Tasting the Chicken Rice in Johor Bahru

Last Friday, for the first time I took a cab from Singapore to Johor Bahru. Not all taxis in Singapore have license to drive to Malaysia. Only one official cab company in Bugis has this service and when you call the office, you've got to make appointment with the drivers personally. Yes, when you call the operator (if they answer), they'll give you the mobile phone numbers of a driver. If a driver is available, he would pick you up and if he's not, he might refer you to his other driver colleagues. I never knew that networking with cab drivers would be very critical to get me to JB.

It took me five to six drivers to call to finally got one driver available to drive me to Johor Bahru that Friday night. There was long and unimaginable car and people queue in Woodlands immigration. Lucky, my driver knew a shortcut to pass the immigration that not so many people would check - go to the immigration counters intended for lorries. But, the drawback is that these lorry counters don't open every day. If they happen to be closed, you'd need to make a turn all the way to the usual Woodlands immigration checkpoint and queue again. When my driver realised the lorry counters were openened, he kept on telling me "You are lucky! You are so lucky they open today". I just smiled.

Woodlands's lorry immigration on Friday Night.

Anyway, after about one and a half hour on the road, finally he dropped me in Kotaraya Terminal/Taxi Stand, the farthest point where taxi driver from Singapore can reach in Johor Bahru. The whole single trip to JB cost me S$ 50 (payment by cash only).

After waiting at the Kotaraya Taxi Stand for about 15 minutes, I finally saw my boyfriend who was lost in the city before getting to this Kotaraya Terminal. Johor Bahru and Kotaraya were totally new battle fields for him. Lucky once more, the driver patiently waited for me in that terminal until my boyfriend showed up. Not being so discriminative here but, Malaysia's safety is highly questionable, especially for young chinese women.

Dinner time - we needed a nearby place to fill our empty stomachs. Somewhere fast and near that terminal before heading back to Seremban. We found this area with many Chinses food stalls stretch called Medan Selera Meldrom Walk.

Medan Selera Meldrom Walk, JB.

Eating Char Siew Fan with maximum security: Keep your valuables with you wherever you are in JB. Keep your backpack on your shoulders even when you are eating and tie your laptop bag's sling around your feet so people won't snatch it.

After dinner, we still got a long drive to home. That's how we usually spend our Friday Night. Dating on the road.