Erk's 2014 Pacamerican Circle

[erkpod]

Big contrast between a downtown bound Circle train (top) & an outbound North South train at the start of a trip at Marina Bay.



Nice mural at Woodlands





Pax waiting to board the 950 bus at Woodlands bus interchange. Similar corrals are in place for pax boarding buses at the Woodlands & JB border checkpoints. The bus interchanges at the border checkpoints are also no photography/recording zones in addition to the usual bans in the buildings themselves.

 

[erkpod]

On the bus in the seemingly neutral zone between Singapore & Malaysia.



The footpath over the causeway is visible. It was hard for me to get pics out the window with pax all around, the tinting on the windows & traffic.



The end of the footpath on the Malaysian side



The smart card reader on the bus (the one near the back door in this case) knows where the checkpoints are. Even when getting off one bus & getting on another one after the checkpoint procedures, you must tag on & off. The system knows what you are doing.



Now firmly in Malaysia, English comes second (if at all) on the signs. It might be a good time to call any Malay speakers to the white courtesy phone as I move into JB.

 

[erkpod]

I was disappointed not to be able to find a "Welcome To Malaysia" sign to pose in front of so I had to make do with what I had.

 

[erkpod]

In a country where English isn't the primary language on signs, the mundane becomes interesting to me.

 

[erkpod]

This post is an Erk free zone ... promise!

 

[erkpod]

Interesting mix between modern multi storey towers & more comptemporary local structures.

 

[erkpod]

Various buildings in JB.

 

[bass_ke]

We didn't much enjoy downtown JB either. We had about 7 hrs to kill before catching a train, turns out the numbers you pay are the same but in either SGD or MYR depending on where you embark.

And now, I don't mean to hijack your thread but a couple of pictures from years ago that I thought you might find interesting of SWMBO and myself walking the causeway ( so so young!) and of as first class sleeper compartment from JB to Ipoh

 

[erkpod]

Taxis sighted in JB range from near new to very very old. Many of the taxis have a sign on the door indicating that there is a meter now so don't haggle. Meters are obviously a newish thing in JB.







There's a large police presence in JB on foot, cars & especially motorcycles.

 

[erkpod]

Have you ever noticed that flags can be difficult to photograph?



Nice looking gold horse in JB City Centre

 

[erkpod]

There's a mixture of older & newer buses in JB & as we'll see a little later, some of them head across the border & into Woodlands & downtown Singapore.

 

[erkpod]

Time to leave JB.

 

[erkpod]

Understandably it's not easy to get photos around the CIQ. But I tried.











It certainly is an interesting building, infrastructure around it & the operations within. The Malay side have gone to great efforts to make the experience as smooth & efficicent as possible. It's also important to keep the many vehicles & pedestrians apart.

 

[erkpod]

Oh look, a welcome sign ... just as I'm leaving!



Northbound looks ok here!



And there's that footpath that I couldn't use.



SBS Transit bus leaves the Woodlands Checkpoint heading for downtown Singapore. The 170 bus is a popular one to access the Woodlands/JB border area.



Oh look, it's a JQ bus! According to the signs on the side, it runs between JB & Changi airports.

 

[drron]

On my first visit to the Causeway in the early 80s I went with my ABC(Aussie born Chinese)friend and colleague.The Singaporeans had drug dogs working there.We hadn't seen that before so we took some photos.The Singaporeans weren't amused and came to us with rifles raised-but all aimed at my friend,none at me and I could continue taking photos.Certainly brought to notice that in those days Singapore was far from being a free state.

 

[erkpod]

On my first visit to the Causeway in the early 80s I went with my ABC(Aussie born Chinese)friend and colleague.The Singaporeans had drug dogs working there.We hadn't seen that before so we took some photos.The Singaporeans weren't amused and came to us with rifles raised-but all aimed at my friend,none at me and I could continue taking photos.Certainly brought to notice that in those days Singapore was far from being a free state.

For someone used to seeing police who are either unarmed or armed with a pistol such as a Glock, seeing someone armed with something like a machine gun can be confronting.

 

[erkpod]

Day 56, Tuesday 25 February
Hotel - Changi Airport

Early morning flight on SQ231 (A380) at 0045 local Wednesday with a noon checkout from the hotel saw me head by train to Changi.

Flight report to follow.



Today's shirt celebrates me going home to my own timezone.



To the airport, Erk!



I'll always have this photo of me with a huge heavy metal fan.





Good to see some dedicated room for people with luggage on the shuttle service to Changi. However, this shuttle is very short, serving only 3 stations before a change is needed to/from the East West line.

 

[erkpod]

Saying goodbye to the MRT



Flight info on the platform at Changi's MRT station.



Sounds painful.



Speaking of painful, I didn't think I was carrying 93kg of luggage. I then saw that was 5 bags worth according to the display.



Long list of things you can't do at the airport display/feature in T3.

 

[petercr]

View attachment 25465

I'll always have this photo of me with a huge heavy metal fan.

looks like a big cough fan (look it up). not so much heavy as aluminum alloy for most of it...

 

[erkpod]

Looks like Yellow & Red don't like Durians either. However, I did see them enjoying the local culture downtown more a few days ago.



Red seems to be enjoying it more than Yellow, though.



Plenty of chances for plane spotting after lunch...



Many of the eateries in T3 are closed.



*sings*

30122 bottles of beer on the wall, 30122 bottles of beer...