“Ibarat burung, mata lepas badan terkurung.”
(Like a bird with eyes so free yet body imprisoned.) – Malayan Proverb
Another closest border to Malaysia from Singapore is Johor Bahru (JB). There are even people living in JB that works in Singapore just to cut the cost of their living. During the times I was still living in Singapore, JB is a popular place for tourists needing a visa run so they can come back to Singapore with a new duration for their tourist visas. I think, now, they have prevented this already from happening. Just for the record, I’ve never done this as I have already a valid employment visa as soon as I arrived Singapore to work in 2006 😉
I was a resident of Singapore from 2006-2011. If you’re living in Singapore at this time, JB is a go-to-place to spend your weekend with activities that cost so much lesser than if you do it in Singapore. Of course, this is also our favorite place if we want to food trip with authentic Malaysian food.
One of our favorite activities to do in JB is go-karting. We went to Comer Top-Kart Kart Racing. From JB immigrationl, we took a cab for 40 ringgit one-way, then we just ask the driver to wait for another 40 ringgit going back, they wouldn’t mind coz i guess 40 ringgit is already too much for them (price was in 2010).
On our way back, we stopped by Danga Citi Mall. They have Indoor Paintball there which we didn’t try because we are still recovering from last week’s paintball game in Kranji at Singapore. What we have tried is archery and bowling, all inside this mall!
They say, living in Singapore is boring, that’s why they call it sometimes Singa-BORE. But I think, there are so many places you can do and so many things you can do if you will just look for it. And this is what I was exactly doing when I was still living there. You’ll get spoilt just by living in a first-world country like Singapore and if your life will be just work and home, then that will really be boring.
I refused to live like a prisoner when I was still living there. Just like the Malayan proverbs says, don’t be that bird in a cage that even if you are well treated, you are still in a cage and can’t go anywhere. Explore to see and do other things apart from your daily routine because you have the freedom to do so!
