Feb 12, 2018 Sunny, Monday
About 10 years ago, I traveled to Singapore and regretted I could not get a visa to Malaysia, which is just 30 minutes bus ride away. Today, David and I made it.
This morning, after breakfast, we took a Uber to the bus station, which only cost $7. Then we got on the big double level bus. It is like the first class on the flight. It is very spacious. You can adjust the seat as a bed, also has a massage function.
Only half hour later, we arrived the border. At the border, we first passed the Singapore immigration, then we got back to the bus, the bus stopped again and we took all our luggage to pass the customs of Malaysia. It was very easy, they scanned the bags and that’s it. They just did the fingerprint and did not ask any questions, not like other countries…
After that, a girl got on the bus taking a big bag, looked like our snacks. We were told they provide only snacks, so I bought a big mushroom Baozi at dinner time yesterday and made some salad this morning.
Just like on the flight, the girl asked customers one by one and wrote it down on a small notebook, “Do you want hot drinks or cold drinks? Chinese tea or Italian tea? Italian tea is with milk and sugar…” Woo, that is better than the flight attendant. So respectful, comfortable and considerate services. Later, each one got our “snacks”, literally, it is a lunch box with fried fish, pickles, eggs, shrimp paste and rice. After my meal and a cup of tasty Italian tea, my stomach has no space for my Baozi and veggie salad.
I saw a guy seating next to me had some newspaper and asked if I could read and he agreed right away. It was in Chinese, very famous Singapore Morning. A few things are very interesting:
1. The government subsidizes the public transportation. (No wonder the cost is so low).
2. The government took more money for public housing.( I heard the married couples have priority to get public housing and only $3000 per month. The western world is helping the single moms and the eastern world is supporting the married couples. )
3. A group of people arrange fake marriage in Singapore were caught.
4. A new immigrant woman from Beijing, she had big success in Singapore and got a lot rewards for helping low income people.
5. Marriage counseling column: couples should have private time after having kids; problematic marriage need to get professional help in order to be fixed and holding hands to the rest of life. The perspective of the counseling is based on a good marriage or a good couple should holding hands to the end of life…
6. An article titled “Socialist is popular”, talking about political policy of China and President Xi…
During the 5 hours’ ride, we saw a lot coconut trees on the side of the road. I guess the coconut dish or milk are very cheap here…a lot of trees too, very green and clean…only until the Center of KL, the traffic got very bad.
Generally speaking, it was a pleasant experience riding a bus to KL from Singapore.
Yanmei
