Things to Do in Johor Bahru in May

The boat slips onto the Kota Tinggi river after dark. Nothing but water sounds and the thud of your own pulse. Then the mangrove wall lights up: thousands of fireflies flashing in perfect rhythm, green sparks copying themselves on the black water.

Be on the forest track outside Desaru at dawn. Cicadas crank up, then hornbills slice overhead, their wings whooshing like banners. The guide whistles back to a barbet, points out a nightjar frozen on a branch, hands you a cup of weak coffee while trogons call from the high leaves.

Night in the Desaru mangroves is pure noir. The boat noses between black walls of bakau roots, spotlight picking out a croc's orange eyes, a mudskipper frozen mid-flop. Engine off, darkness swallows you. Then fireflies ignite, their glow doubled in the mirror-calm water.

Low tide at Desaru exposes a rock shelf that was underwater six hours earlier. Sea anemones feel like slick lips, hermit crabs swap shells in plain sight, and tiny gobies defend puddles. The biologist guide flips a stone, shows you a biscuit-coloured starfish, then makes you smell the air: salt, iodine, life.

Four hours straight up the North-South Expressway Johor Bahru to Kuala Lumpur. Oil-palms give way to forested hills, then the capital's towers rise. A private car means air-con, your playlist, and a durian stop in Seremban if you fancy.

One day, two countries, three worlds. Start at Singapore's border, cross into Johor Bahru, and within minutes you are inside Sultan Abu Bakar Mosque staring at Victorian tiles. Next, a wet market: blood, brine, and the city's best curry puff. Modern malls flash past, then a Hindu temple where incense sticks perfume the traffic fumes. The guide handles passports, you just walk.