Johor Bahru - Hyatt Regency

From 22 - 24 Nov 2005 I asked to attend the National Workshop for Economic Valuation at Johor Bahru. The flight from Kuching to Johor Bahru was quite a shaky experience, due to the weather. Departing early in the morning at around 8 a.m I arrived in JB at about 10 a.m. This is my first trip to JB. I immediately headed for the Hyatt Regency JB , the venue for the workshop and also the place where I would be staying for the next three days. The Workshop was organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment jointly with PE Research and the Danish Aid Group DANIDA.

There are two ways to reach JB - i did not know the Sultan Ismail Airport (Senai) was quite a distance from the city centre. It would take an hour to reach if you go by bus (the coastal road if its jammed) and if one uses the cab and highway it would take 25 minutes at least. The bus ride will cost RM4 to the City and the Taxi will cost RM40 to reach the hotel. As I was in a rush I took the cab.
How would I rate my three days there? The people at the hotel are extremely friendly - i mean the whole staff ranging from the management to the ordinary staff. I guess they must have been trained well as the Singaporean tourists are quite demanding. The room I got was quite okay - just nice with the TV having almost all the Astro channels - CNN, ESPN, HBO, TV 3 (that's all i need). I am not so critical of the bathroom also - it meets my needs. The facilities there like swimming pool and gymnasium are great, also meeting my standards though I could not use the swimming pool as it was raining almost every evening (after the seminar is over).


The JB bound bus

The airport taxis

The Hotel Room

The work table - the TV is inside the cupboard

Entrance view

The bath room

The seminar was an interesting do as the subject of Environmental Evaluation is something new. We were given a treat to visit Johor Parks .


Seminar

We had our BBQ dinner that night hosted by Mr. Axel the Chief Technical Advisor for the DANIDA Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA). The food - simply marvellous.


Dinner Time

Starters

Dessert

Main course

Main course (Heavy)

Main course: BBQ Meat

Lobster

My take - two dishes, buns, soup Coffee and Juice.... "burp"
I managed to catch a glimse of the famous Causeway linking JB and Singapore. It was during peak hours and the traffic jam was quite bad. I would certainly collapse just by looking at how far the queue lined up. See for yourself.


View towards Singapore

View from JB side

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