Johor Bahru Malaysia

We went to Johor Bahru mainly because we wanted to make a fast one or two day trip to Singapore. When you look for an accommodation in Singapore on Airbnb many are in Johor Bahru anyway so we thought it’s a good way to save some money (Singapore is quite expensive) and visit two places at the same time.

We later found out that you can visit Malaysia 3 times a year and after that customs may refuse to let you in. It was our 3rd visit to Malaysia and we didn’t want to risk it. We were planning to go to Singapore without our luggage and if we were not let back into Malaysia we’d be in trouble. Singapore will need to wait.

The Local Area

The Airbnb we rented was on outskirts of Johor Bahru, but we didn’t complain about that at all. It was a nice and quiet area. The condominium had a nice swimming pool and gym for residents. Next to the swimming pool was also a laundrette. A few steps further you can find a small shop with basic items to buy and a really funny shopkeeper.

For bigger shopping, you can walk (or take a taxi) to a nearby Shopping mall. It was only 20 minutes walk so we normally walked there and took a taxi back home. Walking with heavy bags of shopping wouldn’t be a nice experience. It is a nice big shopping mall with lots of restaurants, post office, cinema and shops of all kinds. We often spent a few hours just walking around, having a meal and then buying groceries for a whole week when we were done with everything else.

For everyday meals though we didn’t go to this mall, because we often spent more money there than we planned, so for that, we walked in a completely different direction. Only 5 minutes walk from the condo are restaurants, some street food, and a small grocery shop.

The Apartment

The apartment we stayed in for a month was nice and clean. Very comfortable with small cons that were not that important overall. The view from the balcony was a bit like a Mars – red, cracked field most likely a new construction site but nothing was built there yet.

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When we arrived the owner informed us that someone is coming to service AC. We didn’t mind it. Quite opposite actually because we like to have fully functional AC at places we stay in. We always set it to the minimum setting because we normally have problems with sleeping in hot places. We didn’t know though, that the service will take over 3 hours. All that time the owner with his wife stayed with us in the apartment entertained us with interesting stories.

We’re not used to having so many strangers in the house but this was actually quite nice. They also invited us for lunch the next day. They took us to a Chinese restaurant nearby. It was our first choice restaurant every time we wanted to eat out ever since.

The mild annoyances

Most of the time we cooked our own meals though. The kitchen was well equipped and the only problem with it was that there were no kitchen tables to prepare a meal. That didn’t stop us though. What did annoy us in the kitchen more, was a mirror wall behind the stove. It was constantly dirty and difficult to clean.

Another not very well thought through thing was a bathroom sink. More precise the tap. It was a huge sink bowl with a teeny tiny tap that made washing hands close to impossible.

Other than that the place was really nice and we enjoyed staying there. It was very easy to keep it clean because all floors were tiled. The bed was large and comfortable. Internet speed was nice too. We highly recommend this apartment.