I had never imagine in my life to ever miss Johor. No doubt I’m a born and a raised Singaporean and there were times when I do miss the Lion City, the thought of missing somewhere else other than my homeland never crossed my mind until lately.

It all started during my road trip to KL, Kuala Lumpur, where I need to run a few important errands. Driving on my newly bought second hand Honda Civic 1981 antique car, my parents and I set out to conquer 330km of travel at 5am. In the previous day, we had done all the necessary maintainance needed for the long journey like the radiator tank, engine oil, coolant etc. But a quarter of the distance covered, the car began to create problems.

We somehow manage to spend the sunrise view at a mountain pass and I do manage to get a few pictures of the breathtaking view amidst the stress catastrophe. After being saved and pulled by PlusLine, a free highway emergency government agency, we were dragged to Pagoh, an undeveloped small town that I will never step foot again.

We spend almost 3hours at Pagoh, trying to decide what mode of transportation we need to use to continue our trip to KL since there wasn’t any official express bus terminal there. After not an unfriendly help by the irritating boss of the car workshop that we had decided to repair our vehicle, we got an inter-state taxi to send us to Brisdale Hotel in KL. The transport fee was RM200 and the driver was very friendly and chatty person, thank god for that.

Reached Brisdale Hotel at around 2pm or so and checked into a room with twin beds for RM140.00. The hotel was not as how I expected because other than the lobby, the whole place looks about to crumble down. I had a faulty sink in the powder area in my hotel room, the door was difficult to open even after I had slide the security card on the slider, there was some plaster dust on my carpet underneath my desk and the ceiling access trap door in the toilet was at the verge of falling on some poor unexpected person who just needs to do some business.

But lucky for us, the hotel was located right smack where the locals enjoy their local night market and the wet market in the morning. For tourists who love the taste of the locals, Chow Kit is the place for you.

So after dragging off our bags and changing into some fresher clothing, we trudge on in our search for food. We mixed around perfectly and got some great food which I had not tasted for so long at their food stalls just outside their wet market. We ate Kelantanese food!! hehehe.. I know there are alot of Kelantanese food in JB but most of them are so modernised and the original taste has been tampered with the JB and Singapore taste.

Actually we didn’t do much sight seeing in KL since we were only there for a day only. But it was fun since most of the times we reach KL, its always business and no fun. I didn’t manage to go to Petaling Street though and well considering that its the place where all the cheap imitation of branded products is being sold there, I didn’t bother going. I’m not into brands, I’m more of the quality type of person. What’s the point of buying an imitation only to get bad quality and reject quality. I certainly do no like having holes in my bags!

Didn’t bother to go to KLCC. Went there twice before and I got sick of the high standard mall. Anyway we checked out the next day, got an express bus to take us to Pagoh only to find our car wasn’t completed. The bus ride was a terror for the first part of the journey because the driver just couldn’t sit still and kept fidgeting which caused a few near collision. I would have been on the front newspapers the next day if dad didn’t go up to the driver and monitored him. Scary!!

The car was still in repair and even though the boss had promised us it would be completed latest by 6pm, the repair wasn’t fully completed until 8pm. And that was before the test drive. After the test drive, the car was still in bad condition and wasn’t safe for driving and being me, I demanded it being righted because the ring of the head was faulty. Unfortunately there wasn’t a nearby spare part shop around and the nearest is the next state.

Which means the car wouldn’t be completed by that day. Seeing there wasn’t any choice, I asked them to get me a cab since there wasn’t one that had passed during my hours of waiting. It was aggravating when I heard that there wasn’t a hotel around and there wasn’t even a taxi to send us! It was more stressful when the idiot owner just closed his workshop and left us with our baggage at 10pm without any transportation.

Left stranded, tired and very much at the verge of causing a manslaughter to the idiotic workshop owner, luckily I remembered I had a very close related aunt living just the next state. I couldn’t express the feelings of helplessness during that day. And I even walked the whole village 3 times on that day!!

My aunt Cik Noi, picked us up at 11pm and when I saw here, I almost wanted to kiss her. She was my life savior! Instead of heading to her Kampong house, she brought us to sight view the latest development that Sabak Awor, Muar, has gotten. And it was a huge change from the years since I last stepped into.

They had made a waterway food court that looks beautiful at night and it faces the Muar River! Had Ikan Bakar there, since they specialises in it and did some night fishing with the local village fishermen. At 2am or so we reached her Kampong house and I sooo missed it!!

The fresh night atmosphere was very cooling and it got chiller at the night wore on. Its already the second day of the repairing of the car and the mechanic called to inform that it’s still not completed. So went back on the same day by taking my aunt’s car to drive back.

See how hectic life was during my KL trip…

Oh yeah the pictures can be viewed here.