White Box and Black Box @ Danga City Mall

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Curious Cat

During 11th Annual JB Arts Festival I stopped by the White Box which is on the top floor of Danga City Mall in downtown Johor Bahru. A few weeks later I listened to a talk on backpacking around South America and Europe at the Black Box.

JB sketchers display with some of the participants work. Join in their monthly outings and more activities.

These have become permanent spaces (for the time being anyway). Since the mall has many unrented spots this is a very wise idea; making use of otherwise wasted space and also brining in potential customers for businesses at the mall.

Continue reading →

Tandoori Mahal – Indian Restaurant in JB

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Curious Cat

Tandoori Mahal is another very good Indian Restaurant in downtown Johor Bahru. It is across the street from Village Briyani Cafe and Village Countryside Cuisine, next to Zen Zeng Hotel and a block from Danga City Mall.

photo of Paneer Tikka

This Panner Tikka was great. The paneer was much “richer” than any I had tasted before. I am actually not sure if this was intentional or not but I really liked it. I ordered it another time and it was still good but much more like the normal panner (cheese) I am used to.

A meal will cost around 15 – 30 MYR (US $5 – 10) depending on what you choose.

Continue reading →

Johor Bahru Chingay Parade

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Curious Cat

The Chingay parade is held of the 21st day of the Chinese New year. In 2014 that will be February 20th.

Here are my photos from 2013 Chingay afternoon parade. The afternoon parade starts at 11 AM or so on the previous day – so on February 19th this year) as deity statues from the Old Chinese Temple are carried out to get ready for the evening parade.

Photo of kids playing gongs at the Chingay Parade in Johor Bahru

The biggest parade is the night parade but there is also a parade during the day. The evening parade covers 10 km and starts about 7 PM, I believe; it will finish after midnight.

photo of costume at Chingay Parade, Johor Bahru 2013

The Johor Bahru parade is also called The Parade of the Deities as the Temple deity statues are taken on a journey from the Temple to bless the city with peace, prosperity and harmony (the Chingay parades in Singapore and Penang are non-secular as I understand it).

Continue reading →

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale in JB, May 24th to June 2nd

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Curious Cat

The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale in JB, May 24th to June 2nd and Danga City Mall in Johor Bahru. They offer the most books I have ever seen at the periodic books sales that take place in JB. Probably 2 or 3 times the number of English titles I have every seen here before. This sale has only English language books.

The majority of books are novels of various sorts but also children’s books and books on business, history, photography, science… They are largely popular thrillers and the like but include a few classics and some science fiction (I wish there was more science fiction).

photo of 8 book covers from my Big Bag Wolf haul.

The photo shows 8 of the 21 books I got yesterday. Books include 2 travel books (China and Malaysia), Competition (a business/economics book), The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow, The Holcroft Covenant by Robert Ludlum, The Devil’s Elixir by Raymond Khoury and Our Friends from Frolix 8 by Philip Dick.

Philip Dick is the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (made into the film Blade Runner) and Minority Report (film of the same name) and many other science fiction books.

They are nearly all priced at 8 or 10 MYR (essentially $US 3) though there are some at 5 MYR and some fancy picture books and the like at 20 or 25 MYR. The Big Bad Wolf book sales are offered around Malaysia recently (KL, Penang…).

Does this count as a haul blog post?

Those interested in English language books in JB should definitely check this sale out. Also visit my favorite book store in JB: Treasures and Books Store (Permas Jaya). When you do try the bakery next sore it is great – I’ll add a post on it soon.

Danga City Mall in Johor Bahru

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Curious Cat

Inside the Danga City Mall in JB - unfortunately the upper floors have far too many vacant store fronts.

The Danga City Mall is my favorite mall in JB. It has several very nice small restaurants and a high number of technology stores. The top floors also include a bowling alley, paintball arena and archery range. Unfortunately the mall also has quite a few empty shops. At least for now it also has my favorite store, the Treasure Store (which has lots of great used english language books): the Treasure store is moving to Permas Jaya next month.

photo of authorized Apple reseller store in Danga City Mall

Ascentouch (authorized Apple reseller) part of the large IT Valley area in Danga City Mall, JB Town.

The IT valley has the richest collection of technology stores in Johor Bahru including Samsung, Sony, HP, and Ascentouch (Authorized Apple reseller) used computer stores, computer repair, computer equipment stores. They have the normal assortment of phone stores and internet providers.

The restaurants offer some really good food very inexpensively. Two of my favorite are JB Station Kopitiam and Agena Sea (which moved next to the exhibit hall recently). On the lowest level there are about 8 good restaurant choices including Hokka Hokka Japanese Food, A1 Cafe. And there are probably about 8 more upstairs, including a small Italian restaurant which is decent (and better than I would think it could be for such a small location) though the seats are not very comfortable (more suited to drinking than eating). There is also a small grocery store that has some things but it would be better if it were a bit larger.

Bowling alley in the Danga City Mall - there is also a paintball arena.

Continue reading →

Mee Bandung at JB Station Kopitiam

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Curious Cat

There are several good restaurants on the bottom level of the Danga City Mall in downtown Johor Bahru. One of my favorites is JB Station Kopitiam. I have had at least 5 meals at JB Station Kopitiam, all have been excellent (and they have been under RM 10). A kopitiam is a traditional breakfast and coffee shop found in Southeast Asia. The word is a concatenation of the Malay word for coffee and the Hokkien dialect word for shop.

photo of JB Station Kopitiam at Danga City Mall

JB Station Kopitiam at Danga City Mall in Johor Bahru by John Hunter

I still don’t know the names of lots of Malaysian food, so one nice thing about JB Station is they have photos so I can find a picture of something that looks interesting. A decent number of restaurants do that, however, at the same time, a large number have no menu at all (especially the outdoor stalls, but also some indoor restaurants). I am not completely sure but I think the photo shows my order of Mee Bandung (a dish originating in Johor).

Mee Bandung, is a cuisine originally consisted of only noodles and eggs in soup made of the mixture of chilli, onion, spices, shrimp paste and dried shrimp. Over time the Mee Bandung recipe had been added to with the addition of shrimp, meat, fish cakes and vegetables. One thing I have noticed is the small Malaysian restaurants have a full or half hard boiled or fried egg on top of many dishes.

The lime juice is freshly squeezed and quite good.

photo of Mee Bandung soup and lime juice

Mee Bandun and lime juice from JB Station Kopitiam

Continue reading →

Living in Malaysia

Tag Archives: Danga City Mall

White Box and Black Box @ Danga City Mall

Tandoori Mahal – Indian Restaurant in JB

Johor Bahru Chingay Parade

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale in JB, May 24th to June 2nd

Danga City Mall in Johor Bahru

Mee Bandung at JB Station Kopitiam