malaysia and singapore are quite close to each other with the bigger country just north to the city-state. if my brother and i only wanted the malaysian stamp on our passports, we could have opted to visit some part in malaysia that's 1 hour away by bus but instead, we opted to pay a quick visit to the malaysian capital, kuala lumpur which is a gruelling 5-hour bus journey.
there are a lot of bus companies that ply the singapore to kuala lumpur route. you only have to pick the ultimate one that can give you the cheapest deal. we scheduled to go to kuala lumpur on a sunday and we promptly bought
our tickets on the friday before that or else, we could be rushing
along with the local weekenders.
aside from our cousins saving us from an all-night airport ordeal, we again owed to them for bringing us to the right location where a lot of bus companies start their journey to malaysia. the place is called the golden mile complex where several travel agencies can also be found. we first inquired one travel agency but their bus schedule would not fit to our plan of 1 day in kuala lumpur. they have the 7am bus to kuala lumpur but the last trip from malaysia's capital is at 3pm. definitely not cool. and the quoted rates were way higher than the amount we could meagerly allot.
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| Starmart Express Bus in Kuala Lumpur |
then, i remembered the bus company that i found during the time when i was eagerly making our itinerary. i remembered their bus schedule that makes 1 day in kuala lumpur viable and their rates are within our budget. with much confidence on my memory that time, i strongly believed that the bus company is also in the area.
i mouthed the name of the company which didn't ring a bell to my cousin nor to his wife. i was beginning to doubt when the first few agencies that we saw bore no sign of the name i suggested. the name sounded not real because it's the same name as the 24-hour convenience shop exclusive for caltex gasoline station in Phl. yes if you're familiar, the name that i was able to recall that time was starmart. starmart, hmmm.
then, in the middle of the establishments lining up in the first floor of the building, the starmart express signage gleamed with much hope for me! my memory was absolutely in celebratory state that time!
Starmart Express
Singapore -> Kuala Lumpur 7:15AM
Kuala Lumpur -> Singapore 11:00PM*
since we booked the round trip tickets, we only had it for S$55/person. the one-way rate is originally at S$30/person and a total discount of S$10 for the two round trip tickets was something we were too grateful for.
*we're supposed to book the 9:00PM bus but in a matter of few minutes, there were no seats available according to the woman behind the computer. she even swore to us that there were indeed available seats while we were talking. anyway, all's well that ends well. :)
for online booking, schedule and more, here's the starmart website.
o-O
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