hafizbam

The ultimate combination of wanting to eat something different, yet cheap, and at the same time wanting to explore the Causeway Link CW3 bus service ultimately led me and Faizal to set aside some Saturday last month to go ahead with the CW3 exploration – wherever it would take us.

So armed with some RMs and passport, we made our way down to Jurong East Interchange and queued for the 10AM bus, which turned out to be…

this particular Mercedes Benz bus with some funky looking bodywork lols.

It was Faizal’s first ever venture into Malaysia after ages, so as expected, he was like a blur sotong. Point to take note: DO NOT DILLY-DALLY. The Malaysians have an advantage at the JB checkpoint so they clear their checks quickly using the self-service machines so they can get back onto the bus faster. And yes, the bus crosses the Tuas Second Link bridge, NOT the Woodlands Causeway.

After rushing him through both immigration checkpoints, we were already back in our bus – seated, thankfully – on the way to the first major stop for the bus service – Gelang Patah Interchange. Which is actually a simple no-nonsense buspark-cum-taxipark for making transfers to other services like Causeway Link’s 666. After like 5 minutes of waiting, we were back on the roads to our ultimate destination – Taman Bukit Indah.

But our target wasn’t the residential estate itself. It was the shopping centre there. My research told me that the bus terminal was just next to the shopping mall. But being first timers there, we decided to alight the moment we saw this:

Which is actually the back of this:

Welcome to AEON Bukit Indah, the latest shopping mall across the causeway. It’s three storeys of shops end to end, but don’t expect it to be some VivoCity.

So this is the first thing you see when you enter from the main entrance (I saw a side entrance which led to Jusco).

And then we started walking around…

So basically this is an enlarged version of a shopping mall catered to the needs of the immediate residents staying nearby, though the new residential estates are pretty much still under construction. Don’t expect high-end fashion labels here. The basic shops like Giordano, Bossini, SK Jewellery and The Body Shop are all on the ground floor (which, in Singapore terms, is the first level).

The second floor however, is a woman’s paradise. Almost 70% of the shops there are all shoe shops! And we all know every shoe shop has like 80% of the shoes catered to women, the rest for men, or even none at all. So do exercise caution if you are bringing your girl/wife along. They might spend a bit of time there.

The third floor is mainly for kids/teens/others. Others as in shops which do not really belong here nor there haha. There’s a small arcade (and by small, I really mean small) which should be a good place for the guys to kill time while the ladies try out their shoes.

The anchor tenant for the mall is Jusco hypermart. Equivalent to an enlarged Cold Storage-cum-Giant offerings. So the prices may not necessarily be very cheap, but still attractive to the Singaporean shopper.

So where do you go when you are hungry and tired from all that walking? To the Restaurant Street of course!

It’s basically one whole row of food, food and food. From your typical KFC to familiar names like Kenny Rogers and BBQ Chicken and some cool restaurants never seen in Singapore. There should be something for every tastebud. Oh, it’s on the ground floor by the way. And the best thing? All of them are Halal-certified

Do you see what I see?

It’s A&W! So yeah, this was basically THE reason that pushed me and Faizal to finally just try out the CW3 because it conveniently led us to this A&W fastfood outlet, one of two in JB.

So I wanted to get their normal offerings but they were having this promotion for a new burger called the Volcano burger. The posters make the burger look very nice. And they added the word SPICY. So that was enough for me to go ahead and try it out.

And boy was it spicy!!! Basically it’s chicken. With onion. And some other stuff. Haha who cares what they are as long as it tastes nice right?

And poor Faizal was still waiting for his food even after I’m done taking photos of my food. So I got to eat his onion rings

So overall, I would give this mall a 3.5 stars out of 5. One point deducted for tha lack of a cinema – a crucial entertainment factor which could have been included at the upper floors. Layout was good and obviously easy to navigate. Choice of shops was okay, considering this isn’t meant to be another City Square. There’s a website for it too, though it does not really help much lols.

Accessibility is not too bad. Bus CW3 brings you direct to the mall from Jurong East in about an hour or so. There are plenty of other local bus services which can get you to the Bandaraya City Square area (which is where the Causeway to Woodlands is), though they may require you to do some walking. So overall, yea, worth a visit even if you are not within the vicinity.

And so, after filling a very satisfied stomach, we were ready to proceed on with our JB exploration. Do stay tuned for my take on the other shopping mall that we went to – AEON Tebrau City.