Saturday, May 5, 2007







day excursion to masai and kong kong in johor

yesterday marked the start of our planned day trips to small towns in malaysia, starting with those in the state of johor.

i had planned to go with victor only but when my ex-colleague from balestier, nah, heard about it, he insisted on joining us. he last met victor about twenty years ago, when we were all holidaying at genting highlands.

we started off at about 8.40 a.m. had breadfast of prawn mee, penang style, at taman sentosa. victor has been a regular customer of this noodle stall for more than thirty years.

after breadfast, we set off for masai. along the way, we stopped at a new hypemarket 'tesco' in seri alam, on the outskirt of masai. i bought a small pack of tesco cola.

after parking the car at masai town, we walked to the bus interchange, which according to victor, has undergone much transformation. we saw a small catholic church and victor related how the pastor - an indian man - paid for his lunch during his last visit, some twenty years ago.

(masai is a town located in east johor bahru district and is considered to be the oldest part of johor bahru. it is located approximately 25 kilometres from the johor bahru city centre. masai is located on route j10 which leads to kong kong, a fishing village along the johor river.

many old, pre-war buildings are still well preserved. masai, like many of the towns in the johor bahru district, caters to the rural population of farmers and rubber plantation workers throughout the early and mid 20th century.)

as it was too early for lunch - it was around 11.30 - we decided to head for kong kong, a fishing village about 18km from masai. we drove to the end of the road where we came to a boatel of sort. the owner rented boats to fishermen and those who enjoy sea activities. he also provides a ferry service to a popular fishing spot, for which he charges rm$12.

we had lunch at one of the makan shops near the jetty. food, though tasty, was simple and limited in choice: only vegetables, fish and chicken. a number of shipyard workers, including two caucasians, were having their lunch at the shop.

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