Kota Tinggi, Johor Bahru

My old friend Norani, who just came back this time, for good, from the US, invited me to attend her brother’s wedding. Her description of her hometown was ‘Kampong’ or an old Malay village. I and my old friend Jona were expecting a barrio ambiance and a chaotic transport system, but Kota Tinggi showed us the opposite.

Kota Tinggi is a cute little town in Johor, Malaysia. It’s an Asian version of Herndon in Virginia—progressive, calm, clean, with no transportation, with 1 to 3 people walking on the streets, and definitely not crowded, yet it has the spark that attracts people to visit.

The streets were wide, clean and very calm. Despite having a variety of shops, old coffee houses and restaurants, huge malls and air-conditioned supermarkets, it was still a glee to spot people walking around. Our theory was that In Kota Tinggi, everyone drives their own car.

We explored the town the day before the wedding, and we loved it even more. The trip to the Kota Tinggi waterfalls was like old-time movie scenery, with a dusty, unpaved, winding road covered with huge trees, green plains, and mountains. The most amazing experience was our Firefly River Cruise. Looking at the brown river, I imagined a giant anaconda and reptiles underneath. The cruise started at 7 p.m., and the boat brought us to the uninhabited area, where there were no lights, not even a flash of a camera. We waited, and suddenly fireflies started showing up and giving us a great show of lights. It was one of the most amazing nature trips; that portion of the river was twinkling like Christmas lights. We actually forgot ghost stories and folklore about fireflies as guardians of a giant tikbalang (demon horse).

It was a good reunion of old friends. I got to meet her family, whom I knew from her stories back in the States. I got to meet her loving parents, her brother and his family from Shanghai, China, and experienced the Malay traditional wedding, Malay generosity and the Malay Kampong spirit (Bayanihan to Filipinos) during the wedding. They had put up a lovely tent just outside their house, grandly decorated. There were three wedding ceremonies: the traditional ones happened in the bride’s house; the next was at the groom’s; and finally, the modern, non-traditional wedding vibes were at the hotel with family and friends. All scheduled on different days within the 2-week wedding ceremony. The first and second ceremonies were both 24-hour community weddings, with neighbors and technically everyone in the town can drop by, help with preparations and during the ceremony, and celebrate and greet their best wishes to the newlyweds. How lovely, isn’t it?

Enjoy Kota Tinggi’s calmness!

  the town center the wedding giveaways – egg and juice for fertility the firefly river cruise  old chinese restaurant  the ‘chocolate’ river     Kota Tinggi at night, view from the cruise Look how peaceful it is   They were making Borasak, rice with coconut  juice  The taste was perfectly sweet, like a cream roll