Welcome to Tijuana

  Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Saturday, November 11, 2006

When I heard that Johor Bahru is to Singapore as Tijuana is to San Diego I didn't believe it, I thought "Of course Singaporians would say that. For one thing There's an underlying tone coming from the locals.....a sort of "This is the best country around" tone That led me to assume that Johor Bahru couldn't possibly be that bad. So Jessica and i woke up yesterday and decided to go to Malaysia for lunch. How cool is that "I'm bored.....lets go to a different country for LUNCH!!!". So we hopped the MRT and got off at the woodlands exit (Opposite side of Singapore). From there we Jumped on the 950 bus and headed towards the border. The bus driver greeted us with a warm smile, closed the door to the bus, opened up his newspaper and started driving. WAAAAAA!!!!! Jess nudged my shoulder and whispered " Is he reading the paper?" Sure enough, I turned around to see a true Multi-tasker. I snapped a quick photo and we pulled up to the border. The customs went smoothly and before we knew it we found ourselves in Malaysia.
The first thing you notice is the noise followed shortly by the smells. I thought to myself "We're not in Singapore anymore.....No This place seems more like.....uh.....well....Tijuana." So It's not just that Singaporians are used to a perfectly manicured Island, Johor Bahru really is a shit-hole. The first thing you do after you walk out of the bus station is walk under a Pedestrian underpass, however before you have the chance to do that you're approached by about 12 Taxi drivers yelling, "Taxi, Taxi!!!, You come with me I give you Taxi ride!!!" as we walked past and on to the underpass one of them had the nerve to yell, "No!!! That's the wrong way, That way goes back to Singapore!!" I wonder if anyone's actually fallen for that.
All in all we spent about 2 hours in Johor Bahru. We went to the mall and bought Notebooks and pens, which we can't seem to find anywhere here in Singapore, I guess Paper and pens are illegal too. It wouldn't surprise me. We got lunch, walked around and decided to leave. It was a little harder to get Back Into Singapore, Which I had anticipated. As we rode the Train home I relaxed in my clean and safe environment. I Guess all those rules really do pay off.
We got back home around 4:00pm. Not a bad day, maybe we'll go to Indonesia Tomorrow, But we'll probably be too busy preparing for our Monday Departure to Thailand. And On We Go:-)