Dear Boys,
What an adventurous Sunday we had! We decided to head to Johore Bahru to check out Angry Bird Activity Park, with your grand parents tagging along!
We decided to take a bus from Yishun Interchange which runs AC7 into Kota Raya 2 bus terminal in JB. We left Yishun for JB at about 11.50am, with Ian running out of patience! The bus journey is pretty nice, uneventful, and the bus driver was a seasoned one, as he must have traveled that route everyday. he seems to know how to beat the long queue, only to be beaten by a car, which broke down in front of us!
Since it was father’s day, me, being your dad gets to go in for free, and if you ‘like’ and upload your picture into their Facebook, the other family members gets a 25% off! Not a bad deal. And the grandparents gets to go in for free, as they we senior citizens. Cool!
By the time we settle our lunch and let the both of you loose, it was already 4pm, the both of you played until 5pm, when the place close for an hour. The evening session starts from 6pm and ends at 10pm. (And no, we are determined not to let you play till 10pm!)
The park was fun, you boys went crazy and ballistics with the trampoline, the Air Parkour Park, Piggy Shooting Gallery, and other fun stuff, there are go-kart for you boys to paddle, we joined in the fun as well, go-karting round and round. I went crazy on the trampoline too, it was great fun for everyone. You mum joined in doing her tarzan swing, but she refused to let go of the rope and fall into the foam pit. Knowing her, she will find the pit too dirty for her to come into contact with. Well, for the sake of fun why not???
We left about 8pm for dinner, as we are determined to leave JB as soon as we can, but we know our efforts were futile. we will probably reach home past 1am.
AC7-Our Saviour, our Bane
After dinner, at a lackluster Kenny Rogers outlet at JB City Square, we headed home. I didn’t really have a plan to get us back to Singapore, the idea is to get past customs, take whichever bus that comes along, we can land at either Woodlands MRT, or take AC7 to land back at Yishun, which is the best case, or the trusty 170, which runs to Bugis.
Problem is, after we cleared the customs, we couldn’t figure out the queue line for AC7, so we ended up queuing at 950 to bring us to Woodlands MRT. But a pleasant surprise awaits us! AC7 turned up at the berth next to 950’s and we gleefully hope on it. It was our best case scenario! In the melee, I paid RM$1.50 for the 5 of us (弟弟 rides free), which in actual fact takes us to Woodlands and not Yishun. A full fare to Yishun would be RM$3, which I realized from the receipt.
We knew when we reach Woodlands checkpoint, we have to clear the customs quickly as the AC7 bus will not wait for everyone, the bus will leave when it is reasonably full, whoever missed can wait for the next AC7, which might be more than 30 minutes away. By the time we clear the customs we are already pushing towards 11pm.
But we were late! I think I caught a glimpse of the AC7’s familiar purple colour bus drove away from the bus bay. And as usual, there is no signage telling us where to wait for the AC7. Tired and frustrated, we took the next best option, 170 service which ends at Kranji MRT, if we can get there we can get home by MRT.
Phone MIA- leave no phones behind
When we alight from 170 at Kranji MRT, Ah Ma announced our next adventure, Ah Gong has left his phone in the Xray machine tray, he took his black bag, but he didn’t take his phone. Your Mum and I sprang into action. I call Starhub to get the line suspended, your Mum called the ICA to see if there is a remote chance of recovering the phone.
The scenario was bleak. There are hundreds of people passing through that check point using the same tray, if the Customs Officer didn’t pick up the phone before anyone does, then the reunification of the phone with Ah Gong will really depends on a Good Samaritan. We were never that optimistic.
I got the phone line suspended, and your mum, managed to get to ICA, Woodlands checkpoint, and to our surprise, the officer says he will check and call us back. Which we don’t think he would. The clock is pushing for 11.15pm, and it looks like we have to take a cab home instead.
Your mum’s phone rang and much to all of our surprise, the ICA officer called back and said the ‘black LG phone’ is with him! Your mum, Ah Gong and Ah Ma immediately hailed a cab from Kranji back to the Woodlands customs to get the precious phone back, while we hang around at Kranji for them to come back. It was a tiring wait, Wayne is already on the verge of sleeping. Ian, too tired to be restless.
They came back, close to midnight, your Ah Gong, a happy trooper, to have recovered his phone. It was a simple phone that wouldn’t have cost much even if you sold it, but it is the photos of his precious grandchildren in it that he will lose. This upsets him more than anything else. And getting is back made him the happiest grandpa in Woodlands.
By the time we hailed a cab, and reach him, it was close to 12.30 in the morning. you boys, dead tired, slept till mid day the next day, Your dad, has to crawl out of bed to work as it is a Monday. But what an adventurous Sunday we had!
Useful links:
https://singaporebuspage.wordpress.com/bus-services-singapore-to-jb-johor-bahru/
http://angrybirdsactivitypark.my/
First published: June 23, 2015
Aikidology 