Happy New Year 2011

Happy new year 2011 to everyone & I wish you & your family all prosperity, happiness & health for the new year.

Quick update of development in East Ledang

Pictures taken today on East Ledang development (Apartment & Phase II - I think). Good to see many people are still busy building stuff in this area.



Phase II near showhouses:



Ujana apartment development:



Latest View on Phase II

S'pore, M'sia discuss ways to ease CIQ clearance with rapid transit link | Iskandar Malaysia

When the Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link between Singapore and Iskandar Malaysia gets underway by 2018, commuters would need to clear immigration only once for each way of travel.

S'pore, M'sia discuss ways to ease CIQ clearance with rapid transit link | Iskandar Malaysia

Danga Bay

Danga Bay: Malaysia’s Premier Waterfront City, this is what we've read and heard about. The area is directly across the water from Singapore and is apparently set to be a premier waterfront development which includes upscale waterfront residential, retail and restaurants complex (something like Clarke Quay + Sentosa I imagine). It covers an area of approximately 450-acres. We visited the Danga Bay Marina & harbour and a small amusement park which was filled with families and their children in the weekend.



From what I have read, the government has a very ambitious plan for this area. We've also spoken to an Australian company who's developing high end luxury waterfront residential complex (a house unit will cost. est. SGD1.2M).

These are the under-construction developments listed in the Danga Bay official site:
1. Danga Island - 152 units of villas
2. Iskandar & Oakwood Residence (Apartments & Service residences)
3. Phase 1A - an area which will include 5 star hotel, International Convention Centre
Office Blocks & more apartments and a Water Theme Park.

I'd say that it's still quite a long way to go to reach the vision of this area but there are a lot of constructions in the area (construction of a highway for example - picture on the left) so let's hope that the vision is being carried out and will be completed soon in the near future.


More information can be found in: www.dangabay.com

There's also a news article recently on latest project in Danga Bay by a Singaporean company: http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20101206184346/Article/

Food we've tried in Danga Bay area:

J.T.L Ikan Bakar

Our first trip to Danga Bay. We found this "hawker" style Ikan Bakar (Grilled fish) eatery in the Danga Bay area (apologies I cannot remember the exact location). We ordered ayam penyet, ikan bakar, fried prawns and kangkong belacan. The food was quite good but the price was not reasonable. We paid about RM110. A local couple heard about our bill and told us that we were overcharged. I confronted the lady boss who replied that was their usual pricing. I wouldn't recommend going there as I felt quite ripped off. I'm sure there are many other more reasonably priced ikan bakar stalls out there in Johor.



Lazio Italian Restaurant & Cafe

We wanted to try Rosmarino Italian Restaurant at Jalan Damai, Taman Sri Setia, but after trying to find this restaurant for 2 hours (thanks to our not very realiable Garmin GPS system), we gave up and headed to Danga Bay instead. We tried the Italian restaurant, Lazio located at Danga Bay Marina.

We chose to sit outside (alfresco) next to the harbour. Though not the most authentic Italian restaurant, the food was quite good and the price was quite reasonable.



It usually takes us around 40 minutes to drive from East Ledang to Danga Bay.

My favourite place in Johor - a giant home decor shop

This place is truly awesome. I love love love this showroom shop. The place is like a giant candy store for home decor enthusiasts/renovators/interior designers.

There are several branches, but one of the largest branch (which I visited - thanks to Fiona) is the Johor Bahru Showroom. It's located at:

No. 1, Jalan Johor Jaya,
Taman Perindustrian Plentong,
81750 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
Tel : 07-351 4681
Fax: 07-351 4682

The place is quite hidden amongst car repairs/car showrooms. Google maps of the place can be found on their site:
http://www.ssfhome.com/locations/locations.cfm?storeid=4

I could spend hours in this shop. You can find things from furniture to cutleries to disco balls to garden statues to wedding accessories to DIY decor kits to curtains to flowers to giant decor cage...basically anything you'll ever need for living ideas, as rightly described on their website:

"SSF is the largest concept living company in Malaysia. SSF is engaged in the business of enriching homes through our home décor, furniture, curtains, carpets, lightings, kitchenware, artificial flowers, wedding décor and many other creative concept living products. Most importantly, SSF believe ideas are the currency of the future and that nurturing it creates wealth for the soul"

You're not allowed to take photos in the shop and I managed to take just 1 photo (the first photo on this article), so I've taken some pictures from their website (courtesy of http://www.ssfhome.com) to give some ideas of the products they carry.



The Johor branch is opened from 10.30am to 8.00pm.

More information can be found on their site: www.SSFHOME.com

Happy Shopping!

Transport Woes No More | eNewsletter@ Nusajaya

It's always great to see improvements and development being done for this area.

Upgrade of transportation system which also enabled greater accessibility for locals and visitors to key emerging areas within Iskandar Malaysia such as Nusajaya, Danga Bay and even Kampung Pendas Laut, which is famous for the seafood restaurants.

Read more at: Transport Woes No More | eNewsletter@ Nusajaya

Pet boarding in Johor

I am back from holiday, sorry for being M.I.A again for a while :)

While we were away, we left our Chihuahua, Mocha in a pet boarding place called Global Pets. Global Pets seems to be quite a large chain of pet shops which was established back in 2004.

This pet boarding is located at 16, Jalan Jati 1, Taman Nusa Bestari Jaya. It's a one stop shop with vet 24 hour clinic, pets grooming, boarding & day care and more. The pet boarding area is on level 3 (if I remember correctly) and is sectioned into 3 types of sub-areas (small, medium & large VIP areas/boxes).

We chose the small box area as Mocha's a chihuahua and paid Rm20/day including grooming. Though the facility is quite noisy (most of the dogs will bark when you step into the area), but it looks clean and safe which are the 2 most important factors for us. To board Mocha, we had to provide her vaccination record. I'm happy to see that they follow safety procedure.

Mocha is back at home safe and happy, she lost a bit of weight as she's a very timid dog, so she takes a long time to adjust to any new environment.

So far, I'm fine with GlobalPets' service (I also tend to call everyday to check up on my doggy). If you'd like to keep a close eye on your doggy during boarding, you can board your doggy at the VIP area which includes webcam for you to monitor your doggy online. Pretty good!

The only downside I must say is communicating in English is a bit of a challenge with the staff.

Here's the website for Global Pets: http://www.globalpets.com.my

2 cute sleeping puppies we saw in Global Pets: