Great Place To Go... 无处不去

Friday, February 23, 2024

Stop-By Town: Serkat

From Forest City, I am taking the new route via Pulai River Bridge, entering Serkat before heading to Kukup.

In fact, I would like to go to Tanjung Piai National Park for sunset view. However, upon reaching, only realized that Tanjung Piai National Park was closed by 16:30.

Kiöpi

Located on the road from Tanjung Piai to Kukup.
A small hut that serves coffee, ice-cream, waffle, croffle, and simple meals.
We had a wonderful afternoon tea-time here before heading to Kukup.

Return To: Johor (West Coast) Exploration Tour during CNY 2024

Stop-By Town: Forest City

[Source] Country Garden Forest City

1st time entering Forest City after lunch at Kelapa Sawit Town via Malaysia - Singapore 2nd Link (Route E3).

Before entering Forest City, an under construction CIQ building can be seen. I believe it is to prepare for the new entry point to Singapore from Forest City in near future.

[Source] Country Garden Forest City

Forest City Sales Gallery

It is much bigger than what you can imagined.
What you see now might be only 10% to 20% of its total plan.
You can view the master plan of Forest City at 1st floor.
There is a small library at Ground Floor for visitors to stop-by while waiting for others.
No time to explore more this time as I just have only 1 hour stopover at Forest City.

Forest City Waterpark

Located outside Forest City Sales Gallery, which is just next to the Beach facing Singapore.
Admission Fee: RM20/pax, open daily @ 10:00 - 18:00 (closed on Monday)
Facilities: Surf n Slide, Water Fun Challenge, Water Maze, Swimming Pool

Return To: Johor (West Coast) Exploration Tour during CNY 2024

Attraction: Kelapa Sawit

[Source] Kelapa Sawit - Wikipedia

Kelapa Sawit is a small town located along Jalan Kulai-Air Hitam Malaysian Federal Roads System Route 1 in Kulai District, Johor, Malaysia. Kelapa Sawit means oil palm in Bahasa Malaysia. A mainly Hakka community which was formed back in the 1950s when the British; who were the colonial masters of Malaya moved tens of thousands of the ethnic Chinese people into New Towns like this during the Malayan Emergency. Many of the older generations still keep up with tradition and communicate using the Hakka dialect.
Located next to the Sime Darby palm oil plantation, this was the origin of the town's name. It faced some problems of air pollution until the estate's oil palm mill was closed down. Villagers were mainly reliant on agriculture for a living.
Before tax on pepper kicked in in the 1980s, Kelapa Sawit was the famous Pepper producing town. Farmers has since relied on other crops such as Palm Oil, Durian and other leafy vegetables mainly targeted at the Singapore market.
In recent years this town has transformed itself from a sleepy town into a tourist destination with murals, creative art works and traditional hakka food as their selling point. Many tourists mainly from nearby Singapore visit Kelapa Sawit as a quick weekend getaway.

I was there on a rainy day for lunch. Too bad, there was no chance to explore more on the back street murals (wall art) due to heavy rain.

Man Ting Fang Restaurant (满庭芳茶餐室）

Closed on the day I visited (14/Feb/2024 Wed)
Will try it next time if there is a chance

惠安小食馆

Restaurant converted from barber shop, with retro feel & decoration
Main target is to try its Johor Laksa & Hor Kah Sai (虎咬狮)

Kedai Makanan Hakka Sawit (好客坊客家小吃店)

Popular among tourists, full house during the day I visited (14/Feb/2024)
Managed to secure a table after having lunch next door coffee shop
Ordered Lei Cha (擂茶), Fried Pork (炸肉) and Yong Tau Foo (酿豆腐) for snacks after lunch
Surprisingly the Lei Cha (擂茶) taste good (first time trying it)
The price during CNY hikes up very high, not same as price shared online (forgot to snap a photo due to overcrowded)

Kelapa Sawit Wall Art

Managed to snap a photo behind 惠安小食馆 while waiting for food.
It was heavy rain before and after the lunch, thus we proceeded to next destination after lunch.

Return To: Johor (West Coast) Exploration Tour during CNY 2024

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Pekan Nanas (literally meaning Pineapple Town) is a town located in Pontian District, Johor, Malaysia famous for its Pineapple plantation industry. It was Malaysia's largest production base for pineapple planting area. [Source] Pekan Nanas - Wikipedia

I know this place from my primary school textbook many years ago. Since then, I wondered when I have a chance to visit to this pineapple plantation town.

This is my 1st time to visit Pekan Nanas on 14/Feb/2024 during my en-route Johor trip with my family. It was a rainy day.

Pineapple Statue

Local landmark at Pekan Nanas

Pineapple Museum

It was closed on the day I went (14/Feb/2024, Wed).
Closed on Wednesday, Friday & Saturday.

NICTAR PINEAPPLE PARK

Admission is RM8/pax, and free for kids under 3 years old.
They offer free sweet natural pineapple juice per paying customer
There is a briefing on the farm and types of pineapple planted at the entrance
Customer is allowed to tour around the farm at your own leisure (no guided tour)
There are also other plants: groundnuts, corn, roselle, sugarcane, radish, sun flowers, etc
A mini farm with chicken, duck and turkey, you can feed them with grass on the ground
Freshly pluck pineapple fruit available for sale @ RM12/fruit (depends on availability)

Award winning idea for the pineapple cap (to protect the fruit from direct sunlight)

Total of 13 out of 18 species of pineapples in Malaysia are presented on the plot

Return To: Johor (West Coast) Exploration Tour during CNY 2024

Attraction: Bugis Museum

[Source] Museum Bugis – Tourism Johor

The Bugis Museum was established in 1982 by its owner Mr. Abdullah Bin Ahmad. Here you can witness the culture and customs of the Bugis community. Various types of historical artifacts of the Bugis community are found here. Among them are old weapons, traditional Bugis clothing, history and ornaments of the Bugis community.

I had visited here on a rainy morning (14/Feb/2024). There is no entry fee, but you can make a generous donation. Quite a number of parking lots available.

Among the photos taken:

Main Entrance

Signboard at Main Entrance

Raja Sehari (Bugis wedding stage)

Al-Quran

Bugis House

Wedding Costume

Kitchenware & Utensils

Traditional Bedroom Set

Bugis Language

Old style oil lamp

Beside the museum, there is a playground for small children to hang out.

There is also a hanging bridge connected to watch tower near the sea side. Also, several booths selling foods & drinks available, but too bad it is not so hygiene, and the floor is quite dirty. Toilet is available without charges.

Return To: Johor (West Coast) Exploration Tour during CNY 2024

Stay at Pontian Kechil Town

This time, I choose Pontian Kechil (笨珍) town because of this newly opened budget hotel and its vicinity to travel to Kukup, Tanjung Piai, Pekan Nanas, Kelapa Sawit, and Forest City (within a single day / two days trip).

Southern Tip Hotel
Newly open since August 2023. It is clean and convenient, next to McD at one end, and coffee shop at the other end. Parking is free, either in front of the hotel at road side (first come first serve, as there are 2 car workshops next to hotel), or an empty land next to the coffee shop. WiFi signal is a bit slow inside the room, I use my own WiFi Router for better coverage. The TV comes with TV Box with limited entertainment channels. The roof-top is accessible for city view, either day or night, with 2 guest rooms available at roof top (Room#401, #402).

This is the night view (of hawker center near Laman Diraja) taken from Pontian Shoal where you can drive and park at the shoal for some Malay hawker foods at night while enjoying the sea breeze.

This is the view from coastal near Pontian Market, 5min walking distance from hotel. There are at least 2 shops can help to cook (代炒) for you, just buy your own seafoods or vegetables from the market. Fruits are easily available at these 2-rows of shoplots beside the market, where banana at RM2.80/kg and pineapple at RM3/fruit.