Day trip to Skudai and Kulai, with CK and CJ

CK came back for short break in between his hospital rotations.

Took opportunity to drive up to Kulai for a short day trip, together with CJ. 

We drove off on Thursday morning (left our house as early as 6.30am, to avoid any untowards traffic congestion in the causeway), one day before Easter Holiday. The main aim of our trip was "feasting" on local food. If time permitted, we may consider driving all the way to Bukit Tinggi (visiting the replica of French village there).

Some mild traffic congestion at Woodlands check-point, but managed to clear the immigration counters on both end of the countries within 15 minutes - not bad at all.

We took our breakfast at 早安粥品 @ Skudai (皇后花园）。The porridge (皮蛋粥，鸳鸯粥）was delicious and economical (came in quite a big portion). Also drank 豆花水 there. 

Then we drove another 15 minutes or so to a Bak Kut Teh stall (古来新世华肉骨茶）for Bak Kut Teh ... The pork-ribs were very fresh, meaty and sweat. The only minus point was the soup was rather saltish. Nevertheless, still quite worth a visit!

Parking lots right in front of the Bak Kut Teh shop-house

We then drove to Tasik Biru (aka Blue Lake) at Kangkar Pulai, as recommended by the 粥品老板娘。But, the "blue lake" is hidden somewhere in the midst the lush vegetations. We were unsure of the exact route to follow, and gave up after a while. The road leading to the general direction of Tasik Biru has fairly grand scenery !

Searching for guidance from internet, on how to reach Tasik Biru

We ventured a few meters into the bushes, but u-turn back after a short while

The vegetations / coconut trees at the entrace of the walking trail to Tasik Biru.

We met another 3 teenagers who dropped off from a car when we walked out from the "moutaineous" trail leading to Tasik Biru - they were looking for the place as well. They invited us to tag along with them to look for the place together, but we politely declined.

Our next destination - 古来花果山。

We reached there around 11 am - rather warm weather. This time round, there was no monkeys around (perhaps there were all hiding in shade, from the scotching sun).

We finally decided to just do a day trip in Kulai/Ayer Hitam, then drove back. (Bukit Tinggi will be our future trip). 

Drove 1 hour + to Sawah Sagil in Ayer Hitam. Took some photos there.

Went to nearby Ayer Hitam for lunch at a local Peranakan restaurant 感情轩。The asam laksa was very spicy and oily - not palatable to our tastebuds. The Mee Siam, Rendang Ayam (Chicken Rendang) and Nasi Kerabu were not bad.

By the time we finished our lunch, it was almost 2 pm. We decided to visit two other tourist spots, before going for another round of Bak Kut Teh @ Soon Huat Bak Kut Teh in Skudai, then Johor Premium Outlet to look for hiking shoes (for CJ's trip to Nepal). 

 

But alas, there was some road construction along the way to Gunung Pulai Waterfall - we took almost 2 hours to reach there - the entrance gate apparent closed at 3.30pm. 

We then drove to Putuo Village (普陀寺), which closes around 5.30pm. Strolled inside the Bamboo Forest / Garden - and took some photos there.

We then drove another 1 hour + to reach Soon Huat Bak Kut Teh for our dinner. The Bak Kut Teh here was not as fresh / meaty as the one we took in the morning. But the soup was fairly good. This being an air-conditioned restaurant - the food here was slightly more expensive as well. 

We drove to Johor Premium Outlet to reccee for CJ's hiking shoes. The place was rather quiet - only sporadic numbers of visitors there - mostly in shops selling running shoes (Nike, Puma, Umbro, Timberland etc). CJ could not find what he wanted. We departed after staying there for ~ 1 hour or so.

Drove back to Singapore via causeway - surprisingly no traffic jam at all!