BATAM TRIP 2015

Made our short getaway trip to Batam, last month. It's our second trip together but sadly, Huda can't make it so it was only the four of us. Its our first trip with Kiki, though :) 

Planned for this trip about a month before the day itself and i'm so happy that everything went smoothly! 

Booked our ferry tickets (return trip) by Sindo Ferry and it only cost us $48 which is definitely cheap but you can also try other ferry services like Batam Fast or Wavemastsr as they have different kind of promotions every time. Just survey on it first and check for the cheapest price that is available. We booked the ferry that will stop us at Batam Center International Ferry Terminal since our hotel is just located right next to it.

The last time i visted Batam was in 2009 and i was only 13 at that point of time. Batam has changed, A LOT (or maybe its just me that feels like it changed tremendously.) Our hotel is just located right next to Batam Center. It is so convenient for us as we don't need to spend extra money just to travel to our hotel. 

Harris Hotel (4 Stars) was our pick this time round. I was the one who booked the hotel via Bookings.com. The hotel itself has one of the highest ratings among all other hotel in that area. In total, the hotel cost us approximately $254 (including tax) so if you convert it to Rupiah, its only RP 2,217,000. Each of us only forked out $60 for hotel (2 nights)

We arrived around 1pm (Indonesia Time) and checked in immediately because our room was ready! We chose the connecting room as it will be easier for us to move around if we need anything from each other. After an hour of resting, we head out to start our ADVENTURE! 

First stop: NAGOYA HILL SHOPPING MALL

First things first, A&W for late lunch! Nom nom nom! Its been a long time since i crave for A&W! After our lunch, we bought some snacks and shopped around at Matahari but nothing caught my eyes...so i didn't shop for clothes, yet *grins*

 Next, our driver, Pak Dody drove us to the nearest and popular spa called The Spa Secret to book our spa session for the next day. I chose the Warm Chocolate Massage and paid a deposit of RP 100,000 ($10.50) and the total amount was RP 360,000. I will go on to the spa session later on below...

Back to the hotel and rest for the day :-) and oh, i loooooveeee time difference! Everything felt so slow in Batam. I don't have to think about work at all! 

Day 2! 

Rise & Shine! We decided to stay in the hotel till 1pm and had our lunch at Batam Center before meeting our driver and go for our spa session! The journey from our hotel to the place itself is only 15-20 minutes. 

The Spa Secret, Batam. 

Located near Nagoya Hill, one of the most popular spa spots in Batam, based on TripAdvisor (i did my homework before the trip, heh.) 

After browsing the catalogue again, i decided to settle down for two treatments, the Warm Chocolate Massage and a Foot Reflexology. In total, i paid RP 570,000 ($39-$40) for a 3 and a half hours of RELAXATION! The massage was indeed a great one, i needed it soooo badly after so much standing at work and after all those (i call it) "internship tiredness" haha. The foot reflexology was nice and ticklish at some point of time but i am used to it already so no problem. After the treatments have ended, they served us Ginger tea to clear all our winds in the body, lol. I ABSOLUTELY recommend The Spa Secret if you really need a good massage when you're in Batam.

Feeling refreshed and rejuvinated, i asked Pak Dody to drive us to a street stall that sells all the dried fruits because my mum asked me to buy some for her. Everything was so cheap and delicious. Since we started our day late, by the time everything ended, it was time for dinner. We had dinner at Golden Prawn (requested by Kiki) and it was the best and cheap seafood dinner after a massage. What I like the most about this restaurant is that, they allow you to catch your own fish, prawns, crabs and more. It means, YOU GET TO CHOOSE THE PORTION!! And obviously, i chose the biggest crab for my Black Pepper and Chilli Crab...ahhh *drools* The prawns we 're a bit to small that it feels like we're chewing on crackers instead of prawns. The dinner cost us RP 880,000 ($80-$90) 

Before we head back to the hotel, my two friends who craved for Banana Fritters with Cheese (Goreng Pisang Cheese), decided to ask Pak Dody to stop somewhere so they can go and find their cravings. Pak Dody was so kind to help us to bargain the price for the banana fritters, 3 boxes for only RP 40,000 ($4-$5)

Since it was already late night, we made a quick stop at Batam Center Mega Mall to see what we can buy and the only thing that i got from Matahari was a palazzo pants and a shirt, thats it... :) i am so proud of myself that i did not splurge on any other things! *taps on my shoulder* 

Day 3

SWIMMING DAY! I excitedly woke Rynne up at 9am so that we can go swimming before checking out!

We spend most of the time on our last day at the hotel lobby and pool after checking out and walked around Mega Mall for the last meal of the trip...A&W as requested by yours truly, me :-) haha! 

And then, it was time to hop on to the ferry and go home. 

In total, I spent $250 for my Batam trip and I had fun on this trip! Thank you to my two girls and Kiki for the fun times together! Can't wait for more trips together this coming holiday! 

Till next time Batam! 

Much love! 

 

Desaru Trip with Family

Goooood dayyy everyone! 

I actually wanted to blog about this a few months back after the trip itself but i kept on pushing it backwards up till today! 

My family and I made a trip up to Desaru, Malaysia. I can't remember what date it was but all i remember is that it was in early February. The trip was just a short getaway for us. A two days and one night trip. 

We were supposed to stay at Lotus Desaru Resort but since my family members stayed there before, they wanted to try a different resort. So, we stayed at Pulai Desaru Beach Resorts. It is just beside Lotus Desaru. There are two different Pulai Resort. One is the one that i stayed at the other one is Pulai Spring Resort which is way further up.

I rate this hotel a 7/10. The room was spacious(i didn't take a photo of it), the facilities in the room was alright too...the only thing that was lacking is WIFI. The wifi is only available in the lobby which i hated it so much because everytime when i have to answer some important messages, i have to go down just to get wifi. 

We didn't explore around that much because all of us just wanted to sit at the hotel and chill by the beach/pool and we also had our dinner at the restaurant in the resort itself. We had BBQ dinner and i would rate it a satisfactory. We could have enjoyed our dinner more if we travelled out to find food. I actually wanted to sign up for the package that brings us out to see the fireflies at night but none of my family members wants to go so i ended off the night by playing 5 games of pool at the lobby. 

We left the hotel around 1pm and stopped by a shop nearby and everything in that shop is selling at RM2. We spent around RM176 for lots of items and its only less than SGD 75-80!! Worth it! Oh and just a note, there isn't much restaurants or shop in the town of Desaru itself. Most of the restaurants are close when we were searching for lunch before heading back home to Singapore.

Had our lunch/early dinner at a town nearby and we drove back all the way to Singapore. Just a short trip. I would like to try the parasailing and jetski the next time i visit Desaru! 

Till then! 

Visit to Universal Studios Singapore

I ended off the month of February by visiting Universal Studios Singapore with my BAE and my colleagues. The last time that i went into USS was back in 2013 where i used to have the 6 Months Membership USS Student pass.

There are a lot of changes since the last time i was here. Some of the restaurants in Hollywood has been renamed to something else to suit the theme. The Hollywood Rock show is no longer available. They replaced it with a Sesame Street Show since the theatre is near to where the ride is. 

We started off at Hollywood and head down towards Madagascar. It was my first time taking the Madagascar boat ride and it was alright. 

There wasn't much things to do at Madagascar area because most of the rides are for kids so we proceed on to Far Far Away(my favourite place of all) 

We went for the 4D Shrek show and took the smaller rollercoaster that was available, Enchanted Airways. The reason why i love to be at Far Far Away is because....it's like Disneyland but its not, you get what i mean? Like there's a castle and a princess(minus the Ogre side), and of course, a fairy god mother. We didn't get to see any of the characters though because we were busy exploring other places! 

It was a hot sunny day on that day and i can't take the heat so i bought a drink fr the Fairy God Mother Magic Potion shop. Here's me, trying to advertise with the potion bottle and my blackcurrant flavoured slushy!! 

Okay enough of advertising the bottle! We moved on to next place, Jurassic Park. Did the Canopy Flyer ride and then as our ride ended, we saw other guest queing up. They're queing up for the Waterworld Show. Since it was almost lunch time, we decided to watch the show before we head on for lunch! The show was alright, maybe because i've watched it for several times already? 

We were supposed to have lunch but then we decided to just finish up all the rides at Jurrasic Park first. 

Lunch time!! We had our lunch at Goldilocks Restaurant. Mmm yes, chicken! I got to admit that the fried chicken at Goldilocks is really yummy. A place to be recommended! Like i said earlier on, the weather was extremely hot and i was wearing a black shirt so i couldn't take it. I bought a simple white shirt to change to(best feeling ever!). 

After lunch, all of us decided not to go to the Mummy Rollercoaster Ride. For safety and health reasons, you do not want to ride a rollercoaster after meal. It'd be a disaster! We walked around New York City, explored and took some pictures, head to Sci Fi City and after a ride at Elmo Save The Spaghetti and Transformers ride, we finally walked down towards The Revenge Of The Mummy area! 

While we were walking toward Revenge of The Mummy, the Hollywood Parade has already started so we only got a glimpse of some characters. 

Here comes the best part of all! MUMMY ROLLERCOASTER RIDE! Ahhh my favourite ride of all besides the Battlestar Galatica Rollercoaster(which was close at that point of time) only 5 of us took the ride and the rest didn't. Nabilah, Wani and I took a total of 3 mummy rides. I wish i could do more but by the time the last ride ended, i was already giddy! 

Our energy level was draining out so fast so we finally had the time to walk around the park and shop for some items. We ended off our day by watching the fireworks at Lake Hollywood and walked all the way from Sentosa to Vivocity.  Everyone was already drained out and all of us took a cab home. 

It was a fun trip! I can't wait for more and i also can't wait to be back again when the Battlestar Galatica Rollercoaster is back on track!  Make it fast! 

Graduation 2015

Finally after two years, i can say that i've completed my journey in ITE. The journey was a rollercoaster ride.

I still remember how disappointed i was when i was told that the only option that i have to continue my studies is by going into ITE (Institute of Technical Education). I've always told myself before that "i will not want to enter ITE, EVER." People have said that the school is for teenagers who just can't study and its all called as a "gangster" school. Well at least that's what i know before this! My mum was disappointed too because of my N Level results and i know she is more disappointed with the fact that i am admitted to ITE. I nearly took Private 'O' Levels at that point of time because i could foresee myself dropping out of the school but guess what...

ITE isn't that bad as what people think it is!! I made new friends, i learned a LOT of things during my two years in ITE. I have the best lecturers EVER. They are just so caring towards each and every single one of us and they are the ones who keeps on pushing us to study hard and keep on striving till the very end! Personally speaking, i feel that ITE has made myself more disciplined. Since i'm in a Business Course, everything is just so strict! 

Like i say earlier on, this ride is just like another rollercoaster ride. School is fun with all the amazing friends (which i lost some on the way...) apart from the hard assignments given. I can say that i enjoyed my two years in ITE. 

Now that i've ended my journey in ITE, its not that i do not want to continue for a Higher Nitec course, its just that i am going to pursue in a tourism course and i'm going to take a private Diploma soon. I think that is the best decision i can ever make for myself now. 

I would like to thank everyone who made my journey in ITE a fun one. All those laughters, jokes we made in class, will never be forgotten. All the best to all of you in your next chapter of life and may our friendship last forever! 

Here are some pictures that i managed to  snap during the ceremony. It was so chaotic! 

19th Birthday Celebration

Before i start sharing with you about how my 19th birthday celebration went, i would like to make a BIG thank you to my Kendall Jenner, my BAE, Nabilah Atikah for all the efforts and work you did to make my 19th Birthday a blast! 

It all started early in the morning on 18th of January 2015. I was told to follow her to East Coast Park to meet her parents for a picnic session. I was nervous because i've never met her family before. She fetched me from home and we made our way to East Coast Park. 

I didn't have any weird feelings or thinking of anything fishy at that point of time until....we walked to one of the hut/pavilion. I was blank because i didn't see any food? I didn't see any drinks? All i could see was these four girls squatting down and before i start to guess who, it was my colleagues, Aisyah, Kaka, Wani and Hawa! 

I WAS SHOCKED AND SPEECHLESS. They bought cakes, foods and balloons for me. I was so happy and all we did was spend time at ECP, took lots of photos before we head to Festive Hotel for another birthday celebration(not mine) of my colleague.  

Made our to Festive Hotel and chilled out with the rest of my colleagues. Hanged around and played games, laugh at the jokes and more! 

After the main "birthday girl" came and we suprised her with cakes and presents, again, i didn't know anything, they asked me to turn around and they bought me a rainbow cake with my face on it! All thanks to Nabilah and my colleague who planned it! 

After all those celebration, we head to Liang Court and karaoked all the way till late night. I went home early because i was so tired and i spent the whole day being outside! 

I had a total of three celebrations for my 19th Birthday! The last celebration was with my friends, we had Seoul Garden! Nabilah did it again by blindfolding me for the suprise! 

It was indeed a very nice and wonderful celebration for my 19th Birthday! Thank you to all of you who was involved in planning for my special day! Big thanks to my Nabilah Atikah and the rest of my babygirls for everything. Thank you everyone! I will definitely cherish all the gifts and love you guys forever!