I had a hard time focusing on my task. My mind wanders incessantly. "Oh gosh, I need to finish this before the end of business hour." The culprit? A long weekend is coming. Yay! Singapore is celebrating Chinese New Year. Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone! Hmm... we don't have anything planned, I wonder where we will be? The hubby suggested going to Johor Bahru City Square Mall. Well, I haven't been there, so let's go!
How to Get There
You don't need to book a tour/ticket online or anywhere else to get there. Head to Kranji MRT. There are buses leaving for Johor Bahru, Malaysia every 5-10 minutes. Johor Bahru is a stone's throw away from Singapore. It's less than an hour's drive by car.
From Kranji MRT, you'll find signboards leading to the bus stop. It's not hard to find, you'll notice a long queue at the waiting area for the bus bound to Johor Bahru.
Don't Forget to Bring Your Passport
The first stop is at the Singapore Immigration. We alighted from the bus stop at the immigration building and have our passports checked. The queue moves fast. Most of the booths are occupied with the immigration officers attending the travelers. Above is a photo of Johor Bahru Malaysia taken from the bridge connecting Singapore and Malaysia.
The second and final stop is at the Malaysian Immigration. It took us a while to complete the passport check, about 45 minutes. Johor Bahru City Square Mall Malaysia is connected to the Immigration building, there's no need to take the bus ride again. Walk to the mall. Don't worry, signboards will guide you along the way. It takes about 5-10 minutes to reach the mall, depending on your place.
Also, make sure to have your Singapore Dollars changed to Malaysian Ringgit.
Also, make sure to have your Singapore Dollars changed to Malaysian Ringgit.
City Square Mall
Now, we're hungry! Our bellies are growling from all the action that happened earlier. Many shops and restaurants are closed due to the holiday and only a handful of people are visiting the mall. That's good news to us because we are catered as soon as we arrived and food came in shortly.
Food
We went to the Sizzling Stonegrill to fill our complaining bellies. Yep, that's me right there, waiting for my order while the hubby is already enjoying his'. Here you'll be doing your own cooking using the stone grill provided? Be careful, it's hot!
Yummy! That's a great meal. I sure want to place another order. We paid 72 RM for 2 persons. Affordable, right? Sizzling Stonegrill is a must-try.
Open Space Cinema
Afterward, we proceeded to the cinema located on the uppermost level of the mall. I was surprised to see a beautiful open space park with a real koi fish pond. Cool!
The movie tickets here are unbelievably cheap. I can't believe we paid 28 RM for two pax. The movie house is incredibly nice too. It's no wonder for it is managed by Cathay Cineplexes.
The movie tickets here are unbelievably cheap. I can't believe we paid 28 RM for two pax. The movie house is incredibly nice too. It's no wonder for it is managed by Cathay Cineplexes.
Shopping
As mentioned above, many shops are closed due to the holiday. Also, there's not much price difference with the goods here in Johor Bahru compared to that in Singapore.Here I am swimming in a sea of shoes.
It's almost dinnertime and we have spent all our ringgits from shopping. It's time to go home. Glad everything went smoothly afterward, no traffics and long queues at both immigration buildings (Singapore and Malaysia). Thank God, we arrived in Singapore earlier than expected.
For dinner, we headed to Jem mall and had Pastamania. Oops, I had too many calories this time. I had to burn them instantly by shopping once again. Haha.
I hope our experience going to Johor Bahru City Square Mall Malaysia from Singapore gave you an idea of what to expect when you come to visit the mall. Have fun! Talk to you soon. ;)
