July 26, 2016.
Thanks God, I woke up safely today. I went to the hostel's lounge to have a free breakfast. Only 2 slices of bread with peanut jam.
While I was enjoying the breakfast, a bad news came. My AirAsia flight from Singapore to Jakarta tonight was rescheduled from 6.30 p.m. to 8.45 p.m. I just worried, if I arrived in Jakarta very late, I couldn't catch the bus to go home. But at least I would have more time in Johor Bahru and Singapore.
Time to check-out. From the hostel, I went to Larkin Terminal. Actually I waited for a bus to Legoland and Hello Kitty Town, but it didn't come. So I decided to go to Johor Bahru city centre. I took the Maju bus no. 208. When I entered the bus, I was surprised that the audio was playing an Indonesian "dangdut" music.
The bus stopped at JB Sentral, a main bus stop at Johor Bahru city center. It was surrounded by JB Sentral Train Station, 2 shopping centres (City Square & Komtar JBCC), and Bangunan Sultan Iskandar immigration complex, an immigration post before leaving Malaysia and entering Singapore across the Causeway.
Then I entered Komtar JBCC to "cool" myself a little bit. There was "Angry Birds Activity Park" here, something like an indoor activity zone. But I didn't enter, the ticket was expensive.
Lunch time. I decided to have a lunch at Komtar JBCC's foodcourt. There was a Mamak (Muslim Indian) stall. Actually I wanted a briyani, but the waiter said that it was not ready. So I ordered a fish curry with plain rice.
Then I left the mall, entering the immigration complex to have my passport stamped.
From the immigration building, I took the Causeway Link bus to cross the causeway, entering Singapore. It was not in the rush hour so that the immigration queue was not very long. There was no problems about my passport in both Malaysia and Singapore immigration.
From the Woodlands Immigration Complex, Singapore, the bus reached Kranji MRT Station. Then I took the MRT train to Orchard Road, where I would buy some stuffs for my family and friends.
Orchard Road was a popular tourist destination in Singapore with famous shopping centres (Tang's Palace, ION, Paragon, Ngee Ann City, Lucky Plaza, Wisma Atria, etc.).
To find cheaper goods and souvenirs, I prefered Lucky Plaza. Here we could buy 3-4 t-shirts with only S$ 10. Lucky Plaza was also a popular gathering place for Filipinos working/residing in Singapore. Everywhere we could see signs and ads in Tagalog, even there were some Filipino food stalls here.
From Lucky Plaza, I took a direct bus to Changi Airport. The bus went through Suntec City, and we could also see Singapore Flyer and Marina Bay Sands building.
Before entering Changi Airport, there were signs showing the airport's terminal numbers and airlines.
Finally our bus arrived at Changi Airport Terminal 3's basement.
At the terminal 3's basement, I bought my lunch at the food court. I requested to "tapao" (take away), and I would eat it later before boarding.
From terminal 3, I went directly to the departure hall of terminal 1 by a people mover. When I passed the AirAsia check in counter, another bad news came. My flight was delayed again to 9.30 PM. Oh my God. Never mind, I would have more time in this amazing airport.
No need to check in. I had done the online check in. Here is my boarding pass.
Then I went straight to the immigration counter to have my passport stamped. Before that, there was a security check. In the airside area, I requested the Wi-fi password, so I still could continue my online business, because I didn't buy Singaporean SIM cards. While waiting for my cellphone & laptop batteries charged, there was an interesting sight outside the window. Yes, the KLM PH-BVP which took me to Kuala Lumpur 2 days ago. It was serving AMS-SIN-DPS Denpasar route. Besides that, there were also another carriers like Jetstar, Thai AirAsia, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, etc.
There was still very much time, so I moved to terminal 3, the newest and maybe the most crowded terminal. There were more carriers parked here, but Singapore Airlines were dominant. More facilities here than in terminal 1, even there was a movie corner.
Back to terminal, I went straight to the gate, but it was still closed. I had to wait about 40 minutes before it opened. Another security check took place here, stricter than at the immigration counter before.
Boarding schedule shown on the monitor was 9.30 p.m., but the aircraft had just arrived at 9.35. Its registration code was PK-AZG.
Behind it were Cathay Pacific, British Airways, and Emirates, while there was an Air France aircraft at the Cathay's left side. Seeing the AF reminded me of my journey with AF last February. That was in my 1st report.
Time to boarding. Entering the aircraft, we were greeted by Indonesia AirAsia cabin crews with "fresh" faces. Then I reached my seat at the window side. The take-off process was quick without long queue. At 10.15 p.m., the aircraft flew to the sky. Ten minutes later, we entered a bad weather situation, but only for around 7 minutes. After that, cabin crews started serving pre-ordered meals to those who had bought them by online. While they were serving meals, the cabin crews also explained the reason of our flight delay. That was because our president Mr Joko Widodo and his presidential jet was in Yogyakarta airport, so the area had to be sterilized.
The luggage compartment was decorated by an advertisement of a "white coffee" product, starring Lee Min-Ho, a popular idol of Korean TV series, especially by the "Boys Over Flowers" series. There was still a long time for landing, I decided to read their "3Sixty". There were 2 versions, a Malaysia version, and Indonesia AirAsia version, with different contents.
Finally the aircraft arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Terminal 3, at 10.50 p.m, and parked beside a Garuda Indonesia. No aerobridge, so we had to use a bus to reach Terminal 3 building. There was still a queue for immigration, then my passport was stamped. Here at the airport I had a dinner while waiting for my bus taking me to my home.
30 minutes later, the bus arrived, and reached my home around 1 hour 30 minutes later.
This is the summary of my trip with AirAsia.
OK, that's my report for now. I'm sure I will wrote another reports here.
Thank you for reading.