anak_negeri

Hello friends of FlyerTalk!

Welcome to one of my reports. Firstly, as usual, please apologize my bad English and not-too-good quality photos. Please also not to be surprised if you see similar reports on other sites, as I wrote them all by myself.

Before to the main story, I will recap all my reports written here.

First Time & Last Time by Air France, Singapore-Jakarta
An Indonesian Domestic Flight with Garuda Indonesia, from Jakarta to Pekanbaru
A Short Trip to Malaysia & Singapore with KLM (B77W) and Indonesia AirAsia (A320)
Jakarta, Medan, Aceh, KL, and Malacca in 4 Days
A Journey with Jetstar and KLM + trip to Genting
Malaysia Airlines + KLM + Overland Trip to Thai Border
Another Indonesian Domestic Flight with Sriwijaya Air

IMPORTANT NOTE

In all of my reports, the abbreviation of "KL" always refers to "Kuala Lumpur", not KLM's IATA code (except in flight numbers). Please not to be confused.

BRIEF BACKGROUND

Every beginning of classes during my undergraduate program, the syllabus has been prepared. There is a class titled "Management Information System" held every Saturday. But in the Saturday of May 13th 2017 there was no class. No class means holiday, and holiday means, yeah, travelling. The chaotic condition of Jakarta makes me want to leave it on my spare times.

I searched any interesting destination, but then decided to go once again to my favorite country outside Indonesia: Malaysia. Its culture is similar with the culture in the east cost of North Sumatra, the place where my parents were raised since 50 years ago.

I then bought air tickets, reserved a room for my rest, and arranged the overland trip from KL to Kuantan (capital of Pahang State, located in the Malayan east coast) and Johor Bahru, the city directly bordering Singapore, where I would spend a night.

The route would be: Jakarta - KL International Airport (KLIA) - KL central bus terminal - Kuantan (Pahang) - Johor Bahru - Singapore - Jakarta

What was my choice to fly from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur? Of course none other than KLM, my favorite European carrier which offered cheap price on this short route for only IDR 500,000 (around USD 37) if you buy it at least 21 days before your journey.

Then how about the flight to return home? Actually there is a nonstop flight from Johor Bahru to Jakarta operated by Malaysian well-known LCC, AirAsia, 1x daily. But Singapore's Changi Airport offers more flight options, facilities, and sights. That's why I chose returning home through Singapore by Tigerair, which offered cheapest price for IDR 400,000 (USD 30).

Then the journey began.

PARTS OF THE STORY

Part 1: Jakarta - Kuala Lumpur by KLM (KL 810), Boeing 777-300ER
Part 2: Bus trip to Kuantan & short time in Kuantan city
Part 3: Bus trip to Johor Bahru & night in Johor Bahru
Part 4: Crossing the border to Singapore & 3 hours in Orchard Road
Part 5: 2.5 hours in Changi Airport + plane-spotting session
Part 6: Singapore - Jakarta by Tigerair (TR 2272), Airbus A320
Costs (Air Tickets, Accommodation, Land Transport)

anak_negeri

Part 1: Jakarta - Kuala Lumpur by KLM (KL 810), Boeing 777-300ER

May 11th, 2017. After meeting my client at Central Jakarta, I went to Gambir Railway Station to catch a bus to Soekarno-Hatta Airport.


The traffic was very friendly, without any jam.


Passing Ancol, a leisure area containing beach, water park, theme park, concert hall, and many other facilities. It's one of favorite destinations for Jakartans to spent their weekend, along with Ragunan Zoo, Puncak Area, Taman Safari (zoo), and shopping malls.


High-rise buildings in Pluit, an area occupied mainly by high-class society.


An A330 of Garuda caught by my cellphone camera before entering Cengkareng toll plaza.


Entering airport area.




Terminal 1, dedicated only for domestic flights.






Reaching terminal 2, our departure terminal. There were aircrafts of Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines waiting to take off.


Say thanks and goodbye to Damri Bus for their service to bring me to the airport. This is one of their newest fleets, with Mercedes-Benz chassis (OH1526) and body assembled by Morodadi Prima in Malang, East Java.




Our flight would start from Terminal 2E, used exclusively by Skyteam members + AirAsia (after moving from the old terminal 3 which had been demolished). Garuda Indonesia moved recently to the new terminal 3.






Saudia's check-in counter, filled with bags of "umrah" pilgrims to Mecca and Medina.


KLM check-in counter with quite long queue. Actually I had done the online check-in, so I just needed to print my boarding pass here.






My boarding pass. Very simple.


From the check-in counters, I proceed to immigration check. After that, there was security check before entering departure gates.

On the way to our gate, I saw a 787 of Japan Airlines.


Flight schedule of the day.


Our gate, E7. The gate was still not opened when I reached there (about 90 minutes before boarding).


Some minutes later, we were allowed to enter the gate. Before entering it, there was another security check, perhaps because the flight would fly to Europe.




At around 5.05 p.m. the aircraft landed after flying from Amsterdam through Kuala Lumpur. Its registration code was PH-BVF, the same aircraft bringing me back to Jakarta on February 2017 (you can read the report here). It's 6 years old, having been operated since January 2011.






There was still 1 hour and 15 minutes before boarding, so I decided to open my laptop to do my business as usual.

More passengers had arrived on the gate.


At around 6.10 p.m. the boarding process started. The senior cabin crews waited for us after the plane's door and greeted us very friendly.
Then I proceed directly to my seat.




While waiting the boarding process completed, we had been allowed to explore the IFE system, and the headphones were distributed.














My flash drive could also be inserted and read on the IFE.


Then the entry doors were closed. I was alone, 2 seats beside me were empty. Behind me was a group of ladies going for a company gathering in Kuala Lumpur. Across the aisle was a group of Catholic sisters on their way to Amsterdam. I guessed the "white" people, either Europeans and Americans, dominated the passenger composition on this flight, but there were also lots of Indonesian. Not too many Malaysians were seen.

The safety instructions video was shown through the IFE system, with unique animation created from a kind of painted ceramic.




Scheduled to depart at 6.45 p.m., the aircraft actually departed at 6.55 p.m. from the south runway of Soekarno-Hatta Airport which was closer to the domestic terminal. The take-off process was very smooth, without any turbulence.







About 5 minutes after that, the seat belt sign was turned off.
Here is the cabin situation.


Lavatory.


Return to our seat, these are the items inside the pocket.





"Sky High" shopping collection. I had bought the 747 miniature on my previous flight.




"Holland Herald" magazine.










Onboard wi-fi service was available, but I still don't know how to connect and surf the internet, as it's not too important for the 1.5 hour flight.




Then the cabin crews started to serve meals. I expected to get a meal set like my flight last year), but unfortunately we only got an "pie aloo ghobi", similar with my experience on KUL-CGK sector. Why was it downgrading?





After finishing my supper, I continued to explore the IFE.



Flight & destination info.







*Can you see the "Perabumulih" (more correctly "Prabumulih" without "e")? It's a small city in South Sumatra where I spent 3 years of my high school.




At around 9.30 p.m. (Malaysia Time), the aircraft slowly went down and prepared for landing.
What city is this? I guessed this is an area near KLIA.


The aircraft landed smoothly at 9.45 p.m.




Time to leave the PH-BVF aircraft. Here are final shots of it.






Arriving at the satellite terminal.


The sign at KLIA also showed the codeshare numbers, like this one with Delta (a Skyteam member together with KLM).


Passengers who would continue their journey to Amsterdam had made a quite long queue before the gate.


How about me? I finished here, so I proceed to the main terminal. Actually the fastest option to reach the main terminal was by aerotrain, but there was a problem with the aerotrain that made us have to wait around 20 minutes. The other option was by bus. Airport personnel showed me and other passengers the place to hop airport bus to the main terminal.





The bus was packed by Chinese tourists. They arrived from Beijing by Air China.




Outside view was interesting. I met once again with KLM PH-BVF aircraft bringing me here.






Arriving at the main terminal. Here I met the next "nightmare", a verrrrrrryyyyy long queue for immigration check. I spent almost an hour here. I could not do anything but wait patiently.


The flight landed at 9.45 p.m., but with the aerotrain problem and long queue at immigration counter, I reached the baggage claim zone at 11.00 p.m.

anak_negeri

Part 2: Bus trip to Kuantan & short time in Kuantan city

May 12th, 2017.

Why Kuantan?

That's because it is the only route served by express buses from KL after 00.00 a.m. Actually I also want to visit other cities in Malaysia which seems unpopular to tourist, despite their beautiful panorama and unique cultures that can't be found in KL. Kuantan is one of them. This is my first visit to one of cities in the east coast of Malay Peninsula.

After the long immigration queue, I went down from the arrival area to the KLIA's bus terminal.



Here I bought a ticket to KL's main bus terminal, Terminal Bersepadu Selatan (TBS), for MYR 11.



And here is the bus.


Our bus departed at 00.00, but it had to take passengers waiting at klia2, KLIA's LCC terminal.




Then we left the KLIA area and went straight to TBS.


During the journey, the bus' speaker played "Keroncong" music, a music genre brought by Portuguese traders when they arrived in Indonesia & Malaysia in 16th century. This genre has been unpopular for youngsters in both countries nowadays, but I still like it.

The "Jetbus" arrived in TBS after 45 minutes journey, without any traffic jam.






Here I bought the ticket to Kuantan which costed MYR 28.00 (about USD 6.50). The bus was scheduled to depart at 03.30 a.m. There were still more than 2 hours to spend. I decided to eat "roti canai" and drink "teh tarik" in a cafe located inside the terminal. (Sorry for no photos of this)

Time to hop my bus. Similar to airports, the terminal has also boarding gates.






The bus then came and took all passengers waiting to start their journey. Scheduled to depart at 03.30 a.m., it actually left the terminal at 03.50 a.m.


The expressway was almost empty.


As I had not slept that night, I decided to sleep inside the bus. When I woke up, the bus had stopped in a rest area. It was near Temerloh, a city in Central Pahang & the birthplace of 2 popular Malaysian singers: Siti Nurhaliza & the late Sudirman Arshad.





After 30 minutes rest time, the journey continued. The "Lebuhraya Pantai Timur" (East Coast Expressway) was still empty. The 358 km expressway connected Selangor area (including KL) on the western side of the peninsula to Kuantan and Kuala Terengganu on the east coast.



I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. I always struggle to sleep inside vehicles, including planes. But this time I think that was because the sun had started to rise.

This was the closest toll gate to Kuantan city.


We reached Kuantan Sentral, Kuantan's main bus terminal, at 08.00. The 300 km journey from KL to this terminal took around 4 hours.







Here I took a shower to clean my body. After that, I left the terminal by "Rapid Kuantan" city bus to the central area of Kuantan city. It's the subsidiary of RapidKL which operates city bus service in KL.





The city bus arrived at Makmur Bus Stop located in the central area of Kuantan.


From the bus stop, I started my short city tour of Kuantan. Here I went everywhere on foot.














And this is the most beautiful thing I saw here: "Laman Teruntum". It was like a waterfront, located on the riverside of Sungai Kuantan (Kuantan river). I still imagine what will it be in the night, it must be more beautiful.





We could also sea boats and other water vehicles crossing the river. They transported people and goods, but I don't know their routes.






Then I left the waterfront site and searched a good place for breakfast. I decided to try "Nasi kerabu", a rice dish associated with Malaysian East Coast (Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan). The unique thing was the blue color of the rice. This Wikipedia article helps you imagine what Nasi Kerabu looks like.





After eating Nasi Kerabu, I returned to the Makmur Bus Stop. Close to the bus stop was Kuantan's main sport venue, Darul Makmur Stadium. There was an event held on its parking area. It was like a food fair, with so many food stalls. I tried the "Air Jagung" ("corn water"), a drink made from corn. Its taste was unique.











Then I walked to the bus stop, to catch the Rapid Kuantan bus back to Kuantan Sentral, where from there I would hop an express bus to Johor Bahru.

Let's continue to the next part here.

Grando

A really nice report on areas not often covered here. Thanks!

anak_negeri

Thanks, Sir. I hope you can wait for the next parts. I'm preparing for them.

El Regina

Agreed with this statement 200% ^

El Regina

Should be "Darul Makmur Stadium".

El Regina

Did you actually mean there is a 1x daily flight from Johor Bahru to Jakarta by AirAsia?

anak_negeri

Alamak, saya silap! Thanks for your correction!

anak_negeri

Part 3: Bus trip to Johor Bahru & night in Johor Bahru

Time to leave Kuantan city. I took the "Rapid Kuantan" city bus from Makmur Bus Stop in the central part of Kuantan to the Kuantan Sentral intercity bus terminal.



Here I bought a ticket for my bus trip to Johor Bahru for MYR 30.80 (about USD 7.00). The distance between Kuantan Sentral and JB's main intercity bus terminal (Larkin Sentral) is about 322 km.





The terminal's waiting room. To be honest, the condition in this terminal is even better than in some of Indonesian airports.



Then our bus arrived, after starting its trip from Kuala Terengganu, capital of the State of Terengganu. It was a double-deck bus, with its chassis manufactured by Scania in Sweden.





We left Kuantan Sentral at 1.30 p.m. About 10 minutes from the bus terminal, we passed the Kuantan Airport (Sultan Ahmad Shah Airport, IATA code: KUA). It's currently serving 3 routes: KLIA (Malaysia Airlines), Subang (Malindo Air ATR72), and Singapore (Firefly ATR72).



After that, I decided to sleep, as I slept for only 2-3 hours during the previous bus trip from KL to Kuantan.

When I woke up, the bus had reached Segamat city located in the State of Johor, 180 km from Kuantan.

*First time I heard the name of "Segamat" was when I watched a Malaysian TV program in "Asian Food Channel", a premium channel broadcast through satellite / cable network in Southeast Asia. The city and its surrounding area contains some old Chinese food stalls.





As in other roads in Malaysia, the palm oil trees were dominating our sights. Palm oil is one of Malaysia's top sources of national income, along with petroleum, rubber, and (perhaps) tourism.



Our bus stopped for a while in a petrol station owned by Petronas, the government-owned petroleum company. Some passengers alighted for some minutes to go to the toilet or buy some items in the petrol station's convenience store.



At 5.20 p.m. we reached Yong Peng, the city located in the Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan (North-South expressway), 250 km from Kuantan. The name "Yong Peng" was given by Chinese people who had occupied the area since 1800-s.





Entering the North-South Expressway, Malaysian longest expressway. It connected Johor Bahru to the Malaysia-Thailand border at Bukit Kayu Hitam on the north side of the country. The expressway also passed Kuala Lumpur city.





The expressway's exit gate before entering Johor Bahru.





Our bus arrived in Larkin Sentral, Johor Bahru's main bus terminal, at 6.50 p.m. The journey from Kuantan to this terminal took 5 hours and 20 minutes. The bus then continued its journey to Pasir Gudang, a city located on the eastern side of Johor Bahru.





The terminal was in renovation progress.



From the Larkin Terminal, I took a "Maju" city bus to the guesthouse where I would stay for a night.



After reaching "Memory Guesthouse", I was greeted by its owner. I paid the guesthouse fee, and then he gave me the room key. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the guesthouse, but you can see the pictures of it at Booking.com (I booked the guesthouse through that website).

Actually I had booked the single-bed room for only MYR 33.00 (about USD 7.70). But the owner gave me a bonus: he gave me double-bed room instead. He also gave me some information about Johor Bahru city and simplest way to reach Singapore. What a very kind owner.

The negative point of this guesthouse is the quite far distance from the city center and lack of public transport.

After check-in, I took a rest for a while, then I walked to the Johor Bahru's city center on foot to have my dinner. The guesthouse's owner told me that there was a night market at the city centre. To reach there, I had to walk for 2.3 km. I was very tired, of course, but I didn't have other choice.

The night market. Everything were sold here: street snacks, drinks, clothes, cellphone accessories, and even pets!!!







Beautiful birds, aren't they?


Then I entered a "Mamak" (Muslim Indian) restaurant and buy a plate of "murtabak". The taste was OK but not too good.



Close to the restaurant was an Indian Hindu temple.


Then I realized that I was in the "bronx" area of Johor Bahru. The area is mainly occupied by foreign immigrants: some of them are illegal and always avoiding the police. People here do & talk anything without any manner and polite way.

This things made me want to leave the area immediately, and return to the guesthouse. At the guesthouse, I still had a time to do my usual business in my laptop, then slept peacefully.

OK, that's all for part 3. Let's continue to the next part here.

anak_negeri

Part 4: Crossing the border to Singapore & 3 hours in Orchard Road

May 13th, 2017.

This day I would go home to my lovely place in Jakarta. In the morning, I left the guesthouse and went to city center of Johor Bahru.







Komtar JBCC shopping center.


The Komtar JBCC is connected to CIQ (Custom, Immigration, and Quarantine) complex, and also Johor Bahru's main train station, JB Sentral.



Here I bought the ticket for shuttle train to Woodlands, Singapore, for only MYR 5. It is the fastest way to cross the border, but as the fastest option, the train tickets are quickly sold out. Other options are city buses and cross-border special taxis; both of them must face jams in the Causeway during rush hours.



The boarding process had started, and we made a long queue to wait for passengers from Singapore alighting, and also the immigration check.



The train had been ready in the platform. It was owned and operated by KTM, Malaysian state-owned railway company.



Few minutes later, the train started to cross the border through the Causeway.





The train journey took only 20 minutes. I then alighted at Singapore's only international train station, the Woodlands Checkpoint. Here I had my passport stamped by Singapore immigration authorities. From the checkpoint, I took city bus to Marsiling MRT Station, then continued my journey to Orchard Road by MRT train.



Orchard Road is a popular place for tourists, especially Indonesian visitors. It contained popular shopping spots (Takashimaya, Lucky Plaza, ION, Wisma Atria, etc).





Lucky Plaza, a center of Singapore's Filipino community. Here you can find ads in Tagalog and food stalls selling Filipino dishes. Indonesian visitors also usually visit this place to buy cheap Singaporean souvenirs, especially t-shirts (SGD 10.00 / about USD 7.30 for 4 units), key chains, and fridge magnets.



I spent 3 hours here looking for interesting books in Kinokuniya, a Japanese-based bookstore located in Ngee Ann City.





Then I went back to Lucky Plaza to eat a plate of "bak chor mee" (noodles with minced meat). It tasted nice, but actually I like "mee pok" (another Singaporean-style noodle) more than this.





From the Orchard Road, I went to Changi Airport to catch my flight. Actually there was a direct city bus to reach the airport from Orchard Road, but Singapore's city buses are quite difficult to hop if you don't have "Ezlink" card, as you have to pay the exact fare if you have only cash money. MRT is simpler to hop in that condition. You can buy the ticket on automatic ticket machines and pay by cash.

From Orchard MRT Station, I had to change trains in 2 transit stations: City Hall and Tanah Merah.







Finally I arrived at Changi Airport MRT Station.







Okay, that's all for part 4. Let's continue to part 5.

anak_negeri

Part 5: 2.5 hours in Changi Airport + plane-spotting session

I reached Singapore Changi Airport at around 4.00 p.m. while our flight was scheduled to depart at 6.25 p.m. Yes, Changi Airport's had complete facilities for all passengers, made me want to spend more time here.

The MRT station was on the terminal 3, while our flight would depart from terminal 2.





Terminal 2 check in area. I only spent less than 5 minutes here to print my boarding pass on the self-check-in computer, as I had done the online check-in a night before that.





Here is the boarding pass issued through the online check-in.


Entering the airside. As usual, there were safety and immigration checks.


Still in terminal 2.


The terminal is mainly used by Singapore Airlines group (Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot, Tigerair). That's why sights outside the window were quite boring.


There were more than 90 minutes before boarding, so I decided to move to terminal 1 for a while. To reach there, I had to take the aerotrain.


On terminal 1 I searched a suitable place to see some views on the apron, then the plane-spotting session began.

My 1st shot was an A350 of Finnair.


Another European carrier, Air France. This reminds me to my 1st experience with AF on February 2016 (also my 1st report on FlyerTalk) .


Other sights. I think I don't need to describe these.










I checked my cellphone, and realized that the boarding time was less than 15 minutes again. I decided to return to terminal 2.


On the way to terminal 2, there was an A350 of Singapore Airlines. It was the 10,000th aircraft assembled by Airbus.




Other sights from terminal 2.




OK, let's continue to the next part.

anak_negeri

Part 6: Singapore - Jakarta by Tigerair (TR 2272), Airbus A320

I finally reached the boarding gate, while the boarding process had just started. Sorry for blurry pics, as I was in hurry to board the plane.


Our aircraft ready to fly to Jakarta. Its registration code was 9V-TAT, having been operated since December 2010 (according to FR24).





I proceed to my seat on the last row, and the last row seats could not be reclined too far, perhaps only less than 5 degrees. But I did not have other choice, as in other LCCs, you have to pay if you want to choose your desired seats, and additional costs in Singaporean LCCs (Tigerair and Jetstar) are too expensive compared to, for example, AirAsia.

Outside the window, there was an A330 of Singapore Airlines.


The flight was at full capacity. All seats were occupied. It was Saturday, and 2 days before it was national holiday in Indonesia, the Vesak day (birth, enlightenment, and death of Buddha). That's perhaps the cause. Majority of passengers were Indonesian, but 2 people beside me were Indian Singaporean and talking to each other in Tamil language.

No pictures during take-off process, as I switched off my cellphone. The process was very smooth, and thanks God, the weather was very friendly. Some minutes after take-off, the sun set.


As usual, I did not forget to check anything inside the seat pocket.


"Tiger Tales" magazine. This would be your primary source of entertainment of the flight (other than your own gadgets, of course) as it did not have IFE system.








"Tiger Bites" in-flight meal menu. The prices were too expensive for me, but I guess it was normal for Singaporean. What makes me more disappointed is that they don't offer cheaper price or discount for pre-ordered meal. Same price with the menu.





In-flight shopping catalogue.






A brief snapshot of the cabin.


The lavatory.


The cabin crews started to serve passengers who had buy the pre-ordered meals or want to buy meals and other stuffs. But I did not want to buy anything at that time. They also distributed a Custom Form, compulsory for all passengers entering Indonesia.

I spent rest of time listening to musics in my cellphone before landing. Some minutes before landing, the night lamps of Jakarta city could be seen.




The aircraft landed safely and smoothly on the southern runway of Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Jakarta. The southern runway, the same runway which used by my flight with KLM 2 days before that, was closer to the domestic terminal 1. We needed about 5 minutes to reach the terminal 2.



A Citilink's aircraft ready to take-off.


Passing GMF AeroAsia hangar owned by Garuda Indonesia.


Reaching Terminal 2. A 787 of Japan Airlines just landed from Tokyo. Its main rival, ANA, was in its left side.


Time to leave the plane. This was my seat.




Final shot of the plane.


On the other side was a Turkish Airlines just arrived from Istanbul.


After leaving the plane, I proceed to the immigration counter and baggage claim zone.








Public area of terminal 2.


Finally I took an express bus from the bus stop to my lovely home.






OK, that's all of my story of the Malaysian overland journey. I will write the total cost later if it's necessary, while I've mentioned a brief about the air tickets' price in the 1st post of thread.

Thanks for reading, any feedback and suggestion are appreciated. Please keep supporting me so that I can write other next reports on FlyerTalk.

Thank you. Terima kasih. Xie xie. Kamsa hamnida.

anak_negeri

COSTS

AIR TICKETS
- KLM (Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur) = IDR 530,000 (USD 40.00)
- Tigerair (Singapore-Jakarta) = IDR 415,000 (USD 31.00)

LAND TRANSPORTS
- Damri Bus (Gambir-Soekarno Hatta Airport) = IDR 40,000 (USD 3.00)
- Sinar Jaya Bus (Soekarno Hatta Airport-Cileungsi) = IDR 50,000 (USD 3.75)
- Jetbus (KL Airport-TBS Terminal) = MYR 11.00 (USD 2.50)
- Billion Stars Bus (TBS-Kuantan) = MYR 28.00 (USD 6.50)
- SP Bumi Bus (Kuantan-Johor Bahru) = MYR 30.80 (USD 7.15)
- KTM Shuttle Train (Johor Bahru-Singapore) = MYR 5.00 (USD 1.15)
*I did not record the fares of Rapid Kuantan, Johor Bahru City Bus, and Singapore MRT

ACCOMODATION
- Memory Guesthouse, Johor Bahru = MYR 33.00 (USD 7.70)