Tom Time flies and it has been 2 years since our last trip to Dubai before COVID-19 upended everyone’s lives. Thanks to the resolute response of all Singaporeans (especially in the medical front lines) and leaders, we’re finally on our way back to resuming normalcy once again! And that includes one of Singaporean’s favourite activities – day trip to Johor Bahru!
Book with Klook Here: Popular Activities in Johor Bahru
How to get to Johor Bahru in the shortest possible time
Referring to our own advice on how to do a day trip to JB in the shortest possible time, we crossed the border on a Sunday morning again. The method is still the same. After church, we headed to Woodlands bus interchange and took bus 950 to cross the border…
We commenced our journey from Woodlands at 1030am and reached City Square Mall (Johor Bahru) at 1130am! There was almost no queue on the Singapore side and a relatively short queue on the Malaysia side. The other cool thing about taking public transport is that there’s a dedicated bus lane which helps visitors to “skip” the long queues that private cars have to endure. Do note that once you’ve cleared the Singapore customs, the bus lanes “merge” to bring passengers across the Causeway. So there’s actually no difference if you queue at the bus 170 or bus 950 lanes thereafter. Just remember to tap in/out accordingly.
As always, after clearing the customs on the Malaysian side, it is just a short walk over to City Square Mall. This time, we walked past Komtar Mall (JBCC) and headed straight to Zenith Lifestyle Centre just across the road for our first (of many meals) at Guoma Steamboat Buffet!
Zenith Lifestyle Centre shares the same building as Amari Johor Bahru (which we wrote extensively on) and it is also home to Hai Di Lao (a steamboat chain). However, this time, we decided to give Guoma Steamboat a try. Not only is it reasonably priced at 46.90RM ($15SGD), there’s no additional taxes (nett price) and it’s a buffet!
The price of 46.90RM includes 2 soup choices, steamboat buffet, drinks, desserts and this time, we chose a clear soup as well as a mala soup base. Thereafter, we went to check out the the ingredients available at Guoma Steamboat Buffet Johor Bahru!
There were ALOT of ingredients to choose from. Fish, prawns and meats available at Guoma Steamboat Buffet. Kate enjoyed her cheese tofu and Tom enjoyed the pork collar meats. The lamb were a little gamey, so give that a miss. As Guoma Steamboat Buffet is from Taiwan, they also serve their famous braised pork rice (Lu Rou Fan) – a little on the salty side but it was still delish. There’s also several dessert options available such as cakes, ice cream and soy bean desserts. Definitely value-for-money to dine here…
Of course, at $15SGD, don’t expect Hai Di Lao standards of meats and service. To be honest, the meats were not that tasty (besides the pork collar) and the soup base were rather bland. But if you cook enough meats, prawns and seafood (all at $15SGD?!) the soup does become sweetened by all the cooking towards the end of the meal. With coffee, desserts and even braised pork rice included, definitely a value-for-money venue for a “pig-out” event.
Book with Klook Here: Popular Activities in Johor Bahru
Next, on our agenda, SHOPPING!
As you can see from the photos, many shops have resumed operations at Komtar and City Square shopping malls. Hence, we were able to do quite alot of shopping such as the denim jacket that Kate bought for 70RM (originally priced at 129.95RM) and underwear for Tom (54.95RM) from H&M; We Bare Bears merchandise (bathroom hooks – 10RM, blanket – 39.90RM for movie later in the evening) and Marvel earphones (10RM) from Miniso as well as a remote control (which didn’t work eventually – 6.50RM). All that shopping “forced” us to rejuvenate at SDS (Custard Danish – 3.60RM) as well as Auntie Anne’s (pretzel at 4.90RM)…
This evening, we also caught Dr Strange 2 for 18RM (6SGD) but prior to that, we chilled at Miyakori Coffee (2 coffee for 27.90RM). A little expensive but we had nice cushion seats and the coffee quality was definitely good. Chilling with the right partner and great coffee definitely makes for a fantastic day!
We also had pop corn for Dr Strange 2 (in case Kate fell asleep) but was not really required because the movie had a pretty smooth and fast development – keeping viewers guessing/thinking about what might happen next. Of course, knowing the gist of what happened in WandaVision is definitely a pre-requisite if you’re watching Dr Strange 2.
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Thoroughly enjoyed the movie and just before we headed back, we were also bought some swiss rolls at 3 for 39RM. The quality is really not too bad. Even after the movie ended at 930pm, the shop was still open…
Book with Klook Here: Popular Activities in Johor Bahru
On the way back, the queue was long. So it is still recommended to return at about 3pm (which we’ll touch on in our next post) where the queue was almost non-existent! Nonetheless, for a day trip to JB, the overall travelling time was about 1 hour each way – which is not too bad. Being able to travel, 2 years after COVID struck, was indeed surreal.
Safe travels to you who are planning on overseas trips in the coming months! Enjoy!
