Johor 2025 Day 6: Kluang to Batu Pahat (峇株巴辖)
- Rick
- Jun 1
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 2
Day 5: Around Kluang (居銮)
Sunday, 1st June 2025
8:20am, I went back to Old Pasar Kopitiam, where I had tried one of the stalls the day before. The coffee shop was more crowded this time on a Sunday morning during Malaysia’s school holiday. I managed to get a table just as someone vacated it when I walked in. Having spotted a beef noodle stall the day before, I went to order a beef brisket noodle (soup) from Old Pasar Beef Noodle stall. And my usual kopi-O kosong. The beef noodle was really good!
I left the coffee shop soon after finishing my breakfast, giving the table to others who kept coming in. I went back to the Street Art Lane (Laman Pesona) and amused myself again over some murals, especially the large mural of Keluang Man and a large mock-up of a Wonda canned coffee that featured the same "Keluang Man" (translated as "Bat" Man). I had never seen Wonda coffee with this design in supermarkets — might be just an artwork.
Surprisingly, Amora Cafe was already opened at 9am. It was a little cafe with just 3 tables inside the air-conditioned space and two alfresco tables under big umbrellas outside. Supposed to open at 10am, the cafe was early this day. Since I had nothing to do before check-out, I stepped into the cafe and had peach tea with a charcoal bagel sandwiched with egg and cheese.
There were cans of Wonda coffee, with Keluang Man design, sitting above the bar counter. It looked exactly like the mock-up of the coffee can that I had photographed just minutes earlier. The cafe owner explained that they were limited editions for promoting "Keluang Man", a Malay show, with some scenes filmed along the Street Art Lane, and Amora Cafe was one of the few places selling the limited-edition canned coffee. I bought a can as souvenir (RM3.50).
I returned to Be Boutique Hotel to get ready for check-out. I was in no hurry since there was no scheduled bus to catch. I intended to have lunch in Kluang before journeying to Batu Pahat. The best time to start the journey was around noon time as service frequencies of connecting buses was around half an hour. Another reason was that it was too hot around noon to be roaming the street with a big backpack, I preferred to be sitting in buses.
I checked out after 11am and walked towards Kluang Parade. There were very few vehicles on the roads and many shops, except eateries, were closed on Sunday. Kluang was ultimately not a tourist spot although it was the nearest town to Gunung Lambak, a popular hill for Malaysian and Singapore hikers. I guessed most hikers hiked on Saturdays, which was why Be Boutique Hotel was fully-booked on Friday night but near empty the night before — a Saturday night.
I went back to Zao Wan Jian Mian (早碗见面) for lunch. I had avoided their spicy beef noodle for dinner the previous night and would want to try it before leaving Kluang — oh, did I just had beef noodle in the morning? Anyway, I went for their Hong Shao Nui Rou Fen (红烧牛肉粉), or braised beef noodle with Chinese vermicelli, but requested to reduce the spiciness level. The Chinese-style beef vermicelli was flavourful, not too spicy and I loved it.
After lunch, I walked to Kluang Bus Terminal to wait for Johore Motor Bus Service 56. If the handwritten schedule that I saw at the Johore Motor Bus Company counter was really for Bus 56, the next service would be at 1pm.
At 12:45pm, a Bus 56 came along and I boarded it. My attempt to use Manjalink card failed despite the card reader was turned on. The bus driver informed me it was not in used and the fare to Air Hitam Bus Terminal was RM2.50. I sat in the non-air-conditioned sauna bus for nearly 15 minutes before it moved off at 1:03pm — I thought the schedule was wrong when it did not move at 1pm. The incoming air through the opened windows was a relief.
The Johore Motor Bus pulled up at Air Hitam Bus Terminal at 1:46pm and I alighted. I waited for Causeway Link Service 8 that was supposedly scheduled at 2pm. When the bus came at 2:08pm, I saw that it did not have a Manjalink card reader installed. I showed the driver I had a RM10 note and told him I was going to "Carrefour" (the name of the bus-stop stated on Google Maps), he changed for me. The fare was RM3.
At 2:15pm, the air-con bus departed for Batu Pahat. It would take a slightly different route from Johore Motor Bus 56 in the town of Batu Pahat, but would bring me closer to the hotel that I had made a reservation. There were major road expansion works going on between Air Hitam and Kampung Parit Jelutong, which made traffic really slow.
3:15pm, I alighted at AEON BIG Batu Pahat — there was no longer a Carrefour. The weather was ultra hot. Instead of heading straight to the hotel where I most likely would hide in there till nightfall, I walked into a McDonald’s beside the shopping mall. I had an iced Milo and apple pie and did some homework in the cooling cafe using their WiFi. I needed to work out what to do in the next 2 days in Batu Pahat.
Running low on phone battery barely an hour later, I left McDonald’s and continued to 888 Boutique Hotel to check in. I got a room on the 3rd floor. The room might seemed a little old with peeling paints at some spots but it was rather clean (above the head too), all amenities were working and the walls were solid. Best of all, my room had no windows and very quiet. Of course, the door was always the main entry point for noises from other guests — I would know that at night.
I charged my phone, took a shower and got ready my laundry — I was down to my last set of clothings. I left the hotel at 6pm and walked a little further down the rows of shops to Eco Clean Express where I had my laundry washed and dried for RM10 — using TnG eWallet to pay, which saved me the hassle with coins. The process took over an hour.
After dropping my cleaned clothings back in my room and spread on the bed to cool, I walked to San Yuan Gourmet (汕源面家), a noodle house just round a corner. Assured by the staff that their dishes were not very spicy, I had Spice Sour Mee Pok (dry) and a side dish of Fried Cheese Tofu. I did not expect the portion of the noodle dish to be slightly larger and pretty hearty.
After dinner, I took a short walk to check out the eateries in the vicinity, some of them were already closed for the day. I also noticed that GN Food & Biscuit (满发糕饼店) had a branch outlet here. I would try some of their traditional pastries in the next couple of days.
15 minutes later, I was back in the hotel. With few guests on a Sunday night, the hotel was not noisy except when someone entered or left their rooms. It also seemed like most solo travellers were assigned to the 3rd floor.
Day 7: Writing...
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