Category: Going Places

My travelogue.

Holiday Inn Express Luoyang City Center

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Back in April, I went to Luoyang, China for work with my colleagues. It was spring but the weather can be pretty cold at times.

Holiday Inn Express Luoyang City Center was where we stayed for 4 days. The room was comfortable enough and surprising spacious because it’s an express hotel.

Conveniently located at Northwest of the intersection of Kaiyuan Avenue and Jinchengzhai Street, Luolong District and 14km from Luoyang Beijiao Airport and 8km from Luoyang Longmen High-speed Railway Station.


Left: The bed was awesome! There’s pillows that you can choose also.
Right: Do not expect full package of toiletries available, it’s very basic. No lotion, no conditioner. The shampoo cum shower gel were attached to the wall in the shower cubicle. Very big bathroom as well.

Do not expect iron and ironing board in your room too. you can wash your clothes and iron your clothes at the common laundry room though.

Do not expect room service, they don’t. The kitchen does not open 24/7 too.


The view from my room. Overall, the stay was pleasant even though it’s an express hotel. Staff were friendly and helpful.

This area is just like Putrajaya. At night, it’s pretty dead *LOL* However, just walked a bit further up at the back of the hotel, you’ll find a slightly more happening street where you can get many F&B outlets and a shopping complex.

Address: No.28, Jinchengzhai Street, Luolong District Luoyang, HA 471000, China (People’s Republic)

City of Peonies - Luoyang, Going Places, Review It!

Ausotel Smart Baiyun Airport

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Extremely lagging post. So many pending. Went to Guangzhou for the first time in April, for transit only. Ausotel Smart Baiyun Airport was recommended by a friend in Guangzhou. Not entitled to stay in Pullman so have to stay a slightly further away, it’s less than 3KM from airport *LOL*, they have free shuttle.


Left: Approaching…
Right: The bed and pillows were pretty comfy, just too bad couldn’t sleep too long as we had to rush to the airport very early in the morning for flight to Luoyang. It claimed that it’s soundproof but my colleague’s room wasn’t that soundproof. As for mine, I didn’t hear anything though.


Left: The rooms is surprisingly spacious. The toilet and shower are not combined so it’s great if you have more than one person in the room. The vanity area is open concept with all the necessary toiletries.
Right: The basic coffee/tea making facility is available.


Free WiFi is available. The hotel can be considered rather new in that area. Great for transit. If you need to catch early flight, they can prepare packed breakfast. I can’t remember what we were given, I only remember yogurt and apple ;p

Good thing there’s restaurant in the hotel. There is nothing much around though. It’s like a dead town at night.

The room rate wasn’t very cheap, it cost us almost RM400 per night inclusive of breakfast. Well… What to do… It’s the most convenient and decent place to stay so that we could catch the early morning flight without the rush.

Address: Intersection of Hang’er Road and 3rd Konggang Road, Southeastern Working Section of Baiyun International Airport, Baiyun, Baiyun District, 510470 Guangzhou, China

City of the Goat - Guangzhou, Going Places, Review It!

Hotel Nuve, Bugis, Singapore

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I stayed a night in Singapore back in December 2016. I went on Agoda in search for good location and affordable accommodation and stumbled onto Hotel Nuve in the listing. Located in Bugis, MRT isn’t far from it. The street was quite happening at night if you like night life.


The painting on the wall outside the hotel depicting the life of people in Bugis long time ago.


I chose the cheapest room as I only need it for a night for transit. The room I stayed was small with no window but clean enough. The bathroom was surprisingly spacious, shower and toilet in one space but no sink and partition. The sink located one platform away from the bed. The pillow was too flat however the bed was comfortable enough.

They do not provide bottled water but there is water dispenser is available at the lobby area but it’s cold. You can loan a glass bottle from them but it’s on first come first served basis. Meanwhile, they also have room to cater for disabled guest.


Left: The TV was just right at the end of the bed mounted on the wall. There is no cabinet/cupboard to store your things though.

Right: One good thing about staying here, they provide you with a mobile phone that allows you to make free call, go online, even allow you to bring it out with you and use it as your navigator. No worry about needing to get a SIM card for your stay in Singapore. WiFi available in the room too.

I booked the room at promotional price of over RM200, almost RM300 with no breakfast included. It’s Singapore, with our weak currency, so… What can you say? Price wise, it’s high for Malaysia’s standard, you can get very luxurious room at a 4 or 5 star hotel with that price in Malaysia.

In the morning, I just walked around the area before heading to the airport. Took some photos of the views around the hotel. Didn’t go far.



Overall, the hotel was OK but for the room I’m staying, I can only stay for a night, longer than that, I don’t think I can. The staff was helpful and friendly.

Address: 9, Jalan Pinang, Singapore 199141

Going Places, Greeting the Merlion - Singapore, Review It!

Nagoya Mansion Hotel & Residence, Batam, Indonesia

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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

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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