Category Archives: Johor Bahru

Kedai Makanan Dan Minuman Seng Huat

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photo of whole fresh fruit including pineapples, mangos and bananas

Kedai Makanan Dan Minuman Seng Huat includes several venders selling local food, fruit and bakery items. Kedai Makanan Dan Minuman basically means food and beverage shop. Seng Huat is located across Jalan Trus from the Old Chinese Temple in old town Johor Bahru.

photo of exterior of the food court

I generally just get fruit here. I enjoy coconut water and don’t find it at that many places; I get it here every time I pass by (which includes anytime I eat at Annalakshmi Indian Restaurant or the food court at Galleria Mall Kotayara). Learn more about coconuts and the health properties of coconut water.

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Johor Bahru Old Chinese Temple

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The Old Chinese Temple is one of the oldest structures in Johor Bahru. It is located downtown, surrounded by sky scrappers, malls and other temples.

photo of Bells old chinese temple jb

Bells on exterior wall of the old Chinese Temple. Note the turtle at the bottom of the flagpole.

photo inside old chinese temple

The temple is a place of worship and a symbol of unity among Five Chinese Dialect Groups which are “Teochew”, “Hoklo (Hokkien)”, “Cantonese”, “Hakka” and “Hainan”.

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18th Pasir Gudang World Kite Festival, Johor, Malaysia – Feb 19-24

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The 18th annual Pasir Gudang World Kite Festival will be held from the 19th of February until 24th February, 2013 (schedule). The kite festival draws enthusiasts from around the globe with competitors from over 20 countries. Videos of kites flying at the 2011 festival:

Video showing some scenes from the 2012 festival:

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Annalakshmi Indian Restaurant in Historic JB

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photo of the elaborate doorway entrance to the Annalakshmi restaurant

Entrance to the Annalakshmi restaurant in Johor Bahru

The Annalakshmi is a vegetarian, Indian restaurant that offers good food in an inviting environment with friendly service. Annalakshmi restaurants exist in several other cities including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Chennai. They offer a interesting policy of letting you decide what to pay.

The restaurant is located in historic Johor Bahru near many other attractions: Salahuddin Bakery, Masjid India Mosque, Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim, Sri Raja Mariamman Temple, Johor Bahru Old Chinese Temple, Tiong Hua Chinese Heritage Museum, Sikh Gurdwara Sahib and a pleasant stroll from City Square Mall.

photo of the interior of the Annalakshmi restaurant

Annalakshmi is the culinary arts section of Temple of Fine Arts (TFA), an artistic and cultural organization dedicated to serving the society through arts, music and dance. This heritage is seen in the very nice decor.

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Galleria Mall @ Kotayara – Johor Bahru CBD

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exterior view of the Galleria @ Kotaraya

The Galleria @ Kotayara is a newly completely refurbished mall in JB town (Johor Bahru CBD). It is across the street from the Sikh Gurdwara Sahib and Sri Raja Mariamman temple and (on the other side of the mall) Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim.

The food court has been open for a few months but the rest of mall is still mainly empty. Still the food court already has almost no seating (I went at lunchtime this time but another time, even in the middle of the afternoon the food court was very full).

photo of the food court area

The food stalls (probably about 15 with mainly Malaysian dishes) offer very good food at great prices (the two times I have tried it so far anyway). Main courses are about 5-8 MYR ($2-3 US).

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JB to Singapore by Taxi

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I just found out taxis can be booked to bring you from anywhere in Singapore to Kotaraya (in JB – a few blocks from CIQ), or from anywhere in JB to Queen Street in Singapore. Call +65-62967054 (Singapore) or +60-7-2246986 (Johor Bahru), and be sure to get the taxi’s number, driver’s name and his phone number. They can take you to designated spots instead of the designated spots for an additional fee.

The price from JB to Singapore is 60 MYR.
The price from Singapore to JB is 60 SGD.

This is a very good deal from JB. The best I had been able to find before had been 150 MYR. It is crazy how the price is almost 2 1/2 times more from Singapore to JB than the reverse. The cost from Queen street to JB is 40 SGD for the full taxi. They can also be shared between 4 people so you can wait until a cab is full at Queen street and each pay $10.

The 150 MYR prices are for nice cars (they are not cabs) and the driver’s speak very good English and are very good. They will go pretty much anywhere in JB to anywhere in Singapore (the prices might be a bit higher for longer distances). I don’t really understand the way they relate to the taxi rules, they seem to be exempt from some reason. They are really still the best deal from Singapore to JB (as of today 60 SGD = 150 MYR).

But 60 MYR for JB to Queen Street is an excellent price, I wish I had learned about that earlier.

The biggest problem now is how congested the bridges will become. That they are so backed up now, with only a fraction of the anticipated Iskandar traffic due in the next few years, I find is an extremely bad sign. I don’t know how people can trust that enough capacity will be added fast enough to allow buying in JB and commuting to Singapore every day. The traffic is already bad and lots of new traffic is being planned (a large number of new high rise condo with lots of commuters to Singapore jobs and new attractions such as the recently added Legoland). It seems to me a third is needed today (and they haven’t even started construction or even confirmed a third link) and the MRT extension should be under construction (which will take years to bring online). The MRT is going to help a great deal, but it is not going to be usable until 2018, at the earliest.

Related: Taxi Between Johor Bahru and Singapore – Taking the Bus from Johor Bahru to Singapore – Taxis in Johor Bahru

Quality of Life and Personal Safety International Rankings for Cities

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Mercer Quality of Living Survey, Worldwide Rankings, 2011. Selected cities to put Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpor’s rankings in context (in SE Asia and the world).

Rank City, Country
1 Vienna, Austria
2 Zurich, Switzerland
3 Auckland, New Zealand
4 Munich, Germany
5 Vancouver, Canada
11 Sydney, Australia
18 Melbourne, Australia
25 Singapore, Singapore
30 Paris, France
30 San Francisco, California, USA
43 Washington, DC, USA
46 Tokyo, Japan
47 New York City, NY, USA
70 Hong Kong, China
76 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
80 Seoul, South Korea
83 Athens, Greece
85 Taipei, Taiwan
88 Cape Town, South Africa
95 Shanghai, China
97 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
101 Brasilia, Brazil
101 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
109 Beijing, China
121 Bangkok, Thailand
121 Mexico City, Mexico
128 Manila, Philippines
135 Cairo, Egypt
140 Jakarta, Indonesia
141 Bangalore, India
143 New Delhi, India
147 Hanoi, Vietnam
186 Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Phnom Penh Travel information
196 Yangon, Myanmar

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Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim

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photo of the Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim government building

The Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim is a government building in the CBD of Johor Bahru. The building housed the Menteri Besar’s (Chief Minister) office and the Johor State Legislative Assembly before both were moved to Kota Iskandar.

photo of close up detail on exterior of Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim building

Detail on the exterior of the Bangunan Sultan Ibrahim

Related: Arulmigu Sri Raja Kallamman Indian Hindu Glass Temple – Johor Bahru Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine Complex (CIQ) – Basketball Courts In Johor Bahru CBD – Johor Bahru Zoo

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