After this holiday, I can clearly articulate why travelling is my cup of tea.

I expected the trip to Johor Bahru to be a frightful bore, but oh man, did it awaken a different side of my personality.

I have probably outgrown the pandan tarts from Oriental Kopi (so sweet!), but one bite of the sambal chilli that came with the nasi lemak made me fall in love hard. It was a great and irreplaceable homage to my chilli-loving Singaporean roots, something that even the best wasabi and mustard in Japan couldn’t satisfy.

Then, when I stepped into Padini, my heart practically shrieked with delight at the sight of so many witty Chinese puns on its T-shirts. I could have just grabbed the 我对酒有责任 off the racks, but only managed to restrain myself because 酒 is a word I don’t want to teach my son so soon.

Eventually, I did become so smitten by the 好运到 jogger that I grabbed it from the rack and proceeded to join the snaking queue. Omg! Did I tell you that my son was chosen to perform lion dance during his graduation ceremony? This jogger suited him to a T, and it cannot be purchased in Singapore!!!

All of a sudden, 1.5 hours of queueing to cross the Singapore-Malaysia causeway disintegrated into smithereens, much like soap bubbles.

I love red, spiciness, clever Chinese wordings on t-shirts - something that I wouldn’t have fully realised if it weren’t for Johor Bahru. I love that this dormant side of me is satisfied here.