I Finally Crossed the Border: Weekend Trip to Johor Bahru from Singapore
- Aye Mon
- Jun 19, 2020
- 11 min read
Updated: Apr 25, 2021
I have lived in Singapore for 20-odd years.
In 2019, I made a trip that surprised many.
I crossed the causeway for my first weekend getaway to Johor Bahru. /0/
For years, I’ve been a sad loser missing out on all such JB getaway opportunities with my friends, mostly because of the last minute nature of these trips which one could not possibly accommodate when one requires a visa to cross borders... So yes, after I paid a good $55 to obtain a one year golden ticket to cross anytime I wish, I swore I was going to milk it real good...and of course, COVID just had to shatter these dreams. There goes my Malaysia itineraries, rotting lifelessly in my drive.
Unfortunate visa and pandemic woes aside, let’s dive right into the itinerary for a weekend quickie trip to our beloved neighbour JB! Here’s a quick overview of the itinerary that we actually experienced (the planned one was a little different :p):
JB Weekend Trip Itinerary
DAY ZERO (Thur): Travelling to JB
Chiong to Woodlands Checkpoint after work, take the KTM to JB Sentral
Check-in at R&F Princess Cove Airbnb
DAY ONE (Fri): Café Hopping
Spring Labs
Good Morning (早｜尚好) @ Spring Labs
Tropique @ Spring Labs
Flowers in the Window
Replacement Lodge
Movie at R&F Mall
DAY TWO (Sat): Bubble Tea Café Hopping, Shopping & Massage
Brunch at Belly Bar Molek (R&F Mall)
Hola Tea
The Cheese Lab
Massage at Thai Odyssey
Shopping at Johor Bahru City Square
DAY THREE (Sun): Brunch & Travelling back to SG
Breakfast at Routine by Soon (R&F Mall)
Chiong for KTM, miss KTM, scramble to find a bus back lmao
Pre-trip Preparations
Prior to the trip, we made a little to-do list and diligently checked it off:
Apply for a Malaysia Visa (just for me lol)
Book accommodation
Book KTM rides
Exchange SGD for some sweet RM and watch your wallet expand x3
Get a SIM Card
Book a massage at Thai Odyssey
Accommodation: R&F Princess Cove Bliss Private Bedroom (Airbnb)
For just $25/night for 2 pax, we stayed at a lovely little Airbnb apartment conveniently located at the residential counterpart of the R&F mall, R&F Princess Cove. It also happens to be walking distance from the KTM station (approx 10 mins). I certainly would stay here again if we ever came back to JB! (Click on the image for the link to this listing~)
Check-in process: Although we couldn’t find the apartment at first, I messaged the host on the Airbnb app, who replied promptly and gave us more precise directions. We met him at the lobby area, and he then brought us up to our apartment.
Apartment type: It was a shared apartment where we stayed in one room, and shared the communal spaces (kitchen, living room and toilet). There appeared to be about two other rooms that were occupied as well, but we never did see the other occupants at all. We made sure to lock our room door whenever we left the house. As the residential area is like a condo, security seems pretty solid - there’s a security guard at the lift lobby area, and you have to tap in with your key even to get to the lift lobby.
Amenities: The house was sparkling clean and quiet, with free WiFi and air-con in the room as well. The best part about this apartment is really the convenient location - it’s basically like you’re living at the mall. 7-eleven is right below your house, and the supermarket (Jaya Grocer) is just about 5 mins away, along with wide array of food options. Another plus point is that R&F mall still is pretty empty most of the time, even on weekends. Most of the stores aren’t occupied yet, but the ones that are already there are definitely more than enough to keep you well-fed. There aren't really entertainment options there like Karaoke, arcades, bars etc., but you could just take a quick 5min stroll to Johor Bahru City Square for those!
Transport: KTM (to JB) & Grab (around JB)
Getting to JB from SG
We booked two one-way trips on the KTM (it’s cheaper than a two-way ticket :o) on this website: https://ticket.ktmb.com.my/
SG to JB ticket - RM 16 (SGD 5.66)
JB to SG ticket - RM 5 (SGD 1.77)
The KTM is located at Woodlands Train Checkpoint is located right next to Woodlands Checkpoint. From the bus stop Opp Kranji Station, take bus 170 for 7 stops (approx 10 mins) to W'Lands Checkpt and walk for 3 mins. There are other routes via Marsiling station etc. - just Google yea. ;)
Getting around JB
Just Grab, really. You can get a cab really quickly, and each trip fare is pretty much akin to bus fares in SG (unless you heading to super ulu places la) - and that's for two pax :o imagine the cost savings if you split it among 3 or 4 peeps! In any case, GoogleMaps never returned any promising results when we searched for public transport routes so, the choice was obvious.
Exchange SGD for some sweet RM
Okay in reality we ended up exchanging money with our parents who had leftover RM. But most times I monitor the exchange rates on https://cashchanger.co/singapore and chiongster out of the office when I see good rates at a nearby Raffles Place money changer.
Get a SIM Card
We got a Changi Recommends SIM Card on Shoppe which did not work at all as the app required to activate it kept hanging :( guess we were just pretty damn unlucky. Then we just bought a new 5GB SIM Card from a random store at JB Sentral which worked great! :) We chose to purchase just one SIM Card, and share the data via hotspot (this drains battery so bring a good portable charger with ya).
Book a Massage
It’s not necessary, but the site mentioned to book in advance if you wanted a couple room so ;) we made an advanced reservation via this form on the website of Thai Odyssey, which was pretty reputable based on some reviews by our friends.
And now it's time to dive right in to the actual proceedings of the trip! /0/
DAY ZERO (Thur): Travelling to JB
We headed home after work to grab our loots and headed to the Woodlands Train Checkpoint. We were kinda lost there tbh, cuz we missed some signs. Thankfully a kind man noticed our blur af faces and showed us the way. :”) In short: keep your eyes peeled for the signs, it’s a heck of a crowded and confusing place in the evening. Us being kiasu as usual, we got to the gate (look out for the screens/signs indicating your train numbers) about 45mins early so we were just chilling and waiting. After going through immigration, taking the train, cursing at our useless SIM card that couldn’t activate, buying a new SIM card upon arriving at the KTM station and walking through a dark overhead bridge that connected the JB Sentral station to our Airbnb at Princess Cove, we finally met our host and checked in at our place. And pretty much just KOed.
DAY 1 (Fri): Café Hopping
A day simply dedicated to visiting cafés cuz #foodislife and I dig instagrammable places. :-) To start day one, we took a trusty ’ol Grab for RM22 to our first destination of the trip:
Spring Labs
Address: 1, Jalan Ekoflora 1, Taman Ekoflora, Johor Bahru)
Opening hours: 9am-10pm
Website: http://www.springlabs.my/about-us
Spring Labs is a retail concept park of sorts that houses several pretty cafés, shops and photo spots - I would highly recommend you check it out whilst in JB. We visited on a Friday morning so it was empty, and most shops weren’t open yet, but that was exactly our game plan to give us more time to take as many photos as we wanted. 😉Allocate more time to go around taking photos if you like doing so, as there are really tons of cute photo spots!
We had a delicious first meal at Good Morning (早｜尚好) for an affordable RM22.30, giving me the energy to pretentiously take tons of photos all around Spring Labs thereafter.
After finally getting our fill of photo taking, we headed to Tropique Café for some dessert. You will notice pretty atas interior and enthusiastic staff offering great hospitality from the moment you walk in - factors that instantly make you a little anxious for your wallet. But then I looked at the menu and realised, heck - I was in JB. I would say I got a satisfactory tai tai level high-tea experience without paying tai tai prices so - would recommend a drop-by.
(Unfortunately I don't have a lot of photos of all the cafés I visited or the food I ate cuz it's not really a habit to take too many photos, but will probably take lots more in the future! :>)
Just as we were about to leave, it started raining pretty heavily. Thankfully there was a sheltered taxi stand where we waited for our Grab (cost RM38 this time cuz of the rain). We then headed to the Jalan Dhoby area, hoping to drop by some thrift stores like Rossie Inc and Rebirth but the former was closed and the latter wasn’t really my style and was way too expensive for a thrift store. Heaven was just telling us to just sit down and eat - so eat we did.
Flowers in the Window
Address: 9, Jalan Dhoby, Bandar Johor Bahru, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening hours: 10am-8pm
I’m sure most would have heard of the café Flowers in the Window. We even met some NUS acquaintances there! Pretty sure tons of these cafés are largely patronised by Singaporeans.
This café is really beautiful, and has way more affordable food than Singapore’s cafés with amazing quality - yo I can’t believe how much I’ve been missing out on all these years. :”) (But then again, is it worth my $55 visa? Asdfghjkl.)
And this was the second level of Flowers in the Window - looks a little more like a bedroom than a cafe doesn't it :D and customers can be seated here too!
We realised that Replacement Lodge is right opposite Flowers in the Window, and dropped by as well. The salted egg yolk churros were recommended, and that definitely was the best salted egg yolk sauce I’ve tasted in a while.
After walking around all day (jk we were mostly cabbing and sitting and eating), we decided to nua with a movie at R&F Mall. The tickets there aren’t dirt cheap like other cinemas around JB, but RM19 (SGD 6.33) for a ticket is still decent I guess.
Walked around the mall for a bit too, and surprisingly spotted some interesting backdrops in place! Cute photo spots, empty mall - of course we got snapping.
We had a simple dinner at a food court in R&F mall thereafter, and then came the evening’s highlight - our very first cup of Earl Grey Milk Tea from The Alley, located at R&F mall as well. Ever since that first sip I took right there, every other brand has become irrelevant. The Alley just straight up catapulted its way to the top of my list, period. Thank god I can find it in SG at a similar price point.
We love being productive travellers. Our day doesn’t end so fast, nuh-uh. Deciding to relieve our boredom at night, we headed out for a drink at a nearby Irish bar. Mostly because we were blind and didn’t see the hidden non-halal section at Jaya Grocer which had alcohol, pork etc. Whoops. Regrets cuz the drinks at the bar were as expensive as Singapore’s, but at least we learnt to get our own drinks the next day after a more thorough search at the grocer’s. 🤓🍺
DAY 2 (Sat): Bubble Tea Café Hopping, Shopping & Massage
The plan for day two was to visit Austin Heights, which had both a water park AND an outdoor adventure park wew. But cuz of the forecast of possible heavy rain, we decided not to go in the end…and of course the heavens decided to spite us with sunny weather all day.
So instead we made it a nua day of bubble tea café hopping cuz yes, JB has full-on cafés for their BBT chains, scoffing at SG’s tiny takeaway BBT outlets.
To start the day, we had brunch at Belly Bar Molek (R&F Mall) - a store selling really great Taiwanese food! Highly recommended. We only spent RM20.80 on an extremely filling meal for two.
Then we took a Grab (RM32 cuz it’s pretty far) to the Austin Heights area, which was literally clustered with Bubble Tea cafés at every corner. We were using The Smart Local’s guide to assist our hunt, skipping the brands found in Singapore, and targeting only the pretty and uniquely themed cafés. Our first stop:
Hola Tea
Address: GF-L009 Austin International Convention Centre, Jalan Austin Heights 8/1, Taman Mount Austin, 81100 Johor Bahru, Johor Opening hours: 11AM-1AM
A European themed café with not so promising bubble tea but certainly quite a few promising photo backgrounds! Would definitely recommend you drop by, but just don’t get the Taiwan Sun Moon Lake Black Tea.
Much to our dismay, two cafés which I was keen on visiting - 少1点/shao yi dian (which looked so pretty) and Regiustea (cuz I’m a sucker for cheese tea) - were both permanently closed. ☹️ But instead we found The Cheese Lab thanks to a pure stroke of luck - which I would HIGHLY recommend. The matcha cheesecake was definitely the best I’ve had, and the latte was a wonderful complement. This shop is a little further in but just a 10mins ish walk from Hola Tea.
The Cheese Lab
Address: 39, Jalan Austin Heights 8/5, Taman Mount Austin, 81100 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Opening hours: 2-10pm
And that marked the end of the BBT café hopping journey...after just two places lmao. Moral of the story: both online guides and Google Maps may not be all that reliable. But when travelling, you gotta just embrace the delight of serendipity - besides The Cheese Lab, look at these gorgeous murals we found by chance too! :") These were somewhere near the Cheese Lab though I honestly don't remember where whoops.
On our way back to hail a Grab, we even ended up discovering the non-halal section at a random Jaya Grocer and buying plenty of drinks before heading back to the Airbnb.
Pink plaid skirt from Shopee! :p
Then it was time for the massage at Thai Odyssey. This was my very first time getting a massage, and I did find it rather therapeutic. But oh boy did I ache the next day - that’s supposed to be good for me right? Haha.
After a lovely dinner and shopping around a bit at Johor Bahru City Square, we headed back for some 🍻s. As there was unfortunately no fridge, we bought a huge bag of ice from the grocer to keep our drinks cool in there. :D
DAY 3 (Sun): Brunch & Travelling back to SG
Good times are so short lived. :”) We checked out early the next morning, and had a wonderful brunch at Routine by Soon (R&F Mall) to end off our trip. The food was amazing for such affordable prices, and what really stood out was the thoughtful touches of service by the staff.
And then we made a mistake. We decided to grab some BBT at the Alley, thinking we had enough time to get to the KTM station that was just a 10min walk away. After waiting 25mins for our drinks, and literally dashing to the station - we ended up late by just a minute or two... we noobs forgot that the gates closed about 10-15mins prior to departure...😢 The KTMs are always fully booked due to advance reservations, but thankfully there was still the option to take a bus back, albeit rather crowded. What should have been a 15min journey ended up being a 4-hour trip back to Singapore. It passed by in such a blur that I don't even remember which bus I took.
Nonetheless, this was a truly satisfying trip that left me craving the next one. Though I do wonder when that could be. :”)
Meanwhile, just gotta curl up in my room to relive these wonderful memories through these posts, and look forward to the next trip! /0/
Some other useful references 🤗:
Bubble Tea Cafés (Shao Yi Dian & Regiustea permanently closed)
Thrift Shopping Guide (Rossie Inc appears to be permanently closed)
Comments