HSR and Singapore Johor MRT

Most of the people are looking forward to see this materialise. I personally feel with the abundant LCC available nowadays, rail infrastructure is a good alternative for the people staying in the north and west of Singapore. However, I think both HSR and MRT will only be completed between 2021 to 2025 at the earliest. By then hopefully the causeway will be less congested, maybe an extension of the ciq at the current woodland centre will increase the capacity of the first link and also perhaps the third bridge to pasir gudang will be built. This will coincide with the shifting of keppel and pasir panjang port to tuas that will open up a big area for redevelopment together with the old ktmb station at tanjung pagar after 2025.

After 2027, brani + keppel + tanjong pagar port area will be relocated. Pasir panjang port could at least operate until 2035.

Miri 2006

Dorby MiaoMiao went to Miri in June 2006. This is the second budget trip for cendawan in year 2006. The first one was in April, a trip to Hong Kong that started and ended in Macau.

On the first day of this interesting trip, we travelled all the way from Singapore to Senai Airport by MRT (30min), bus (10min), and then bus (45min at least 1 1/2 hour) . Why can't Malaysia provide better transport, for example, a train from custom to airport? Airasia supporters can actually take the 45min ride bus from Koya Raya to airport. The 'Causeway Link' bus is RM8 one way and the 'MAS' bus is only RM4. Their ticketing counter is next to each other. Sooner or later, they will put up price cutting competition 

Anyway the trip started with excitement and expectation. Once reached in Senai International Airport, we were so surprise to see the total tranformation of the airport. There are well maintained (maybe is new la...) toilets, marrybrown and guess what... COFFEE BEAN IS COMING SOON!! Ung went to this toilet and get so excited about the waterfall-look-alike flushing system. The water continuously falling from above is both functional and decorative. Good idea!

Mary Brown was operational for only 2 months. We ate lunch here. 2 pieces of chicken is never enough. You don't have worry about being bored because there are a lot more to see. 

The newly renovated Departure Hall looks very spacious. There is a big Duty Free Shop, some stores and some stand-alone counters selling all sorts of things from jewelry to magazine. At the holding area, people can watch tv program on plasma tv, too. From the famous Famous Amos, ung bought a cute little bear for me. Budget airline passengers always rush to the door... By the way, we are also Airasia passengers. If not because of the 2 million free tickets, maybe this Miri trip will not be possible. I booked these FREE tickets in December 2005. Early birds always rewarded and now Everyone can Fly...

HCMC 2006

Vietnam Trip (21/10/06 - 24/10/06)

I am finally back from HCMC, Vietnam. Thanks to Tiger Airways for this horrendous trip. We started our journey as early as 445am in a taxi to catch the 650am flight. After checking in, we saw a long queue at the Han's counter. These people are waiting to buy breakfast because Tiger doesn't serve food on board. We were not sure whether the stores in the departure hall are open so we asked. The nice guard reply, "I not open the shop. How I know? " He left us with no choice but eating at Han's.

The flight was only 1hr 45min. We reached HCM at about 730 local time. We can't even check in into the hotel because it was too early. So we left our bags in the hotel and took a walk on the street. There are hundreds and thousands of motorbikes greeting us on the street with their exhaust gas. Crossing the street is a challenging task here. Luckily we were trained in Malaysia before. The only thing we need to take note is that the traffic actually comes from the left hand side. After having brunch in a local cafe, we walked along the busy street again. Our next stop was Ben Thanh Market, a smaller version of Chatuchak in Thailand. Just imagine how stuffy it is. Ben Thanh Market is packed with many tiny stalls selling all kinds of commodity from souvenir to fabric for making "ao dai", the traditional costume. The food court here is also selling delicious local specialties such as pho (vietnamese beef noodles), fried spring rolls, grilled meat rolls on sugarcane, rice paper rolls etc .

At night, we had our dinner at a famous seafood restaurant, Ngoc Suong Saigon. Although the food is tasty like any other restaurant, the interior setting of the restaurant is just so grand that made our spending value for money. 7 of us spent 1.5mil (rich leh) for prawns, crabs, fish, lamb, greens etc. It's about SGD23/pax. We end our first day quite early because the Mekong Delta day trip is waiting for us on the next day. 

On the second day, Nyugen Chew left Vietnam and 6 of us continue our trip in Vietnam. We joined a day tour in Mekong Delta by taking a bus provided by a local travel agent. The bus journey was so hot and painful because the road was bumpy and the bus driver was constantly using the honk as a preventive meassure. Moreover, the bus was moving at the speed of 50km/hr... It took about 3hrs to reach a jetty where we started the boat trip into the villages. First of all we cross the Mekong River to watch coconut candy production. Then we change to a smaller sampan as the river gets narrower and shallower. We had a chance the row our sampan and experienced the life of fisherman for once. After that, we stop at a few stops to watch small bee farm, python and listen to the vietnamese songs live. There were 4 islands at that area namely, turtle, unicorn, dragon and pheonix. The Mekong Delta trip is quite relaxing until the torturing bus ride back to HCMC again. At night, we had dinner at Vietnamese House. It was very disappointing because we were served with the local food which is available everywhere outside yet paying 3-4 times more.

We joined another local tour on the third day organized by the same tour agent. This time we chose a historical and educational trip to Cu Chi Tunnel. This short also started with a terrible bus ride. We de tour to a handicapped handicraft factory and bought some souvenir. After 2hrs, we reach the place. During the vietnam war, the vietnamese fought the US soldiers in the forrest. They dig tunnels all over the place to hide from the US soldier. By walking (half squatting) through one of the tunnels, we learnt much about their tough living condition underground and their strong fighting spirit. We were shouting for torch light and making a lot of noise in the tunnel. If we were the vietnamese soldiers we would be dead meat. This half day tour was short and we were back to HCMC in the evening. That is the time to worry about the multi million dollar question again "Where to eat dinner?" Strolling along Nguyen Hue Street, we found an international cafe, The Central Cafe that offered nice food at moderate price. After dinner, my symptoms of food poisoning started to manifest . My stomach pain get worse in the middle or the night and i suffered high fever, too. Luckily I am going back to Singapore soon.