Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
232
To get to Cameron Highlands,
Kurnia Bistari Express Bus
(
&
05/491-1485
) oper-
ates betw een K uala L umpur and Tanah Rata daily for ar ound RM20 ($5.80/£3.60)
one-way. They don't accept bookings in K uala Lumpur, asking y ou to just sho w up at
Puduraya bus terminal to buy your ticket and board the next bus. The bus terminal is in
the center of town along the main drag. J ust next to it is the taxi stand. I t's a two-horse
town; y ou can 't miss either of them. O utstation taxis fr om KL will cost RM240
($70/£43) for the trip. Call
&
03/2078-0213
for booking. Taxis are cheaper on the way
back because they don't have to climb the mountains.
2
JOHOR BAHRU
Johor Bahru, the capital of the state of J ohor, is at the southern tip of the M alaysian
peninsula, wher e M alaysia's nor th-south highway comes to its southern terminus.
Because it's just over the causeway from Singapore, a very short jump by car, bus, or train,
it's a popular point of entry to Malaysia. Johor Bahru, or “JB,” is not the most fascinating
destination in M alaysia. If you want a good side trip fr om Singapore, there are more
interesting sights in Melaka (see below) or better beaches on Tioman (see chapter 14).
The Malaysia Tourism Board office in Johor Bahru is at the
Johor Tourist Informa-
tion Centr e ( JOTIC),
centrally located on J alan Ay er M olek, on the second floor
(
&
07/223-4935
). You can also find information at www.tourismjohor.com.
The
Sultan Ismail Airport/Senai International Airport,
30 to 40 minutes outside
the city (
&
07/599-4737
), has r egular flights thr ough Malaysia Airlines to and fr om
major cities in Malaysia (
&
1300/883-000;
www.malaysiaairlines.com).
AirAsia
(
&
03/
8775-4000;
www.airasia.com) also uses JB as a hub to major destinations thr
13
oughout
Malaysia.
Buses to and fr om other par ts of M alaysia are based at the Lar kin Bus Terminal off
Jalan Garuda in the nor thern part of the city. Taxis are available at the terminal to take
you to the city. If you're coming from Singapore, the
Singapore-Johor Express
(
&
65/
6292-8149
) operates every 10 minutes between 6:30am and midnight from the Ban Sen
Terminal at Queen Street near Arab Street, Singapore. The cost for the half-hour trip is
S$2.40 ($1.60¢/£1.10). If you take the bus, y ou can choose to get off at the M alaysian
immigration checkpoint, which is more or less in the center of town, instead of going all
the way to Larkin.
The
Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTM)
trains arrive and depart from the Johor
Bahru Railway S tation at J alan Tun Abdul Razak, opposite M erlin Tower (
&
07/223-
4727
). Catch express trains from
KL Sentral
(
&
03/2267-1200
) twice daily for RM34
to RM68 ($9.85-$20/£6.10-£12), depending on the class y ou travel. From the
Singa-
pore Railway Station
(
&
65/6222-5165
), on Keppel Road in Tanjong Pagar, the short
trip is S$2.90 (US$1.95/£1.30).
If you find yourself in JB overnight, the
Hyatt Regency
(Jalan Sungai Chat;
&
800/
233-1234
or 07/222-1234; fax 07/223-2718; http://johorbahr u.regency.hyatt.com;
RM374/$108/£67 double) is the top pick in terms of quality . JB has some good food,
which you can try at the Tepian Tebrau Stalls in Jalan Skudai (along the seafront) and the
hawker stalls near the Central Market. The dish that puts Johor Bahru on the map,
ikan
bakar
(barbecued fish with chilies), is out of this world at the Tepian Tebrau stalls.
The sights in Johor Bahru are few, but there is an inter esting museum inside the old
istana.
The
Royal Abu Bakar Museum,
also called the I stana Bakar, is a gorgeous r oyal
