I’d thought of a short trip to Singers - I used to do this before the pandemic - and decided that it should take place between their independence day and ours and define not during school hols. Two weeks after travelling up north seemed a good idea for a trip down south so I browsed the bus tickets and booked a night’s stay at Berjaya Waterfront Hotel.
Monday, 17 August 2026
I made my way to Times Square for the 23:30 bus. Only found out when I collected my ticket that we would be changing buses in Sungai Besi. The bus came at 23:35 and we got on.
Tuesday, 18 August 2026
After Sungai Besi, the driver pulled into a side road and we boarded another bus, a double decker this time. Traffic was pretty heavy at that hour. We stopped somewhere to use the facilities before continuing on.
We arrived at Sultan Abu Bakar Immigration Custom just before 05:00 and went down to clear passport control. Then we joined dozens of other vehicles and crossed over to Singapore. Again, we went down, this time with our bags. The process was quick compared to pre-pandemic days. I went to perform ablutions and performed morning prayers in the bus. And a good thing I did too because we only reached Golden Mile Tower after 07:00 and the sun was already out by then.
I walked all the way to Orchard Road, stopping at Duo Galleria to freshen up and have some light breakfast. At Orchard Road, I decided to enter Paragon after spotting people entering it. While the shops opened at 10:00, the supermarket and some eateries were already opened.
I spent the next couple of hours walking into Lucky Plaza and crossing over to Wisma Atria and Ngee Ann City. I finally had lunch at the food court in Tangs. The briyani was good but the dishes were spicy
I then walked up Scotts Road to Novena and waited for the bus back to JB. I was informed that the bus fare was to be paid either by Manjalink card or credit card Cash was not accepted. The bus arrived after about 15 minutes.
It took about thirty minutes to get to Woodlands and we went through the process of exiting the country.
Back in JB, I decided to walk to the hotel. I didn’t realise there was an elevated walkway to RF& Mall and I took the road-level route. I finally reached the hotel and not too soon either; it rained about an hour after I arrived.
The room was great but the bathroom gave such a stinky smell that I staggered back from the stench. I would only be there for a few hours so decided to put up with it. I ventured out at 18:40 to find dinner and had a bowl of overpriced mee bandung at a stall nearby.
Wednesday, 19 August 2026
I checked out and left the hotel and made my way to the bus stop. If the bus didn’t show up, I’d walk. Well. It arrived a couple of minutes after I got to the bus stop and it’s complimentary to Malaysians - one just need to tap one’s MyKad. Alhamdulillah. The trip took about twelve minutes because it made a u-turn just before the palace and headed for JB Sentral.
I boarded the 07:00 bus to Larkin and had an hour to kill at Larkin. There were only six of us aboard the bus back to KL. We stopped at Ayer Keroh to use the facilities before continuing on. We reached TBS at 12:35 and I made my way home after dropping by the cobbler.
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