That was a well planned trip to Johor Bahru for Jimi's (my eldest son) working interview with a company based in Singapore and having its branch at Taman Molek, Johor Bahru (JB).
My whole family...comprising of my wife Wan Azmiyah (Kak Mie), my mother in law Wan Semek, Najmi (my second son), Nami (my youngest son) and me were involved in sending Jimi to JB to give him unlimited morale support. After all, that was his first real interview for his job as an Assistant Naval Architect after finishing his study for a Bachelor in Naval Architecture and Ship Construction early this month. The interview is to be held at the company's branch office in JB and scheduled at 9.30 am on Friday, 24th December, 2010.
My whole family...comprising of my wife Wan Azmiyah (Kak Mie), my mother in law Wan Semek, Najmi (my second son), Nami (my youngest son) and me were involved in sending Jimi to JB to give him unlimited morale support. After all, that was his first real interview for his job as an Assistant Naval Architect after finishing his study for a Bachelor in Naval Architecture and Ship Construction early this month. The interview is to be held at the company's branch office in JB and scheduled at 9.30 am on Friday, 24th December, 2010.
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| Photo of Johor Bahru |
It has been very long time ago (more than 20 years ago) when I had first stepped in into Johor Bahru High Court to conduct a civil suit for a Plaintiff, a local friend of mine who engaged me to be his counsel in the matter of a breach of agreement under a contract. Our claims were for an Order for a Specific Performance under the contract plus damages as a result of the breach of the agreement. We won the case, but unfortunately the Judgment given by the Court was only for a matter of academic because the Defendant was subject to a winding up proceedings soon after that. We have no money for that case.
I knew a little bit about JB and its history which I can tell you briefly here.
Johor Bahru (also spelled Johor Baharu, Johor Baru, or Johore Bahru; abbreviated as JB) is the capital city of the state of Johor in southern Peninsular of Malaya. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the mainland which originally known as Tanjung Puteri founded in 1885 by Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim (Raja Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim), father of Sultan Abu Bakar...the most remembered Sultan for Modern Johore.
Started as a Malay fishing village, Sultan Abu Bakar renamed Tanjung Puteri as "Johor Bahru" and proclaimed it as government's new capital in 1886 as a result of the shifting of the central government from Teluk Belanga in Singapore.
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| picture of the great Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor |
Almost all of the Johor's prosperity today resulted from the success of Sultan Abu Bakar in persuading and convincing the British and Chinese merchants and traders to invest in agricultural industries in Johor. Many landmarks in JB were restored under his Majesty's name such as the Museum of Sultan Abu Bakar and Masjid Sultan Abu Bakar in JB. Today, JB is the house for 1.6 million of its population and was recognized as the second largest city in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur.
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| Museum of Sultan Abu Bakar, Johor Bahru |
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| The Mosque of Sultan Abu Bakar, Johor Bahru |
Now, after so many years gone, I made a return trip to JB. This time with my whole family...6 persons altogether. But still with my old Toyota Avanza 1.3 Manual Transmission with a great help from my GPS (I GO Software system). And, at about 7.00am, 23rd December, 2010 we started our journey from Kuala Ibai, Kuala Terengganu heading towards JB.
Traveling with my mother in law for a long journey always make some differences because she can't take food from restaurants. So, we have to bring our 'Bekal'...sort of cooked rice together with the rice cooker itself, fried 'ikan selayang kukus', fried chicken, fried salted fish and boiled salted eggs. You have to obey and comply with this requirements should you want her to travel along with you.
My speed was about 100 km/hour though it was raining all the way. We stopped for first refueling at Paka Shell Petrol Station for RM50.00 for full tank.
Surprisingly, upon resuming our trip the GPS leaded us straight away to the famous Segamat Highway......meaning that we were not going at all through Kuantan, Pekan, Mersing or Kota Tinggi. Lots of arguments held between my mother in law and the rest of the passengers about the routes. She said the route through Mersing is the shortest one, whilst my sons agreed with the GPS. Being the driver, I just assured myself that the trip speedometer shall prevail when we headed home from JB to KT soon. I shall compare the mileages for the 2 routes.
Somehow or rather, I believed that the GPS is created for our use to ease our problem when traveling to unfamiliar locations. Just stick to its suggestions and follow the routes proposed by it and you will arrive at your destination safely as intended. We stopped quite late for our lunch at Masjid Kampung Cha'ah, Segamat and had our Jamak Ta'akhir prayer for Zohor and Asar. We have 40 minutes break there.
After taking the Highway as suggested by GPS and paid RM10.10 for the toll, we arrived at our destination safely at about 5.00 pm. Surprise isn't it? It surprised me and everyone in the family for such an early arrival with an average speed of 90 km/hour from Cha'ah to JB. We stayed at our relative house at the Immigration's Flat at Taman Melati and have visited the famous Danga Bay to view Singapore from JB after dinner. We took some photos there before moving closer to Marina Club. We have boarded an open air train which was driven around the Club facilities.....
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| picture of Jimi with my mother in law at Marina Club, Danga Bay |
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| family picture with Woodlands as background |
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| photo of my family with Masjid Sultan Abu Bakar as background |
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| boarding the open air train at Marina Club, Danga Bay, JB after dinner...camera out of battery!!! |
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| picture of Masjid Sultan Abu Bakar, JB taken with my N95 phone |
It was a pleasant trip to JB and many many thanks to our host, Encik Amin (my wife's second cousin ) for the hospitality. Apparently, the foods here (at Pasar Taman Melati) were good and tasty and affordable too.....especially for lontong, soto, laksa Johor and other local favorites. This information denied the rumors which were saying that the foods in JB were very expensive or rather exorbitantly priced or very costly and not affordable to us. That was totally a very bad and wrong information. I am impressed. If you are searching for 5 star meals...then the stories are similar almost everywhere....not particularly in JB.
More important, Jimi's interview was conducted in such a nice way and we hope the company will take him as its employee very soon.
More important, Jimi's interview was conducted in such a nice way and we hope the company will take him as its employee very soon.
Now, I can make a comparison and decide the best route to choose for my next trip to JB from K.Trg. The total mileages are as follows:-
K.Trg - Segamat - JB = 510km
JB - Kota Tinggi - Mersing - Pekan - Permatang Badak - K. Trg = 525km
Hence, the GPS was right in choosing the shortest route from K. Trg to JB, ie via Segamat Highway.
Apart from that, you will have a pleasant drive when you take the free Highway from Sungai Ular, Kuantan and drive straight away to the junction of Segamat Highway. This Highway is a long straight road which will bring you to Segamat. You may use this Highway too for a trip to Nilai, in Negeri Sembilan where you may save a lot of cash for not paying tolls for Highways ( East Coast Highway, Karak Highway , Sungai Besi toll and etc. before you reach Nilai). This Segamat Highway is OK to me and I will choose it for my next trip to JB.
We arrived at Kuala Terengganu at 10.30 pm on the same day (24/12/2010). The actual cost for fuel was RM50 + RM50 + RM50 + RM36 = RM186 for to and fro (KT - JB - KT) and the balance of the fuel suffice enough to bring us to Kota Bharu tomorrow.
At about 11 am the next day (Christmas day, 25/12/2010) we shoot to Kampung Salor, Pasir Mas for a Kenduri Kahwin of my wife's relative. Again, with the help from GPS, we managed to save time a lot by cutting through the kampung road via Kadok - junction K.Bharu/ K. Krai. We took right turn to K. Bharu and then took left turn towards Pasir Mas. We found Kg. Salor in just below 20 minutes drive from the main road of Pasir Puteh to K. Bharu.
After kenduri, we headed straight away to KB Mall in Kota Bharu for some shopping perhaps, I may say. But the parking lots were full and we have to park the car at the parking lot at the top of the roof of the Mall. The Mall was so crowded with visitors and I felt as if I was somewhere in Sungei Wang Plaza or Mid Valley in KL. Next we went to Pasar Siti Khadijah and enjoyed some local cuisines and foods.
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| foto of Kak Mie & company taking escalator in KB Mall |
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| view of Jalan Temenggong, Kota Bharu |
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| view inside dry and wet section of Pasar Siti Khadijah, Kota Bharu |
Perhaps, my story hereof was one of the full traveling week for me and my family to be shared with you. I will write again for my next trips to anywhere in this my beloved country. Till next time then oopps......wait a minute..... I've got a message here from Jimi....INDONESIA 2 : 1 MALAYSIA....which means MALAYSIA WON THE FIRST EVER SUZUKI CUP FINAL by beating Indonesia with an aggregate of 4 : 2. Tahniah...Syabbas....Harimau Malaysia you are unpredictable yet amazing....., the proud of the Nations.
Great moment to be shared together....
Bye and salam from us.
ha ha. like the last paragraph!
ReplyDeleteMalaysia Boleh!