Trip to Spore Via TBS, Chwee Kueh, Poon Choy

Once I went on a bus trip alone somewhere and my mother saw me off at the

Batu Pahat bus station.  Then when I came back, she sat me down and asked me

to tell her about my bus trip (I cannot even remember where I went!!). I started..

"when I arrived at my destination....." "No, no NO!!!" Mum shook her head vehemently. 

"You must start your story from the moment I waved you goodbye AT THE BUS STATION!!!"

Ha ha ha, Mum, this is the story of my bus trip...and IT STARTS AT THE BUS STATION!!!

And I am a mother now too!  I am bringing my daughter  on this bus trip.

 Only, this time the bus station is ultra modern, looks like the airport terminal, and even has departure and arrival schedules like the airport take-offs as shown above, nothing like the dirt track bus stop Mum brought me that day long ago.  It even has a fancy name: Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS) or Integrated Southern TERMINAL!!! While this TBS was being built, Bukit Jalil people suffered congestion and traffic jams because of the make shift ticketing booths and buses by the road:

 giant tents to serve as ticket counters!!! Tickets are now all sold on line or via counters that are ultra cool

 buying tickets the old fashioned way

 buses parked by the roadside, with taxis and private cars adding to the congestion, this is a public road

picture shows Auntie Millie and Ivan going back to Batu Pahat

http://iamyourgurupntay.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/17-may-2010-breakfast-at-jalan-kenari.html

Now, we have this...not for plane take-offs but for coach or bus "drive-off"!!

You know, I always take First Coach, and when I rang and was told the tickets are all sold out, I was like..."what do I do next? How do I get to Singapore without coach tickets?" A simple check on the web showed that I could buy tickets at TBS!!! I did not know that!!! hahaha!

and so cheap too....RM45 for one way...toll charges, fuel, entry charge to Singapore would have costs more than this

 Before we boarded our plane, er bus, we had some after dinner meal to tide over the midnight ride

 Nasi Kandar TBS....not much selection as it was late, but looks much better that dingy stalls at Puduraya

Don't take our picture lah....our mouths are full!!!

roti canai ...everyone's favourite breakfast, or dinner, or whatever

dry fried fish, chicken and rice for me...no liquids....hate to come down from bus to get to the loo

Teh Tarik, Milo and kopi-o...Malaysian favourite beverages

 Platform L4, smacks of airport quality

 Mom. there is a baby cockcroach on the ledge near my window, how am I going to sleep?
Crush it!!! Reen says!!!

 Comfortable and inviting seats inside the coach...it moved on schedule at 12.00 midnight

and arrived at Singapore 5.58 in the morning... 

 Beach Road in darkness at 5 am

 we waited till 7.30.....sister thought that we would be arriving at 5 in the evening!!! Mis-communication!!

 Bro in law took us to Bedok and we had chwee kueh hot form the oven or steamer...

 Woman is still making chwee kueh because it is so early

 The ingredients

 ready for steaming on the rice cooker

with deft hands she made many batches

 I have not eaten chwee kueh since childhood days

 simple steaming process

 done....she sold them to us

 the rice dough

 the sight of bicycle parks and locks at the housing blocks awed me, in KL you ride a bicycle, you get knocked and run over in no time.

 after depositing our luggage at home, we went to Tampines Mall to Udders.

 At Udders, (fyi Udders are the teats/nipples/breasts of the cow) to collect ice cream cake for the night's party

 she also shopped for salad greens (romaine lettuce) for Caesar Salad that she will be making

 the crowd was horrendous!! It is noon, on 22 Dec...I hate to think what it will be like on Christmas eve at 5

 then we had lunch at Crystal jade Restaurant, and being Hakka, we had this Hakka dish for $38.80

 yummy!!! of course there was none of the ridiculously pricey ingredients like abalone, scallops, shark fin etc, for that price but there was ample sea cucumber, prawns, meat, tendons, maw, chicken feet etc, to load us up on collagen!

 see..layers and layers of goodness, we kept digging till the bottom of the pot

 Andrew came to bring his children to go out with us, with Uncle Roger

 nice lunch, though we were still full from breakfast!!

the grandkids needed time to warm up to us..

 the eldest grand daughter is the apple of Grandad's eyes and was brought to choose her Baby G

 Wow!!! the latest and most" in" and "with it" model!!!

Kids have discerning tastes nowadays, Mum.

But I remember the Citizen Watch you bought for me when I was

about to leave for University Malaya, my first watch, at age 19!!!