Second & Half Months in East Ledang

Two and a half months, 5,000KM (est of my daily commute) - CORRECTION: it's probably around 3K (overstated :) and over 200 trips through Singapore & Johor checkpoints later, life feels a lot more settled now. I'm more used to driving back and forth to work nowadays, though driving during heavy rainy days is still scary for me. Of course there are times where I wish I can just catch a 15 minutes taxi ride home, but it is what it is.

At Tuas Johor checkpoint & what I don't like (2nd pic)


Our lifestyle has changed slightly, though we do drive to Singapore to catch up with friends and run personal errands, most of the time we stay in Johor. I'm still looking to meet more new people and neighbours (planning on hosting a lunch/dinner at the Ledang clubhouse restaurant soon). It's also nice to be in a house with lots of space, rather than apartment, but we had a scary moment when our little dog hid somewhere in the house and we couldn't find her for couple of hours! (eventually we found her and now she has a bell attached to her collar so we can hear her) :)

To reflect back on the past couple of months, the biggest lowlight is seeing a body of a motorist covered in black plastic bag on the highway with some blood stain on the road. He must have been travelling very fast on his bike and might have tried to change lane (he was in lane 1 - fast lane) when a car hit him.

That really shook me and was very upsetting. I couldn't get that image out of my mind for whole day. Seeing something like that makes you realise how fragile lives are and how dangerous driving can be. So please please everyone drive safely and carefully. Please indicate when changing lanes, do not tailgate and note that speeding does kill!

On a lighter note, the biggest highlight of all is seeing Ian, my husband, being a lot happier. He's healthier, happier and concentrating on launching his own business, as well as occasionally doing jumps on his new off-road KTM bike. After a long purchase process, we're finally collecting the key to our house next week, so that would be my second biggest highlight. Once that's done, we'll be finalising our house interior design selection and start the building process. I so look forward to moving into our own Bali villa inspired house.

Overall, I felt that moving and settling in here have not been as difficult as we initially thought. After the initial stage of worrying about passports, visas, security, safety, etc, we eventually worked it out and it is NOT as scary as what you think. :)

So here's to 2011 and secured, happy & prosperous stay in East Ledang!