Relaxing@Batam

It was our one year anniversary and dd and I went for a 2D1N relaxing spa trip to Batam last week. We booked this Harris Resort which was inclusive of a 3 hours spa, 1 overnight stay, breakfast and a free pizza from their cafe. It was our second time there and we were actually deciding whether to go for other resorts in Batam/Bintan; finally, we still went back to Harris because of its affordability and excellent services by the staffs. Of course, don't expect top-rated facilities and environment as it is only a 3-star rated resort. ;)


What I like about the resort is their spacious room and super king size bed! Very comfy. :D The first time when we were there, which was about 6 months ago, we were able to upgrade our room to a bigger room on the ground floor (Cabana Room) for free as it was a weekday. This time, we preferred to stay in their standard rooms as there were some construction going on near the Cabana Rooms.


On the first day, we took an early ferry from the ferry terminal at Harbourfront and reached there at about 10am (Batam Time). The resort provided free shuttle services to their town area where we did some shopping. Frankly their shopping mall as you can guessed wasn't that appealing to us in terms of fashion apparels and variety. There were still some nice, affordable t-shirts and accessories worth buying, though.
We had our lunch at A&W, something already non-existent in Singapore! Their root beer float was awesome! I remembered having it at Ang Mo Kio when I was young! I had their waffles with ice-cream during our first trip but not this time cos' wanna save my stomach for other food :D


Back to the hotel, we rest and relax before going for our 3 hour spa and massage. This was what we had been waiting for. The indonesian massage was relaxing and soothing; I did not feel any pain unlike my usual shoulder massage at the facials. Instead the strength was just right and they literally "unlock" our tired muscles. We were massaged from head to toe (except the face) and truly rejuvenating.
Our next morning breakfast spread. :) The quality of food was not too bad but the spread could have ben better. They did'nt serve my favourite cereals with milk. >_<

"Pronto" pizza from their cafe. Their crust was thin and crispy. Thumbs up!

Vicinity outside the spa area. The individual huts were where we had our spa.

There was this internet kiosk supposedly for guest who will be staying there for long. Haha but I managed to use it without anyone inteferring. I tried to login to the internet but to no avail until dd can assess to my blog for me ~ My Baking Cottage! :P

On our last day, we went to another shopping mall where we had a foot massage for an hour and movies before heading back home. After this trip, I began to love massage... hehe... :P

Chinese New Year@Malacca

Yeah, as I mentioned, I went for a short trip to Malacca and Genting with my family. Frankly, I'm not the type who likes to go for holidays during CNY, because I like the festive mood over here. :) What's more, I have no reason to 避年 (avoid the CNY festive occasion) since I'm not entitled to giving Ang Baos yet! Haha... :P

I can't remember whether this is the first time I went to Malacca cos' the last time I went to Malaysia was years ago. I just remembered that cos' we went on guided tour packages, we were always up and down coaches which was really tiring. Now that I've experienced free & easy tours over the years, I'd prefer F&E if possible. The view taken from my room and the beautiful sunrise in the morning. :)If you had been to Malacca before, you would have know Jonker Street - A narrow straight street selling lots of unique ornaments, souvenirs, antiques, clothing, accessories and toys of the 1960s. It's somewhat similar to our Chinatown. Of course, there are also many restaurants selling the famous local delicacies such as chicken rice, chendol, etc. We had a sumptous nonya meal. Haha, although I know "Little Nonya" (our local drama serial) is a great hit recently, I didn't go to Malacca because of the show. Of course having heard so much about nonya dishes and the fact that we had stepped onto Malacca ground, tasting the authentic nonya dishes was a must. We had it in the hotel restaurant which we stayed. Authentic kitchenware .....

Chicken with a kind of olives. We were given a long fork to dig out the insides of the olives but it had a weird taste though. :P

Chap Chye (mixed vegetables)

Fried fish with sambal chilli. This was among the best! The fish was fried to perfection and the chilli was sooooo good.

Salted vegetable with duck meat soup

Nonya Popiah and Otah

This was a chicken dish but I can't remember what was it.

Chendol. I felt so guilty after having the whole bowl to myself! :P

Most of the names of those dishes were foreign to me cos' they originated from the malays and chinese, so it's not easy to tell what were the dishes just from reading its name. :)

I didn't managed to do enough shopping before we headed off to genting. Frankly, there wasn't much to see in genting except for the theme parks and casinos. The last time I went I still couldn't enter the casinos, but this time round some of them still wanted to check my identification!

Well, well....CNY is over, will be back to baking less cookies for now. But still one more project....valentine's day cake! Hee.... don't think my dd will know since he seldom reads my blog... >_<