Sunday began busy enough for our intrepid travelers! We rose early and met up with several of the students at breakfast. They regaled us tales of their evening exploits and the sights and sounds they took in from Singapore. Fortunately for many of them, they had gotten over the jet lag and were acclimating well. I was still waking up in the middle of the night, but I know the jetlag will pass in another day or so.
Today's exercise would see us depart Singapore and drive over the bridge to Malaysia. We took our luggage and walked down the block to an open-air bus terminal. While we should have been able to easily board the yellow bus they took us over the causeway, we encountered our first language barrier. There was a minor confusion between where we should stand and where to get our tickets. The cashier was a bit frustrated when we wanted to buy tickets - and there was no bus! We knew the bus was coming, but he didn't seem to grasp that we wanted to buy tickets for the bus before it arrived.
Overcoming that minor obstacle, we piled on to the bus and were on our way! The drive to the border took about a half hour, and found us arriving at the customs and immigration building. We rolled our luggage in and quickly passed through immigration exiting Singapore. Now, we were technically in between both countries! We proceeded further down and entered immigration for Malaysia. After clearing immigration, we boarded another yellow bus to the nearby transit terminal.
At first glance, Malaysia appears significantly different from Singapore. While Singapore is very European and feel rather modern, Malaysia still shows the roots of its humble beginnings. Malaysia has significantly more population and is much more rural than Singapore.
At the transit depot, we awaited our charted bus to bring us to UTM, the University of Technology Malaysia. Our charted guide, Raza, would be with us for our ride to UTM and the following day's ride to the airport. Raza greeted us warmly and we walked to where our driver would meet us. The bus terminal was so crowded with different busses, that the charters have to pick up where ever they can. We pulled out of the lot and began our drive to UTM!
Along the way, Raza shared many facts about his country, the pending national elections and a bit of trivia. Soon, we found ourselves at UTM's Scholar's Inn. Unloading in the lobby, we awaited our opportunity to check in. After pairing up, the students disappeared to their various rooms and awaited the arrive of our special guest. A former WMU graduate and friend, Dean, joined our entourage with two of his graduate students, whom he hoped would have an opportunity to study at WMU.
Dean took us into the city of Johor Baru, and led us on a quick stop at the Sultan's palace. While we couldn't go inside, we had a chance for a great photo op in the park.
From there, we continued on to The Cave, a neat family restaurant. Inside, we were treated to another incredible meal, with a wide variety of dishes. Our dinner conversations were lively and varied, covering all kinds of subjects.
Before long, we were ready for more evening excursions. From the restaurant, piled back onto the bus and headed to a nearby park, covered in lights. This was a highlight of our last trip, and certainly gave us some excellent pictures.
It wasn't long before we boarded again and headed to take a very brief walk through a night market. For a Sunday night, this one was bustling with people and hawkers, each trying to outdo the other.
Our chartered bus was only available a short while longer, so we boarded a final time and returned to Scholar's Inn. Back in our rooms, we sorted out attire for the next day and quickly called it a night.
No comments:
Post a Comment