新山一日游 Day trip to Johor Bahru

这次决定驾车往新山一日游有两大原因：

1.年关将至，希望能在新山附近购卖些物廉价美的年货。

2.试试柔佛电动车充电站的设施，当作以后在马来西亚长途旅行的一项暖身活动。

也趁机试试所贴上的射频识别标签是否操作正常。

只可惜天不作美，一月10日-13日，因为季候风的影响，连续下了连绵豪雨；但居然已经请假了，也只能硬着头皮‘上阵’。原以为不是学校假期，或碰上长周末，跨境入柔佛的车辆应该不会很多；但事与愿违，大市与新柔长提的预计等候时间都在半个小时以上（后者更可能会超过一个小时）。于是便飞车直奔大市方向去。结果需耗时45分才能越过新马关卡。

因为下雨缘故，也只能去几个地方逛。原本要去的Johor Jaya 早市及年货市场，只能取消行程。

第一站：Skudai 皇后花园的早安粥点，及附近的市场。

在那边吃了早点，买了40粒鸡蛋，逛一逛超市/店面。

发现有一摊丁加奴鱼面，蛮好吃！

第二站：经济超市 / 菜市场

误打误撞的去了一家超市 SKS Mart Skudai，哪里有很多小摊位；其中一家售卖的蔬菜蛮新鲜实惠。

第三站：古来的秀花菜饭，与明轩（客家餐馆）

在秀花菜饭买了些糕点

在明轩餐馆吃了晚餐，便直奔Johor Premium Outlet 去充电与购卖运动鞋。

明轩餐馆

Decor inside the restaurant

Johor Premium Outlet 的充电站蛮方便使用。（那边有8架充电桩,看来不用排队等候）。

在经过关卡闸门与南北大道的收费站时，射频鉴别标签无法被侦察到，也只能用传统的TouchNGo 卡了。

I went for a day trip to Johor Bahru yesterday.

Took a day's leave from work specifically for the trip.

But alas, the weather was terrible - it was forecasted to have continuous heavy rain from Jan 10-13, with several areas in Singapore and Johor expected to be flooded!

Regardless of the weather, we soldiered on. We departed from our house at 6.40am. Took almost one hour to clear the jam at Singapore Tuas immigration counter.

Have to skip the Johor Jaya morning market because of the rain.

Went to our regular spot - Morning Congee in Skudai, and explored the shops in nearby area.

Drove up north to Kulai, and took dinner at Ming Xuan restaurant (recommended by CNA).

On return trip via Tuas link, had to queue for over 1 hour to clear the immigration counter at Johor side. Clearing custom at Tuas was a brisk. Finally reached home at 11pm+.

“郊游” outing

2025年阳历正月一日， 公共假期。傍晚时分，带上家犬，往东海岸公园溜达！

家犬螳螂，极少在外头溜达。日常生活中，在户外大小解后，便急着要回家去。不过向来不屑与其它同类接触的它，已开始向附近的狗狗投以盼望的眼神。在家里也比较活跃起来。

First day of year 2025. Went out for a "family outing" with our pet dog Mantis.

He is such a laid back dog - prefers to stay at home most of the time.

Even when we bring him out in the morning and afternoon to do his business, he will automatically walk to the gate of our condominium once he is done with his business!

He walks for a long distance in unfamiliar place i.e. when he does not know the way home!

“翻新" Touch up

农历新年就要到来，需要应时为家里装饰一番。

阳台的甲板，油漆已经脱落有一段时间，该粉刷一下了！

当然事先得把甲板用砂纸把旧层油漆抹去，然后再油上新漆。但这次所购卖的好像是染料式油漆，而非往常所买的油漆，无法把旧层油漆掩盖过去。呜呼！

Lunar New Year is approaching! It's the time of the year to discard old /spoilt items, "rejuvenate" unsightly items!

The wooden deck in our balcony was last given a new layer of paint over 4 years ago; the paint is slowly coming off with each passing year.

Time to do some "facelift"!

躲藏 The art of hiding

要不露声色及不被人发觉的躲藏隐蔽起来，是要有一定的功夫的！

虽说颜色已经与周遭环境近乎相同，但还是不完美；犹如孙悟空72变，但还是无法把猴尾巴掩蔽起来，结果还是逃不过二郎神的法眼。

有时觉得已经躲得很隐秘，但因为外型太夺目，与周遭环境格格不入，一下子便露馅！

How to hide from others, or be inconspicuous to others - it is an art by itself.

Camouflaging needs to reach certain perfection, before one can merge into the surrounding effortlessly.

猜一猜 Make a guess

猜一猜我家邻居住了几个人？

给您一个提示，在我邻居家的门前，除了这个鞋架，还有另外一架摆在门口（没有被拍入镜头）。

乍看之下，以为会有很多住客。其实，也就只有父母小孩三人！

Please make a guess how many people are staying next door, based on the number of pairs of shoes present in the shoe rack? A gentle reminder that there is another 4-tier shoe rack to the left of this one, and there are easily another 5 or 6 pairs of shoes there!

There are only three in the family, staying next door!

随拍 Random photos

这几天随意捉拍了两张照片，觉得有点意思。

主人房的灯有时会闪熄几下，犹如生命在垂死时无望的挣扎。年关将到，应该换上新的灯，来讨个好意兆。于是便让靖捷爬山梯级，掀开灯罩，来看看里面置放着那类型的灯泡。

觉得所拍到的相片，内有圆形，三角形，旋转式灯泡以及弯曲的红黄绿白电线，整个图案蛮有艺术感！

也在遛狗的时候，在拍花草时，不经意的捕捉了迎面而来的“骑客”。也许这就是所谓的“瞬间”时刻。

Took two random photos with my handphone recently.

Was quite please with the outcome - the first photo of the ceiling light captured the elements of shapes and curves, whilst the 2nd photo accidentally captured a cyclist (while I was aiming at the flowers and leaves in the foreground).

They may not be masterpiece. But, I am very please with the results!

吃@小贩中心 Eating at Hawker Centre

若要吃得实蕙，最佳选择是在小贩中心用餐。好不好吃，就得靠运气。

在餐馆点吃食物，价钱的高低，也要看该餐馆的档次而定。问题是，高档或贵的餐馆，口味不一定好吃！

在小贩中心用餐，可以肯定的是，所煮出来的食物，分量不会太小；而高档餐馆所煮出来的饮食分量，有时会少得很可怜，吃都吃不饱！

当然，小贩中心不会有冷气设备，凡事都得亲自动手  - 排队点食物，自己用托盘捧食物等等。

To eat like a local, one has to try out the food in hawker centres.

The variety of food is great, and the price of the food is usually fairly reasonable. The flavour of some of the food even astounds the hard to please food critics, and attracts the attention of tourists.

To tell which stalls serve delicious food, just look at the queue. The longer the queue, the better is the food - so the saying goes! Of course, this is not fool proof. On rare occasions, we were caught by surprise - the queue was long because the hawker was slow in preparing his food!