my com is infected with a virius. no doubt about it. it all started with the download of football manager because gerald sng gui ren wouldn't lend me the installation disk despite me asking him for it since last year. now, i keep getting some c++ error, ads providing me with links to websites with nude photos of celebrities keep replacing those of ladsbroke and bet365.com on soccernet. general mayhem. worse, the antivirus software is unable to scan my c drive so it cannot eradicate the virus.

went to johor today for a short, 8 hours shopping/eating trip. took a bus from kranji mrt, from where you could see the massive and long queue of trucks waiting to cross the border. the queue is seriously damn long. we took the bus to woodlands town centre, where the roads are so clogged up with buses, trucks and cars that the traffic stopped moving. normally u can take the bus into the checkpoint, then reboard it to cross the causeway, then alight at the malaysian customs. this itme, we just alighted when the bus stopped due the gargantuan traffic at woodlands town centre, where crawling would be a more efficient mode of transport.

so we walked for about 10-15mins, weaving in and out of the town centre, seeing a shengsiong supermarket in the middle of a deserted and dark building, before finally reaching customs. at customs it was quite fast, as regular walking border-crossers will know, they have this coolio machine where singaporean citizens who are above 16 yrs of age can scan their passports, then proceding to the next gantry where u scan ur thumbprint, before clearing customs.

we found out about this the last time we went johor, and the last time my 13 yr old brother also used the gantry, and got jacked. the reason they limited its use to 16 years and above is because people would have made their ics by then and when u do so they have your thumbprint in the system and can verify the scanned one against their records. the last time we did it, my brother got through the passport scanning stage, and proceded to the thumbprint gantry, before the crash barrier which opened to let him in closed behind him, and the one in front of him didn't open. the machine didn't even bother asking him to put his thumb at the scanner, immediately just sounding the alarm for the custom officers to rescue him.

the same thing happened this time. obviously, he needs more than a bite to be even remotedly shy.

i told him before that he's just going get jacked at the machine, because it simply won't let him pass, then i will just sit there and laugh at him. he just told me never mind one, cause he finds it fun.

fun? of course fun. when the person that gets scolded is not you but your mother.

today, the officer oppened the gantry, let him pass and asked him to proceed to the counter. then he asked him," where's your mother" my mother promptly walked over, and the first thing the officier said to her was," you don't know how to read english ah? only 16 years and above then can use." see, i told you so. fortunately, my brother didn't do it again on the way back.

so after clearing customs, after a stopover for prata which tasted like dough, we went to taman sentosa,which was the main reason for our trip. the buying of malacca mee sua and muar otah. the mee sua is rather unique. when my mother first cooked it and mixed it with ketchup and a little oil on the plate i thought she cooked spaghetti. the otah, is just the king. the last time we went there my mother bought 11 =_=. i remember on the way home the customs officer asked me whats in that big plastic bag which they couldn't tell its contents from the x-ray scan.

and then we went to THE STORE. yup thats the name. how apt. THE STORE. and so the shopping began. i was trying on shirt after shirt and i cannot remember how much time i spent in the chaning room.

to cut a long story short, here's what i gained from today.

-2 t-shirts
-2 polo t-shirts
-a orange-green b.u.m. belt
-a pair of orange-green b.u.m. sneakers
-a pair of white with blue lacing bu.m. sneakers for school use

the shoes cost 50 and 60 ringgit respectively. and no, i did not buy the belt and shoes from the same store.

but the highlight must certainly be dinner at 3pm. damn king. we ate at some hongkong char chum teng again, similar to the one i frequent rather often with 4K. here's the breakdown of what we ate.

-3 lunch sets of fried rice with sweet and sour pork and vegetables, with servings of fruits, soups and tea. very worth it.
-a dumpling la mein
-1 almond tea
-one waffle with chocolate sauce, peanut butter and butter, topped with 3 scoops of icecream
-1 beef instant noodle

total cost: 63 ringgit
in sin$: $28
pax: $7

worth it? definitely. delicious? owns the taka one. consperm. and i heard they have this milo dinosaur thing in which the cup is the container we use to store new year cookies. absolutely gigantic. daniel tay would NOT be able to finish it on his own with space for a main course.

throw in cheap, bargain shopping, the perfect excursion is here. so, a day trip to johor 4K?

i forgot, in johor u can order dvds and console games, and get them to deliver to singapore for you.