Poem: Walking Along Johor-Singapore Causeway

Walking Along Johor-Singapore Causeway by Vincent Teh

The bus terminal is noisy,

A sea of people are queuing,

Waiting for buses impatiently.

The bus terminal is sweaty,

The buses are honking,

Emitting fumes and heat endlessly.

The queues are long and winding,

Till no end to be seen,

What a congested condition they are in.

The people are perspiring,

Being confined like canned sardine,

Not a snug condition they are in.

Darkness is engulfing the land,

But the queues do not move and

They seem to have no end.

Uncertain of when will the waiting end,

Many people decide not to wait and

Walk from the bus terminal to the other end.

The pedestrians start to flock to the causeway

With shining streetlights along the way 

On the Straits of Johor with sea breeze blowing.

Walking along the roadside of the causeway

Sweat is dripping as the pores fail to give way

Albeit the sea breeze is blowing.

I can imagine the hardship Malaysian workers bear

To get up early and travel across the congested causeway

To earn more money in Singapore every day.

I can imagine the sacrifice they must bear

To waste their time and travel across the congested causeway

To go back to Johor Bahru and have a rest every day.

Though I don't face it every day,

I can imagine how frustrated and weary they can be

Because of the crowded bus terminal.

The sea breeze is still blowing along the causeway,

I am now walking to the border of Singapore wearily

Because of the crowded bus terminal.

***

I was inspired to write this poem on a return trip from my hometown to Singapore after my short holiday when I was surprised to be caught in a congested bus terminal at Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex, Johor Bahru. I needed to take a bus to go to Woodlands Checkpoint, the border of Singapore. It was between 7 and 8 o'clock in the evening then.

To travel between Johor Bahru and Singapore by road transport, such as bus and car, one of the ways is to travel across Johor-Singapore Causeway from CIQ to Woodlands Checkpoint.

However, based on the situation in the bus terminal, I might be taking forever to get on a bus, so I decided to walk across the causeway before I could wind down after an 8-hour journey.