Gaaah! I’m back. Sorry for being away for such a long time. Had been really busy with work and stuffs, in fact, there are more to come… : s

Anyway, I am really surprised to see friends tagging my blog! Very happy! But I wonder… where did they get the address from? I don’t think I’ve told them. Shall clarify when I see them.

About the CIQ… I am actually back in Batu Pahat now for the weekend cum work cum KL shopping. So in order for me to get home, I had to go through the newly opened checkpoint of Johor which they call it CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quaratine complex). Ever since it started its operation on the 16th of December, you can see various negative reports in the papers. Yesh, both Singapore and Malaysia newspapers. And I am pretty lucky to be able to experience it myself today (technically yesterday).

Firstly… Extra-long way from the Causeway to the CIQ. Both the JB and Woodlands checkpoints used to be connected by the Causeway but no longer, as there is another extra long and bendy flyover coming after the Causeway. Tortous it can be, for the vehicles, what’s worse is that, there is no pedestrian walkway for the new road. Now, I can’t even walk over from Woodlands to JB if I’m sick of waiting for buses. Darn!

Secondly… Only 2 vehicle lanes, 1 for bus 1 for cars (WTH!). At the end of the extra-long way, before reaching the complex, the lanes were shrunk into only TWO! Desperate car drivers will attempt to take the bus lane and then try to cross over to the car lane later. This made the way even longer for us, the bus passengers. Imagine people carrying lotsa heavy stuffs gotta stand and endure in a sardine-can bus. Horrible!

Thirdly… 2 times size of Woodlands Checkpoint and irritating autogates. The arrival hall of the new CIQ is 2 times the size of that of Woodlands Checkpoint, long huh? This means that poor uncles and aunties carrying heavy baggage will have to suffer a lil bit more. Finally, after they’ve managed to make their way to the other side of the hall, the irritating autogates await them. The autogates which are supposed to make our life easier, turned out disastrous. The gates open and close in a tortoise-speed in between the arriving passengers. Then for those uncles and aunties who are not so proficient in English, they had big problem understanding the instructions on the screen which asks them to scan their thumbprints. This all slow down everyone. Not forgetting to mention those whose passports were unable to be detected by the gate detector. Lousy!

This is one of the longest way I had in order to go home. I set off around 10am from my place in Singapore and i reached Batu Pahat at guess what…. 3pm!!!

However, undeniably, the new CIQ is pretty classy and ‘beautiful’. Fully equiped with escalators, tourist information kiosks and centre and souvenir store if I’ve not mistaken. Let’s just hope the authority will try to learn from these and make things right soon.

I’m tired… Just got back from work and I gotta wake up early later to eat ‘tang yuan’ and head to KL for our shopping spree…. Till then.