at that time, mind you. I suppose it was morning tea for them. There was no sign, no info like "Gone to the toilet. Back in 5 mins" or something like that. After 5 mins or so the crowd kinda of gave up and walked away. Not knowing what to do, I kinda followed them.
And walked outside to
pirate taxi's the causeway link counter. Went up to the guy behind the counter and asked the guy. A pleasant surprise: he was very nice and polite. Non of the "tidak apa" attitude we're all so used to. Spoke quite good English too. Here's how it kinda went:
Me: is this the bus to Singapore?
Him: No. The bus only takes you to Kotaraya, JB city. From there you have to change bus. Change to the Yellow SPS bus.
Me: How much is the ticket to JB?
Him: RM 8, please
Note that he said "please" and offered more info after the "No". For most places in Malaysia, the conversation would have ended at "No".
The counter is at the right of the picture. I took this pic while waiting.
It was around 10.10am at this point. The bus was only scheduled to come at 10.30am, so I waited, expecting the bus to by typically late. Went around to look around JB "airport". The place is in a serious identity crisis! It's designed like a mall, and tries to function like a "international" airport. My greatest gripe is the display board. It is put up high, that you have to crane your neck 50 degrees (I'm not kidding. I used my protractor) to see the display. What were the planners thinking? This is not Grand Central terminal in New York! Or Changi with their flip board displays! They only work when you have a HUGE, VAST expanse of space and people from far can see the flight display board. NOT in narrow and tiny Senai where the number of flights can't even fill a normal, 21 inch TV!
Another thing that plagues many Malaysian airports is lack of seating. look closely at the picture. The people you all see in the pic are waiting for the bus. I was sitting on the side railing. Not a very comfortable position I must say. And it's the same in the check-in area. While people are queuing up to check in, the Little kiddies are either running around or sitting on the floor. Honestly, how expensive are a couple of seats?! they will go to lengths to buy those LCD flat screen displays for the "new" airports, but NOT SOMETHING AS FUNDAMENTAL AS SEATING!
My bus ticket. Not sure why they even issued one. No one came and checked it on the bus. If I just walked in without a ticket, I'd bet I would have also gone through.
The bus arrived early. Came back from exploring just in time to see the bus pull outside the terminal. It was10.20am. I was hoping for the bus to leave early. Put my luggage in the bottom compartment and settled into the bus. Quite comfortable and the air conditioning works, I must say.
At 10.25am, I was still in the same place. "Its not the scheduled time" I thought. Not really. We didn't leave the airport till 10.42am!!! Malaysian time at its best.
The bus is quite boring. Other than my handphone, I had nothing to entertain myself. There was a TV tuned to 8TV, but as soon as the bus moved the reception turned for the worst. So I decided to sleep. And look out of the window to see JB go pass me.
JB is one big and full mess. While I can see they've tried to green up the road from the airport to the city, nature seems to be cruel to the poor guys. Even the newly planted shrubs were dusty and tired looking. The weeds grew well however, like most places in Malaysia. It doesn't help that there are trucks left, right and center. I think the airport must be near an industrial area.
Side question: WHAT IS IT that makes weeds grow when nothing else will grow in Malaysia?
A common sight in JB: half finished and abandoned buildings.
Why can't we have some check and balances to make sure these contractors CAN EVEN build before they are given the land? Has corruption reached that level?
Like most of Malaysia, its a permanent construction site. I have no idea why they even bother to put a 50km/h speed limit. The bus never went above 40km/h IMO.
This is the "
city lounge", aka the main bus terminal. The SBS bus driver who took me across the causeway is the right.
Eventually I ended up in the "city lounge" at 11.10am, which is nothing more than a open space for buses. Its all open air and it was a hot day. Added to the fact that JB is a very dusty place and you're surrounded by buses. I was beginning to wish there was a toilet so I could change to normal, cooler clothes. Like Malaysia, there is no toilet at their "
city lounge". I was pointed to a shop which looked like it was miles away for my toilet.
The Yellow SPS bus that was to take up to Kranji MRT station was waiting for us. No waiting needed. I was impressed (by Malaysian standards) that the interconnectivity was well planned. I wasn't thinking of Kranji however. I wanted to go to Woodlands. While the other people got on the bus, I scouted for the SBS bus to Woodlands.
5 mins later the driver came and opened the door. There was only me and another passenger. RM 1 to Woodlands MRT station. Paid and got up. I must say, if you're traveling with heavy or bulky luggage, the Yellow Kranji bus would be a better bet. The Yellow Kranji bus is a real and proper tourist bus, with compartments at the bottom. The Woodlands bus is just a normal ply-the-city-streets bus. Not very convenient if you have lots of luggage. Dragging it up the bus will be a real pain.
Why do bus drivers have to leave their buses running while parked in Kotaraya?! You're running a diesel dammit!
The NEW (under construuction) Malaysian CIQ building. Supposed to connect to the "
crooked bridge" b4
AAB cancelled it.
No pics of the Malaysian and Singaporean CIQ complexes. They don't like photographers. Not sure why. Honestly, if I'd were Al Qaeda, I wouldn't even take pics. Just commute between JB and Singapore for a year or so, you'd know the place inside out and better than any spy pics.
The Malaysian side was a disgrace. The bus dropped me off and with no signage, I followed the crowd. The immigration complex is a sad place. Darkened with soot, water leaking from the Airconditioning, and only 1 counter open. Lights were dark and flickering, with the diesel smell mixing with the aircond. I used the autogate. It was working, but it refused to let me through. Went to the human counter and she LITERARY waved me through.
Not a glance at passport. No scan. No chop. Just walk pass. In that case, WHY EVEN BOTHER HAVING A CIQ?
Ended up on the causeway (JB side). Boarded the same SBS Woodlands bus, but now with a ton of people. This was 11.35am mind you. I was kinda glad to be in a bus. Buses can use the lane marked "for buses and motorcycles only", which was like a red carpet through. I wouldn't like to be in a taxi; the jam was amazing, snaking for miles in both to JB and Singapore.
Reached the CIQ in Singapore. you can actually walk across the causeway if you don't mind the heat. The Singaporean CIQ? Clean. Fast. Smooth. Lights work. With guard dogs and military forces with REAL guns. Huge signs saying "No loitering". They should add "No loitering. Just go up to the CIQ you slow Malaysian's" Smaller signs saying the usual 'No smoking", "No durains" and "no photography".
The Singaporean CIQ is a lot nicer, neater but as slow as the Malaysian immigration officers. Most people went to a counter with a card thing. Like a season pass. Somewhere between a passport I think. If you had one you'd go through quite fast. There were also counters for Singaporean passports. Me, the normal and forgotten East Malaysian, had to use a normal passport counter.
I was in a queue, which the officer was slower than my grandmothers reaction time. I was there for 15 mins, and the queue hardly budged. I gave up and went to a seemingly faster moving queue. Still, I was stuck in that queue for another 25 mins. I was so bored, that I took out my HP. Still could connect to the Digi network (6 bars), so started SMS'ing.
One thing I noticed was that the place was over run by little kiddies! My guess they are Pri 1! Some even had Singaporean passports! And they came ALONE! No parents in sight! The line next to me (not the slower than my grandmother queue) was this little cute girl, who queued up. The immigration office craned his neck and asked her to come to the front. Little kiddies get priority! I thought that was nice. The girl was so small she was hardly as tall as the immigration counter! She had to tiptoe to put her passport on the desk!
After a while, I also saw the police officer rounding up the kiddies as they came through the door and taking them to a counter, where they were given priority above the others. I had mixed feelings on this. On one hand i was queuing up for half hour, and these kiddies just zoom through. On the other hand, it shows that at least the Singaporeans do help the little kiddies get to school on time.
My officer couldn't read. You have to fill in a form to enter Singapore. like name, length of stay, purpose of stay etc etc etc. I filled it in, and this is how it went:
Guy:*wakes palm*
Me:*gives passport*
guy: *opens passport, looks at my details and me. Looks at form*
Guy: What are you coming to Singapore for?
Me: Holiday
Guy: how long?
Me: 3 days
Guy: are you from Sararwak?
Me: *cant you read you uneducated officer?!?!* yes.
Guy: does the usual enter into computer and chop thing
/guy passes the passport back to me
It doesn't seem long, but it took 30 secs or so. Multiply that by 100-300 people in the queue, and you see why it took years before I got into Singapore.
What irked me is that, if you must ask questions, why ask those that I've just filled in the form!? Honestly, do I look suspicious?
Do I?
Then I had to go though a maze
that is used to weed out dumbo's before they enter the x-ray scanning. get pass, and I'm in Singapore!
Clean and green, opposition cannot win!
My bus ticket I was issued in Kotaraya to Woodlands. The fare is RM1, and S$0.30 does not equal RM1.
Another thing is ALWAYS keep all tickets with you. Never throw them away until you're sure you don't need them. Coming down from the CIQ to the buses, you have to take another, different bus. If you lose the one you got in Malaysia, you have to pay S$1 (RM 2.60) for another ticket! No more Ringgit!
Showed the bus ticket, and got on the Woodlands bus. From the CIQ to woodlands MRT is quite a distance! It looks close on Google earth, but its quite far! I was starving by then (it was 12.40pm at this point) as I hadn't had lunch. I purposely bought some kueh to eat on the long journey to my final destination to Tanah Merah, but Singaporean buses don't like people eating on buses. Or MRT trains for that matter. So I was starving until I got to the woodlands MRT, had a quick eat b4 the train came, and no food until I reached my destination.
I suppose that's the price you pay for a clean nation........
Woodlands MRT station.
From here, it was easy. Buy 1 (ONE! SATU! Yi!) ticket all the way to Tanah Merah, even if there on different lines. Bet you can't do that in KL!
My train comes in 3 mins. At least they tell you. Not like KL. Delays galore, trains never come, and the trains look like they came from the rejects of the German U line.
Easy from here on. Train comes. Get inside. Being in the suburbs, the trains aren't that full. Only as it approaches the city, does it become packed. Let it roll until City hall interchange. Took me 38 mins from Woodlands to City Hall.
Above ground, the MRT doesn't move that fast. It sounds fast in the underground tunnel. I suppose its faster than a bus or being stucked in a jam, but I saw cars, in the parts where the tracks are parallel to the road, out sprint the train.
Finally arrived at city hall. Still got another 20 mins to go.
City hall station. The train on the left is the green (east-west) line which will take me to Tanah Merah.
Singapore being Singapore, all I did after arriving in city hall was just to go across the platform, and I'll be taken to the Green line! No such rubbish as going out of the station, crossing the road and going to another station in KL.
Ended in Tanah Merah. A simple station. Waited for my Uncle.
