Above: My delicious breakfast came to only SGD3.20. Singapore is lucky to have poorer neighbours for its labour and produce.
Catch-up with friends
I started my day with a breakfast of thosai, vadae and chai at the Indian Muslim place nearby. After checking-out around 1100, I spent a couple of hours with my aunt.
People in Asia have been re-using for decades because it makes economic sense even before the environmental crisis. Takeaway tea in used cans.
Friends from my alma mater St Joseph’s Kuching had organised a meet-up at Beach Road Prawn Noodle (which confusingly wasn’t in Beach Road but East Coast Road). I hadn’t seen some of them for 40 years and it was an awesome catch up. Strangely, all three of them love to ski despite living in Singapore. An I don’t, despite living in New Zealand.
Lucky crossing
After lunch, at around 1500, one of my friends dropped me off to the Queen Street Bus Terminal where I caught a Causeway Link bus within minutes. It was a 35 min non-stop ride to the Singapore checkpoint at the border. My heart sank when I saw the traffic jam leading to the border.
But luck was on my side. It took me only 20 mins to exit the Malaysian checkpoint on the other side. That time was comprised of getting upstairs to the Singapore checkpoint, getting processed by kiosk immediately, descending down to the bus to cross the causeway, going upstairs to the Malaysian checkpoint and finally getting processed immediately again by the kiosk.
Once in Malaysia around 1600, I did have to wait about 20 min for a Causeway Link bus to get to Larkin station where I would overnight for my early start tomorrow. I saw other buses bound for Larkin but they were from other companies which would involve buying new tickets (which wouldn’t cost much).
I could feel the difference between the two countries straight away. Maintenance and cleanliness of buildings is shoddier and people are more relaxed and friendly. At Larkin, I stayed at the Olive Hotel. It was a simple place located in a new block of shophouses. The floor of the portico area had been tiled and many of them were already coming loose. It would have been better to just have bare concrete.
Larkin nightstop
The Larkin area isn’t as glamorous as central JB. I found a few suitable places but some closed by the time I was ready to eat. I settled on a mamak or Indian Muslim eatery and had a decent meal eventually after my order had gotten lost. In view of the early wake-up tomorrow, I was in bed around 2000.