My Very First Blog

During my trip to Johor Bahru (popularly known as JB) last December, I stayed at AmanSari Hotel for 3 nights. I initially planned to stay for just one night as I had only wanted to visit Legoland and JPO.

But since Johor Bahru is so near to Singapore, I decided to extend my stay at the hotel for another 2 nights so that I can make a one-day trip to the island republic. At only RM138 per night, staying in this hotel was way cheaper than staying in a similar standard hotel across the causeway, don't you agree?

Besides, the hotel is just within 3 minutes walking distance to the City Square shopping mall and 5 minutes to the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (CIQ) so it's pretty convenient.


The Christmas decoration in City Square Mall

The City Square Mall has many restaurants and cafes. I also found a currency exchange shop that offered better exchange rate compared to the ones in PJ and KL. So yes, I bought some Singapore Dollars here.



One of the cafes I dined in was the Breeks Cafe.



I enjoyed this place as it provides free wifi and I could sit at this corner and have a good view of the mall's main concourse.



Their tomato pasta was delicious! And it's only RM10.90. Not bad eh?



From the City Square Mall, you can walk across to the CIQ via two bridges.



Below are some of the photos I took while walking across to the CIQ with my friend Jim in the morning.



Crossing over to Singapore from the CIQ is a breeze. Except that, you need to fill in the immigration card.  Wonder why we still need this, Singapore? Malaysia had already done away with the card with the introduction of the biometric system.

On the card, you will be required to fill in your address, the place you will be staying in Singapore, the number of days staying in Singapore and the place you come from before entering Singapore.

In my case, my address is 'Petaling Jaya', the place I will be staying is 'Marina Bay' (I'm not staying in Singapore but that's the place I'm heading to), the number of days is '1 day' and place I came from is 'Johor Bahru'.



Upon completing the card, go through the immigration counter. For Malaysians, you can use the auto passport scanner instead of queuing at the counter.

After passing through the immigration, take the escalator or lift down one floor to the bus platform below. You need to take a bus to the Singapore customs at Woodlands. No one is allowed to walk over to Singapore on foot if that's what you have in mind.



There are many buses that can take you to Singapore, but the main ones are SBS 160, SBS 170 and SMRT 950. If you have the EZ Link Card, you can use it on these buses, otherwise pay in cash, which I did since my EZ Link Card had already expired.

At the Woodlands immigration, you go through the usual stuffs that is, scanning of your luggage or bags and checking of passports. After that, you again go down the escalator or lift to the bus platform below to take a bus to wherever you want to go in Singapore.



In my case, I took bus SBS 160 to the nearest MRT Station, which is Kranji MRT Station. Singapore is pretty easy to get around using the MRT, so I depended mostly on it. That's why the EZ Link Card is so useful! You can use it on both MRT and buses.

And since I did not visit Singapore for quite some time, my old EZ Link Card (left) was no longer valid. I had to buy a new one (right) at the Kranji MRT Station.



A new EZ Link Card costs a minimum of SGD12 - the card costs SGD5 and the minimum amount to upload is SGD7.

That's clearly not enough for me, so later I went to a machine to add another SGD10. That's the minimum amount for top up using the machines. So I had SGD17 worth of travel money in my card which should be able to last me for a day at least.

From the Kranji MRT Station, I took the MRT to Marina Bay. Jim and I had planned to visit Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands.

Later that evening, I returned to Kranji MRT Station, walked up the overhead bridge to the other side of the road and took the same bus to Woodlands Checkpoint and back to Johor Bahru. From the CIQ, it took me just 5 minutes to reach my hotel. Perfect.

Coming Up Next : Gardens by the Bay

During my trip to Johor Bahru last December, I stayed at AmanSari Hotel City Centre.



Located at Jalan Wong Ah Fook, this 3-star hotel is just 3 minutes walk to City Square shopping mall and 5 minutes walk to the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (CIQ).

I had initially booked for just one night stay at this hotel but ended up booking for 3 nights. The reason was because I only wanted to visit Legoland and Johor Premium Outlets (JPO) and I thought a night stay would be sufficient. But when I found out that this hotel was so near to the CIQ, I decided to go for a 1-day trip to Singapore as well, hence I booked for another 2 nights.



The great thing about this hotel, besides its location, is that it's actually quite a new hotel. So everything was pretty clean and nice.

I booked a Superior Twin room at the cost of RM138 (USD44.50) per night. The room was comfortable with a nice 32-inch LCD TV with Astro cable channels and free access to the Internet via Unifi-high speed wireless broadband.



I do not know about you, but one important requirement of any hotels I stay is free access to the Internet with fast connectivity. I absolutely hate hotels that charge for internet use! This AmanSari Hotel did not disappoint in both the free access and fast connectivity.

The room also came with coffee and tea making facilities although I did not make use of them.



I was happy that the bathroom and toilet were clean and tidy.



Having stayed at hotels with dirty toilets, I am always grateful for clean toilets!



They provide hand soaps, shower gel, hair shampoo and shower caps which were pretty standard for a 3-star hotel.



I found this notice on the bathroom wall rather interesting. Towels on the rack means "I'll use again." Towels on the floor means "Please exchange". That's what I practised every time, but I wonder if everyone does the same?



Sheets are also changed daily unless you feel it is not necessary. I did not call the Front Desk to tell them it is not necessary, but I did not think they changed my sheets. Hmmm.

The shower area was separated from the toilet via a shower curtain.



A close shot of the shower head.



That's all the good things about this hotel and the hotel room. Now for the not so good stuffs.

Since I booked for 3 nights stay, I was shocked when during my check-in, the staff told me I had only booked for one night! Yes, I had initially booked for one night, but later added 2 more nights. Somehow it did not register in their computer.

After making me wait for about half an hour, they managed to sort it out and told me I needed to check-out the next day and re-check back in. How ludicrous was that!!

So you can see here below - the date of my arrival and departure, which is only one day apart.



When I asked them why they could not just let me stay for 3 nights without checking out and then re-check back in, they apologized and said that's how the system works! Fortunately, I did not have to change room when I re-checked back in the next day or I would certainly protest!

By the way, I did not know what happened that day when I arrived at the hotel but there was a long queue at the counter and some guests were fuming mad because they were made to wait for a long time. One guest who was there before me actually shouted at the staff and asked her why she was attending to me when he was made to wait for more than an hour just for a simple check-in!

Wow! More than an hour? That's seriously bad, I thought.

Another staff approached one of the guests and asked for his details. The guest (who must have waited for quite some time) angrily told her off and shouted that he had already given all his details earlier. I wonder if the staff were new and inefficient or something went wrong. I really had no idea but it did not give me a very good impression of the hotel.



Luckily, I liked my room and was most pleased with the fast Internet connection, the LCD TV and the cleanliness of the bathroom.

The hotel breakfast, which was complimentary, was nothing to shout about although I did not expect much from a 3-star hotel.

I only hated their very narrow parking facilities. I had great difficulty trying to reverse my car to exit the parking lot at one time. So much so that I decided to park my car at a parking lot outside somewhere near the hotel to spare me the trouble.



However, based on its close proximity to the CIQ, I think the AmanSari Hotel is perfect for those who would like to visit Singapore but preferred not to stay in Singapore. And that's what I did. I spent one day in Singapore visiting the impressive Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands which I will blog about in future posts.

After more than half a day at Legoland Malaysia and a brief window shopping activity at Johor Premium Outlets (JPO), my friend Jim brought me to Kirishima Shuzou for dinner.



Located at Crystal Crown Hotel in Johor Bahru, Kirishima Shuzou is, according to my friend, the best Japanese restaurant in town. Well, he should know since he told me he had worked there before.



Two weeks before my trip to Johor Bahru, Jim had already made reservations at this restaurant on my behalf. Why so early? Well, we wanted a private tatami room all to ourselves and there is only ONE such room in the restaurant!

Look! That's my name and it's first on the list! Haha!



Oh, and if you noticed the date, yes, it's Christmas eve that evening. All the more important to book the room early, right? : )

Before I show you our private tatami room, let's take a look at the restaurant interior.



The restaurant was quite empty. I guess we were early.



There were rows and rows of sake on the shelf.



Staff at work.



More sake and alcoholic beverages.



Variety of alcoholic beverages in the fridge.





There were books to read too! That is, if you can read Japanese.



More photos of the interior....



Beautiful glass cabinet



Some magnified photos of the glass cabinet...






Oh, and they also have The Asahi Shimbun newspaper - one of the five national newspapers in Japan!



Japanese magazines and comics galore!



So after touring round the restaurant, we went into our private tatami room. Here's a picture with my friend Jim in it, although he was not looking at the camera when I took the shot.



Some shots of the interior inside the room...











My pair of chopsticks and the appetizer on the table.



I forgot what's the name of this appetizer, but it's yummy.



The menu book.



Jim ordered a Saikoro Steak & Tempura Set priced at RM38 (USD12).



The set consists of dice cut Japanese beef in hot plate, and tempura served with egg custard, 2 small appetizers, pickles, salad, fruit, rice and miso soup.


Tempura prawns


Dice beef in hot plate

I ordered the Kirishima Gozen Set priced at RM48 (USD15.50).



It consists of assorted sashimi, sushi, tempura and grilled eel deluxe combo.


Grilled unagi (eel) deluxe combo


Salmon sashimi


Chawanmushi (custard egg)


Temaki (hand roll)


Nevertheless, I had a great dinner time chatting with Jim and with the nice food and nice ambience inside the private tatami room, what more could I ask for?

Kirishima Shuzou Japanese Restaurant
Crystal Crown Hotel
117, Jalan Tebrau
80250 Johor Bahru
Tel : 07-2752 838

Coming Up Next : Where I Stayed In Johor Bahru