Miri, Malaysia

07 (Fri) - 10 (Mon) Aug 2015

Lodging: May's house

It's my first time traveling to East Malaysia, stepping onto the land of Borneo, the 3rd largest island in the world. It's always been great when you're traveling with a friend who's a local there - save money on accommodation and time on planning itinerary. :)

The best part is the day trip to Brunei, a visit to a new country!

The Grand Old Lady

We're traveling with a new Japanese friend, his name is Taichi.

As time zone is still GMT+8, you may expect earlier sunrise and sunset due to it's relatively eastward location.


Our flight details
07 Aug 2015 (Fri)
Changi Airport Terminal 1 - Miri Airport
Flight No: AK762
12:25PM ­- 2:30PM

10 Aug 2015 (Mon)
Miri Airport - Changi Airport Terminal 1
Flight No: AK763
10:00AM ­- 11:55AM

Fare: S$362.72

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Day 1

Rojak

Miri Airport is a pretty simple one, considering its annual passenger movements of 2.4 million last year. Despite that, what one is looking forward to at the airport is nothing but the reminiscence with family - May was back to her hometown and her dad was at the airport picking us up.

Her dad brought us to Sin Wan Rojak & Delight Cold Drink Centre at Jalan Bintang Jaya 2 for an afternoon snack, before May going for her dental appointment.

The irony, I don't usually eat ais kacang or rojak, or rather, in the past 15 years, I've never ordered rojak myself. But of course when I'm traveling, my appetite is more open to variety of food.

We ordered this so called "Special Ais Kacang" @ RM3.80. It was delicious.

Having scheduled a dental appointment in the afternoon, Taichi and I were left alone at home. :(
That's alright, we needed to unload and unpack our luggage at her house.

The two dogs at her house are always so excited when the gate someone's back home, warm greetings much appreciated, but they really need to learn how to give way to the car. Haha...

Johor, Malaysia

At 7:30am on a Sunday morning, we departed from Kranji MRT Station by Bus 170 towards Johor Bahru.
As there were exactly 7 of us, we rented a 7 seater car for the entire day at RM280, Joe the driver and Clarissa the navigator (thank you all). On top of that, we spent another RM57.36 for petrol and RM20 for topping up the Touch 'n Go smart card for crossing toll plazas.

Highlights:

1. Breakfast @ Restaurant Chang Man 常滿
2. Kota Tinggi Waterfall
3. Lunch @ Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh 強記肉骨茶
4. Johor Premium Outlets
5. Dinner @ Restoran Todak (Orang Asli) 旗魚海番村

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Breakfast @ Restaurant Chang Man 常滿
9:00am to 9:50am

Read more:
Restaurant Chang Man 常滿 @ Johor Bahru

24G, Jalan Bestari 5/2, Taman Nusa Bestari,
81300 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.

It comes to a total of RM112.30 (RM16.04/person).


Random enough, our next destination was the unplanned - Kota Tinggi Waterfall, situated 50km away from our breakfast place (about an hour drive).

See, our entertainer was happy... and a lot of noise was expected from her along the way... XD

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Kota Tinggi Waterfall
11:00am to 12:00pm

5 of us are Malaysians while 2 are Singaporeans, by speaking Malay language and having faked that everyone in the car is Malaysian, we paid the local rate of RM7.50 per person, and RM3.00 for parking.

With a bit of walking and slight trekking, it didn't take long to reach the end of trail, with a tiny pool of semi-trapped reservoir from the upstream.

My tripod simply just saved the day! We wouldn't have had such a number of gorgeous group photos without it. :)
And it wasn't a bad decision at all - RM7.50 to embrace this delicate piece of nature, apart from the burning hot sun.

Restoran Todak (Orang Asli) 旗魚海番村 @ Johor Bahru

This is the final highlight of our day trip to Johor from Singapore.

Do read my day trip to Johor blog entry for the entire itinerary.

We reached the restaurant at 6:30pm for dinner and I'm seriously thankful of that as we got to enjoy the gorgeous sea view (Johor Strait) and golden sunset as we're sitting at one of the tables on the outside wooden dock. Be sure to reach there before sunset if you'd like to have your delicious food accompanied by the glamorous scenery.

We initially ordered chilli crabs, which in the end informed that they ran out of the cheapest ones (< RM100/serving) and they're left with the more expensive ones (> RM100/serving), and so we replaced that with Indonesian Curry Prawns.

Superb view isn't it?
Sembawang Shipyard (Singapore) is located right across the strait and is completely visible from the restaurant (provided the haze doesn't come), so you're literally dining in a country watching at another country.


Satay @ RM17.00


Japanese Escargot 日本螺 @ RM22.50 (RM45/kg)
This dish tastes abnormal to us though.


Mussels 大頭 @ RM24.00


Vegetables @ RM18.00


Indonesian Curry Prawns 印尼咖哩蝦 @ RM50.00 (RM100/kg)
Curry doesn't usually favour me, but this butter curry on the contrary is savoury to the extent that it could be literally drunk like soup.


Bun 饅頭 @ RM1.00/pcs
And how can enjoy the curry to the max without these crisp buns?


Red Snapper 紅雞 @ RM51.00 (RM60.00/kg)


Fried Cuttlefish 炸蘇冬 @ RM26.00

The total bill was RM248.60 (RM35.51/person).


Restoran Todak (Orang Asli) 旗魚海番村
No 1 Kampung Orang Asli, Telok Jawa, Masai
81750 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.

Restaurant Chang Man 常滿 @ Johor Bahru

This is the first highlight of our day trip to Johor from Singapore, and we arrived in this famous dim sum restaurant in Johor Bahru at 9:00am for breakfast.

Do read my day trip to Johor blog entry for the entire itinerary.

There were 7 of us, and it comes to a total of RM112.30 (RM16.04/person) - shall I say, absurdly cheap?

The restaurant is identified by it's doorplate with the characters "常滿" in seal script (篆書) read from right to left, and the unit number "24G" below.

Deep Fried Carrot Cakes 炸蘿蔔糕 @ RM4.00/ 3pcs


Changman "Liu Sha" Bun 常滿流沙包 @ RM4.80/ 3pcs
I've eaten custard buns with white and yellow skin, it's my first time seeing green here.


Char Siew Bun 蠔皇叉燒包 @ RM3.80/ 3pcs


Har Kao 蝦餃 @ RM4.50/ 3pcs


Xiao Long Bao 招牌小籠包 @ RM4.80/ 3pcs


Pan Fried "Guo Tie" 香煎鍋貼 @ RM4.80/ 4pcs


Changman Crabmeat Siew Mai 常滿蚧肉賣 @ RM4.80/ 3pcs


Crab Roe Siew Mai 蟹子鮮蝦燒賣 @ RM3.80/ 3pcs


Deep Fried Fresh Prawn "Wan Tan" 炸鮮蝦雲吞 @ RM4.50/ 6pcs


Steamed Chicken Feet with Fragrance Sauce 柱侯蒸鳳爪 @ RM4.20


Mini Glutinous Rice 迷你荷香糯米雞 @ RM4.50/ 2pcs


Century Egg Porridge 皮蛋粥 @ RM3.50


Steamed Hand-made Fish Balls 自製魚賣 @ RM3.80/ 2pcs


Pu-Er Tea 普洱茶 @ RM8.00


Restaurant Chang Man 常滿
24G, Jalan Bestari 5/2, Taman Nusa Bestari,
81300 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.