About a ....(Part 1)

trip down to Singapore last weekend....

Well, looks like I've been able to keep up with traveling to that country that I supposedly so loathe. The people, in general, at least. The country is actually quite ordered and nice.

In any case, enough talking about same old same old...The trip down last weekend was quite different from the previous trips...Here's a few reasons:

1) I was driving down...ON MY OWN...(Ok, I went with Shrek..But I'm sure he doesn't mind me not actually counting him... :p)

2) I wasn't there on business or for some event that I was in some way a part of. I was going there with no other reason but to eat...Eat..and EAT!!!

I actually had some photos taken, but somehow I failed to get around uploading the pictures. So when I do, maybe revisit this and have some silly fun on the silly pictures I take (hint hint, I don't think there was anyone in the pictures..).

Now the main excuse for me to go down was to join in a farewell dinner of my ex-boss, who, while was quite unfortunate to be retrenched by my company and inadvertably realised how despite all the talk about employees being important et all, realised that in times like these (yes, my company is affected by the whole economic crash in the USA) everyone's so busy covering their own ass they forget to do the decent thing; retrench people with dignity. They shy around the subject, make it all hush hush yet when the shit hits the fan, they act as though they didn't know it was coming despite being informed like aeons ago. Earlier in my working life I still believed that sometimes leaders/bosses don't get the news that we expect them to get as much as we expect them to, but over the years I've come to know that a leader that's ill informed is a poor leader. A good leader tends to get information from various sources and when dealing with retrencment/downsizing, if they're not part of the plan then they would have contributed in it. Hence, they would have KNOWN..

Back to my ex-boss, who unfortunately only rejoined the company around 2 years back so would only get a small package, initially took the news quite hard. As with anyone who is forced to undergo a change in their lives, especially when in comes to losing a source of income, she was quite unhappy with the news. But over time she saw the better side of the news. Coupled with the fact that despite being told to go within 1 month of the announcement, she was asked to stay for another 6 months, giving her more time to clear up the stuff and look for another job. While she has yet to reemploy herself, I hear she's lined up good prospects and wishing her best of luck. In any case, she's enjoying the extended holiday where the only reason it will end is because she chooses too; Not because the annual leaves approved only so much or something needs to be done back at work...

Oops. Supposed to talk about the trip..hehe..

Now dinner was on a Friday and for some reason the Singapore Government decided that they'll let cars from Malaysia drive over for free if it's from 5pm to 2am daily. Why? I don't know. Maybe they want travellers to not come into the city during working hours. Since getting past Customs at 5pm would be just nice for me to reach dinner time around 7pm, I had to time my drive nicely so that I do not arrive in Johor Baru too early or too late.

For those unfamiliar, the drive is from KL - JB - SG and the distance is around 400KM thereabouts. I racked up a good 900KM for my whole trip. Which was good exercise for Shrek. I expected the drive to take about 4 hours bar any jams along the highway. I left my office (yes, I ws working on Friday) around 11.45am and decided to eat lunch along the highway. At first I wanted to have McDonalds at one of those drive through outlets, but I missed the outlet along the highway and ended up with 2 buns instead. I bought a Snickers bar, but didn't eat it until I reached the causeway.

The drive down was largely uneventful. Trying hard to abide by the speed limit and keeping to the fact that I needed to arrive at the causeway after 5pm, it was quite a carefree drive. Shrek doesn't go very fast, so at 110KM/H he was quite worked up but stable. I had 2 short stops along the way, mostly to relieve myself and to change from shoes to slippers. Do not drive long distance with shoes unless they're superbly comfortable..Have mercy on your right foot...

Despite all my attempts to be on time, my inner anxiety of being late made me arrive Johor Baru by 4.15pm. With time to kill, I went petrol kiosk hunting so that I have a full tank when I cross over to Singapore. Luckily for me, I'm not restricted by Singaporean laws that require the petrol tanks to be of a certain amount when crossing over, either way...Unfortunate, for the very fact that I didn't reasearch JB at all, I ended up driving round and round the city eventually ending up at the same petrol kiosk I spotted on the opposite side of the road. Then I decided to make another big round before going towards the malaysian Immigration complex as I prepare my travel towards Singapore.

It wasn't after 5pm, however. But as much as I wanted to save SGD 20 by crossing over after 5pm, I was getting jittery waiting for time to pass by. I clearly have issues staying put. So I crossed the Malaysian Customs 20 minutes ahead of time. Nothing much happened except I notice that there were a large number of cars stopping at the side. I guess I'm not the only one intending to not pay. Eventually a traffic police came over to 'encourage' us to move along and stop waiting.

Passing through Customs in Singapore was quite a breeze. Luckily from there onwards I DID research...Somewhat...Now, if only even having some directions and a print out of the way to meet my ex-boss I'd not get lost....

But then again, I expected to get lost since I'm driving in a foreign country for the first time...... :D

.....To Be Continued...