I took the bus to JB last Saturday from Bugis.
The SJE bus fare had finally gone up in tandem with the CW2 price. (Talk about market price manipulation) I felt strange why it was still $3.XX when I went over in early May. Must have been slow in seeking approval for the increase.
reached checkpoint in around 40min and cleared SG customs pretty quickly. but that’s also when the nightmare started. There was a snaking queue for the cars when crossing over. And true enough, when I reach the MY customs, there was a human queue I’ve never seen for years. Hahaha. What social distancing?
Fresh after surviving that trama queue, I went to queue for curry fishhead. Haha. Earlier wanted to queue for manjaink card but gave up. Jalan Jalan, caught a movie. They had self service machines and didn’t accept cash! There was also no manual ticket office to buy from! So I just asked the local beside to help me. I had brought my YouTrip card along just in case but realised it had expired all through covid. Hahahahaa. Oh ya, couldn’t find those cheap Indian barbers at the meldrum side anymore.
wanted to cross back over to SG at 1030pm and my god it was almost similar to what I encountered when I came over. Knowing it was gonna be at least another 1hr wait, I decided to just stay over and get back the next day. I didn’t go get a room and decided to rough it out. There was a night bazaar at Jln segget but it was boring (comparing it to the malacca one). Anyhow, I went to meldrum and found a Chinese kopitiam to lakopi and lounge at watching the TV but it started closing at 2am. Surprisingly couldn’t find any satay also. The Malay stall was selling bbq fish and other dishes though but I just wanted easy finger food. So I left and walked around to explore. Oh yes I took precaution not to go into dark alleys. The JBsentral drop off point oppo CS was now pretty empty though there was a 24hr convenience store and a “security” with a makeshift table and chair sitting around. It was around 3am I decided to catch a wink on the concrete benches. A few people were already sleeping there. Haven’t slept like that since army outfield days. I think I rested for an hr max. The occasional noise from the cars speeding past kept me awake. Haha. At around 5, I started my 5BX. kidding. I went to walk around to jln tan Hiok nee. Had teh at the coffeeshop oppo hiapjoo. Initially wanted to wait til 830am? before huamui open but I decided to try another joint - kopiloco for the chicken Chop since they open much earlier. Bought some banana cakes from hiapjoo and left back to SG. Caught up with some sleep once back home.
