Watch Out for Black Snake Cobra

Ian saw a black snake in our backyard today which looks like a black Malayan Cobra. It was about 1 metre long and it escaped into an open drain. Just wanted to alert everyone on this.

Progress of Legoland Johor Development

Update 7th Feb 2012:
It turns out that I've mistaken another site for the Legoland site :)

Here are some pictures of the real development of Legoland - enjoy:

You can see Legoland starting to take shape when you drive on Lebuhraya highway (heading back to East Ledang from Bukit Indah). I took these pictures a few weeks ago.

The park is due to be officially opened in second quarter of this year and is expected to target 1M visitors in its first 12 months of operation.


Annual passes are available for sale at AirAsiaRedTix and Legoland Malaysia websites.
Can't wait for Legoland Johor to be opened! All the best to Siegfried and team for getting the park completed and launched.

This is what it looks like with traffic @ checkpoint

Quick look at traffic jam on causeway heading into Johor's checkpoint during one of Chinese New Year's holidays. It took me 45 minutes to clear the Johor checkpoint....not as bad as the jam during fingerprint enforcement days (we were stuck for at least 2 hours).
Needless to say...a lot of kiasusm!

A Walk Around JB Town - Jln Meldrum

Since most places were closed, we went to explore JB town to grab dinner on Chinese New Year's first day and stumbled across Jalan Meldrum and this small street with hidden food stalls. You can see from this street in the last picture (bottom right). This tiny street, actually it's more like a back alley, is filled with Muslim food stalls. You can find satays, bbq seafood, kambing soup (mutton soup) and other halal dishes here.

My family decided to keep walking and so we found another food stall (on the next street to the right of the small lane). We had satays, bbq stingrays, stir fried vegies, fried calamari and steam fish. Though the food was not super great, it was nice to get together with our family and have an easy night out :) & the beer made the food taste nicer!


In case if you're interested in exploring this area, here's the map to Jalan Meldrum:

View Larger Map

Iskandar set to reach tipping point

“We were pleasantly surprised by the strong 65% bookings for UEM Land Holdings Bhd's Imperia@Puteri Harbour condominiums, which were launched in Nov 2011 at a record RM725 per sq ft.”
Iskandar set to reach tipping point

Cheap carwash in Gelang Patah

If you're ever looking for a good and cheap (I'm talking RM10!!!) carwash, look no further than this small "shop" in Gelang Patah. There's no name to the "shop" and the reason I'm calling it a "shop" is because it's just a local house with an area for washing cars & bikes.

Here's my best attempt to point you to this place:
- If you're coming from Tuas 2nd link, Gelang Patah exit from Lebuhraya highway
- Drive straight until you are at a T-junction (you'll see a big globe) and turn left
- Drive straight pass few traffic lights until you arrive at another t-junction (facing the SG-Johor bus terminal) and you see Shell petrol station, turn right
- Drive past popular seafood restaurant Tian Lai on your left until you see Kedai Runcit Zufanas and a sign for "Car Wash Cat Kereta" then turn left into the "shop"

This is the "New" scrambler track just near the Setia ECO gardens development. There is a few big hills and some work for a track on going (race day),which is quite a social event as well.

The location is a soil quarry and is just past the Setia ECO gardens business development on your left (travelling from Gelang Patah, marked by two white and blue striped silos just after the entrance.
Chat to Ong at Dirt wheel about getting into this sport- has all the 'Dirt' on it :-0

Post by Ian - please feel free to leave a comment if you're interested to find out more about this riding track.

Italian Dinner @ Gianni Trattoria JB

I had to rewrite and re-post this entry as iPad erased my article when I tried to do a very small edit :(

I've heard and read a lot about Gianni's Trattoria which is currently rated as top 10 restaurants in Johor in TripAdvisor. We decided to give this place a shot.

Gianni is an upscale Italian restaurant which serves pizzas, pastas and other Italian cuisine. It's located at 110 Jalan Serampang JB, an upmarket area (kinda of) in Johor filled with bridal shops, saloons, restaurants, car showrooms (Lexus for example) and pubs.


Appetizers are priced in the range of RM15+ - RM28 while main course meals are priced in the range of RM20+ - RM90+

We ordered caprese, tomato soup with scallops, spaghetti frutti mare (seafood spaghetti), carbonara, creme caramel, banana split and drinks (+ glass of wine). Yes, it was quite a lot for 2 people but we wanted to try as many dishes as we can :)

While the appetizers were very nice (especially the tomato soup), I was quite disappointed that the main course and desserts were nice but not great. Since the restaurant is halal, they had to substitute pork bacon with turkey bacon which is very chewy and doesn't really do justice to the carbonara. Our dinner cost RM231 and it's definitely cheaper than the price we'd pay in Singapore. However, I still much prefer Italian food @ Valentino's or Pasta Brava in Singapore.

Appetizers & main course Desserts
Overall...hmmm, I say give this restaurant a shot. Afterall, it's still nice to have the option to go for fine dining in Johor. However, I would not rate the food as high as what others have rated.

Beautiful Bungalow for Sale or Rent in Ledang Heights (Not Available Now)

1-5 Update: This house is no longer available for rent/purchase so I'll be removing pics and description of the house.

Good morning and Happy New Year to all!

I'm helping a friend of ours to promote their beautiful villa family home which is up for sale or rental. Here are more details about the house:

A brief description of Ledang Heights:
Ledang Heights is an exclusive bungalow only enclave located in the prime residential area of Nusajaya. Designed and laid out to make the most of the 360 acres of rolling hills on which it is located, Ledang Heights offers generous plot sizes to build your desired palatial home. Spaciousness is a definitive feature of Ledang Heights with its picturesque lake vistas and lush green central park while its 24-hour security creates a sanctuary for your total peace of mind. Its unbeatable location makes it only a 30 minute drive from downtown Singapore.

Fantastic Location:
-10 mins after Johor 2nd Link Immigration Custom Complex.
-2 mins to New Johor State Goverment Administrative office(Kota Iskandar)
-3 mins to Mydin and Anjung (Supermarket and food court)
-5 mins to Puteri Harbour Centre
-5 mins to EduCity university
-15 mins to Bukit Indah Jusco, Tesco and Giant.
-10 mins to Columbia Hospital and more.
-5 mins to Marlborough College

For for those interested, please feel free to contact us via the contact form. Have a great weekend!

Happy New Year 2012

2011, What a Year! It was a year full of ups and downs, dear ones passing, but we hang on and cherish those precious memories which will live with us forever. A year full of natural tragedies, millions of people affected and thousands of lives lost, but we live on and learn from the amazing stories of resilience of Japanese people who have set a new level of human endurance when faced with catastrophe.

So let bygones be bygones and 2012 be a better year than all the others. Year of a more peaceful and greener world, full of forgiveness & mending of broken bond and a year in which each of us would smile more :)

As a famous quote says: "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow". Albert Einstein

Happy New Year to all my blog reader, family, friends & neighbours.

Have a great 1st day of 2012 with these videos (love these):





In loving memories of dear friend Herman Chang & dear auntie (2kim), your memories will stay with us forever.