Category: Moi Musing – Batam

Nagoya Mansion Hotel & Residence, Batam, Indonesia

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Nagoya Mansion Hotel & Residence, Batam, Indonesia

Our tour package in Batam inclusive of hotel stay. We opted for Nagoya Mansion Hotel & Residence because according to the map, it is very convenient to go to the shopping mall.

Batam Hotels – Nagoya Mansion Hotel & Residence is the newest iconic on the island of Batam, the first to offer residential, hotel and lifestyle facilities in one environment. Other facilities are available to support your business and leisure activities include Meeting Rooms, La Bamba Restaurant, La Brisa Juice Bar, La Brisa Foodpark, Parlente Bar, Swimming pool, La Destino Fitness Centre, Bakery & Pastry Shop.

After the tour, we check-in in the evening. The staffs were friendly and helpful. However, one problem, they were extremely slow in servicing you when you request something from your room. We waited forever for a toilet roll and we ended up took it directly from the housekeeping staff who we bumped into who happened to be pushing the trolley to clean up other rooms while we were on the way out.

The room was spacious and cozy enough.

Basic coffee/tea making facilities were stocked.
Bathroom were also spacious as well with all the basic toiletries available.



Our room is facing the city view. This is how one side of Batam looks like.


They have pool and gym but we didn’t bring anything for these activities. Then again, I don’t think I will dare to swim there in my swimsuit. People are already looking at you one kind with sleeveless and shorts, what’s more in swimsuits -.-”


The breakfast buffet was not too bad. Not too small, not too big.

Next, sharing with you the food that I had. Those food that were supposed to be sweet were really sweet. I couldn’t stand it.

Left: Black glutinous rice waffle which was something interesting to try. It was too sweet for it.
Right: Porridge with all sort of condiments.

Left: Olives!! I just emptied the whole bowl, oppss…
Right: Colourful vegetables at the salad counter.

Left: The very sweet glutinous rice, I couldn’t stomach it after one small spoon.
Right: First time eating and seeing real passion fruit.

Overall, the place is clean enough to stay. The receptionists were very good.

As for walking to the shopping mall, it sure wasn’t a pleasant walk. Road conditions were bad and felt unsafe with all the wolf whistling, staring, and name callings, you will get it as long that you’re a foreigner lady even if you are decently dressed. Luckily there were two of us but we walked really fast and kept observing our surrounding.

Address: Kampung Utama, Jl. Imam Bonjol No.1, Lubuk Baja Kota, Batam Kota, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau 29444, Indonesia

This concludes my Batam trip. It sure is one very different experience. Be thankful with what we have.

Food Porn, Going Places, Moi Musing - Batam, Review It!

Short Getaway at Batam, Indonesia (28-30 Dec 2016) – Part 2

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Short Getaway at Batam, Indonesia (28-30 Dec 2016) – Part 2

Last day of April. Today is Sunday, good thing tomorrow is a public holiday but where did my Saturday go?!? Continuation of my Batam trip.

After hopping on and off the bus to places with very short walking distant, it’s not even 500m! It’s time for lunch.


You can find fresh seafood and also bird nest here. It looks like everywhere we went, there’s always “gold”. Obviously it belongs to the same company/boss. It’s built to cater for the tourists especially the mainland Chinese tourists.



These are some food we had. So-so only. We were seated with the Chinese group, now… I finally experienced first hand! You practically have to act fast to get your food! Otherwise, nothing left. The other table with other middle-aged Singaporeans, there’s a lot of leftover! We had to fight for our food at our table! *LOL* Gosh… Should sit with those uncles and aunties.



After lunch, for those who signed up to the optional activities, they were sent there to play while the rest of us just walked around or just stayed in the bus waiting. There’s a paintball activity which we thought it’s shooting each other but guess what?!?! Hahaha! It’s shooting targets! I would say most of us were caught by surprise and said luckily we didn’t sign up for it.


After the optional activities, we were sent to a batik outlet shop. Again… We went in, one round and came out. That is sure an interesting bottle opener, the only thing that worth sharing heheh…


Left: Honey cake(bika ambon) something everyone raves about when they are in Batam. However, after I tasted it, nuh… I would prefer our honeycomb cake (kek sarang semut). The cake from this shop is so expensive! For tourist that’s why. We found it so much cheaper at the shopping mall.
Right: Admiral Cheng Ho statue… Hmm… I don’t know how to explain.

Next, Batam Miniature House Indonesia. Not far away, just at the compound nearby but we were driven to it hahaha!


Hmm… I’m speechless again… Just took some photos and went back to the bus.


Next activity, go cart. Optional activity, we waited for those playing.

Oh… During the trip, we did visit two shops selling local snacks. Well… Expensive as usual. We eyed what we wanted and decided to hunt it down at the shopping mall in Batam.

Our second last stop was massage session at a local spa. In and out, one group after another. We were told not to give any tips more than SGD2. The masseur tried having small talk with me after found out that I’m Malaysian. She gave me her pity story and hoping I could give her more tips while my friend was being hinted by her masseur that she wanted her to bring her into Singapore or Malaysia to work. Pity for them but I pretended I fell asleep, not listening. I didn’t give any tips at all. Some people will surely said I have no empathy but when in this situation, I would mind my own safety first.

In fact, one of our plans is to indulge in a spa session here but after experiencing what we had during the tour, we were quite wary to go for any the next day. In fact we found a few very professional ones but it’s too expensive, we didn’t bring much money there. So we scrapped the plan.


Left: Something we don’t get at home. Congratulatory message along the road. Very colourful, this is more interesting than the places we went. Just outside the road leading to our hotel*LOL*

Right: Nagoya area, we went to the shopping mall to buy the local snacks, some items, and had our meal here. Not much to buy because this is Indonesia, things can be found in Malaysia and Singapore. For Singaporean, it’s cheap but for us, Malaysians, better go home to buy, our currency is too weak.

We did not get to see the beach which we were given the impression that there should be nice beaches around, well… It’s our own fault. We’re taking a city tour package, where got beach?

Before I end the post, for the ladies, DO NOT wear shorts and/or sleeveless apparels as you will put yourself up to wolf whistling and all sort of uncomfortable/disturbing remarks which we experienced. According to my friend, this is how usually those in the prostitution industry here will wear.

So that concludes my tour in Batam. Will be reviewing the hotel I stayed in the next post.

Going Places, Moi Musing - Batam

Short Getaway at Batam, Indonesia (28-30 Dec 2016) – Part 1

Posted on By sweet surrender No Comments on Short Getaway at Batam, Indonesia (28-30 Dec 2016) – Part 1

Busy April. Too many things going on. Finally get to update my last year’s trip to Batam. Another record broken for not updating for 2 weeks.


It was quite an impromptu decision, no idea where to go. Friend said why not go to Singapore then pop by Batam then back to Singapore for new year’s countdown. That’s how we decided to go to Batam. Found cheap tour package also, why not? I spent less than RM200 there for 3 days 2 night while the return ferry ticket, tour, and hotel room were less than RM300 for 2 pax. We didn’t splurge there too, nothing to buy. We can get them all in Malaysia with cheaper price, better quality, and authenticity guaranteed.

Once we arrived, was caught in surprise that we had to pay potter fee to the potter which we were not informed of to release our check-in luggage. Can’t remember how much though. Our tour guide and bus were there ready waiting for us. We got on the the bus and the tour started.

The itinerary gave us an impression that we were going to many places but hahaha… Felt a bit cheated because it’s all around the corner, hop on and hop off and not what we expected, even just across the street also we got on the bus to be driven over.

I guess Malaysians will not feel that it is anything special because we have it better than here and shopping isn’t as cheap as expected due to our weak currency, they didn’t even want our currency! What’s more, the products at the factory outlets didn’t look genuine to me. I could get genuine ones at Parkson with cheaper price. Read a bit about the place online and had rather high expectations on it but it wasn’t as good as described(well… at least the tourism ministry sure is doing the right thing in terms of marketing though, describe about the place so wellyet it’s not as good as described, maybe we’re on the wrong tour :P). However, looking at the place and the people, it sure did give me a sense of appreciation of what I have back home.


We were grouped with tourists from mainland Chinese as we understand the language. We went to visit Cheng Ho Mosque, nothing much, just a red small mosque, a mosque dedicated to Cheng Ho, we didn’t go in but just stopped for a quick photo. Next, we stopped by chocolate shop, again… bought nothing, went in one round, out we went back into the bus, we would get all these in Malaysia, cheaper…


Kueh lapis, if you are from Sarawak, you won’t bother hahah! I tried it, I prefer ours. It’s so expensive here also! You can get it much cheaper in major shopping malls in Batam.


Same row of shops, an illusion museum. I didn’t go in because it’s optional, means need to pay extra. We only signed up for the basic package and I’m glad we did.


Still at the same row of shops, coffee outlet. If you like coffee, why not? Can find kopi luwak or civet coffee here. I didn’t buy or try any because I don’t drink coffee.


Nicely packaged coffee powder and beans of various variance for buyers to choose. Tried the coffee chips, coffee flavoured chips! At least something I’ve never tried.


After that, went into the next few shops, the same row!! *LOL* 1st Factory Outlet and Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Outlet. Went in one round and out empty handed. We(including Singaporeans and a handful of mainland Chinese) ended up waiting in the bus catching up with sleep and enjoy the air conditioning while waiting for those in the illusion museum and factory outlets to come back. Can imagine how boring it was haha… The again, it’s just a very leisurely trip for me. I had no specific things to see or buy, just want to relax, no hassle, no rush, just to get out of the country, go to somewhere I’ve not been before.

To be continued…

Food Porn, Going Places, Moi Musing - Batam