The day we anticipated finally arrived!! To be honest, the exhilaration we had die down quite a bit after a month long wait. Regardless, there was this tiny eagerness in us to see the villa.
29th June 2014 – Just one day before the trip, I started packing my luggage (No it isn’t exaggerating to bring a luggage trust me – read on to know why). Basically I brought 4 sets of clothes, 1 sleep wear and 3 sets for each day! Packed in my daily essentials and also MASKS. Mask is definitely optional but I brought it for the girls in case of really bad haze.
After packing, Jong and I actually went to Janice house to stayover so that transport to the ferry terminal will be easier the following day.
30th June 2014 – We cabbed to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal really early in the morning since we booked the first ferry to Nongsa. If I’m not wrong, there is a bus that goes to the terminal as well, you might want to check it out yourself! Checking in was fast and easy, we completed everything in less than 5mins.
Boarding Soon!
Excited Jong.
We then board the ferry and apparently all of us snoozed in there. It was a 45 minutes thereabout trip and surprisingly the trip wasn’t rocky at all. After getting off the ferry, we passed the customs and met our friendly staff from Montigo Resort who was there to pick us and some other people up! The land transfer took around 5 minutes and in no time we reached the amazing place.
Montigo Resort Nongsa.
It was a refreshing welcome by the people at the resort. We were given a cup of lemongrass each, along with a cold-wet towel. I was never a fan of lemongrass (b/c of one horrific incident) but I was sold by this cup. If you were to wonder what is the towel for, it is actually for you to clean yourself up (I have never encountered this and I was confused when I first got it).
Lobby.
Lobby.
It was 9AM(WIB) and check-ins are at 3PM(WIB), unless there are available rooms. While waiting to check-in, a representative came to give us a quick brief of the resort and how it works and so on.
The staff giving us a brief guide on the resort.
Map of the resort.
Impt: Do note that Montigo Resort Nongsa, is located 45mins-1hr bus-ride away from the city. There is a shuttle bus that will leave the resort at 10AM(WIB) and brings you back from the city at 5PM(WIB). However, you will have to arrange for the shuttle bus (maybe before you are even there) because slots are always taken up fast. Do also note that most activities have to be booked in advance at least 3 days upon arrival. You might want to email them, they provide pretty quick response.
After the briefing, we booked a 2-pax-in-house-dinning-set for the night and a cab to bring us to city since the bus had no more space to contain us 4. For the cab, it costs 400k Ruppiah to-and-fro the city. Thus, each of us just had to pay 100k Ruppiah which is 10+ SGD. We did not have any rooms available in the morning so we will just have to check in later when we were back from the city.
#bimbs4montigo All ready to set off!
Everything was settled in less than 2minutes and we set off to town! Our destination: NAGOYA HILL SHOPPING MALL. On the way, we saw another shopping mall(nearer to Montigo) called KEPRI MALL. Maybe y’all can visit that mall! It’s new, according to our driver.
Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall.
The cab ride took about 30mins. We arrived outside Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall, feeling extremely hungry (just a little add on: WE 4 R MUNSTERS WE CAN EAT NON-STOP) and what caught our eyes first was A&W!!!!! (Only Singaporeans can understand this happiness) We elatedly hop over but it was closed. We were then told that the mall only opens at 10AM(WIB)…. and that probably explained why there were people hobo-ing outside the mall….. We then decided to walk around outside to see what was there.
We actually made a checklist:
- FULL BODY MASSAGE
- SHOP FOR GROCERIES FOR STAY-IN TUESDAY
- SHOP FOR CHEAP GOODS TO BRING BACK HOME
- DO OUR NAILS
- EAT EAT EAT
Once the clock struck 10AM(WID), we anxiously went for our A&W!!!
Waffle Icecream.
Curly Fries.
Root beer float.
Afterso, we actually went to GODIVA Coffee to chill a tad bit before heading off for our massage.
If you were to research what to do at Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall, I’m sure there will be a plenty of reviews, but almost all of them highlight the same massage parlour etc. We went against the current and tried another massage parlour instead of the usuals. So here’s what I reccommend: FIVE STAR 2! It is located opposite Nagoya Mall!
Massage Parlour!
Why?
1. CHEAP: Only 80k Ruppiah for a 1h15mins full body massage. WHY NOT?
2. GOOD MASSAGING SKILLS: I’m someone who’s afraid of tickles. But guess who almost fell asleep at some point of time? ME!
Our masseurs.
We all had a pleasant experience there! I will definitely go back for the massage if I’m ever heading back to Batam! After the massage, it was around 2PM(WID). No idea how time passed so freaking quickly and we actually told our driver beforehand to meet us at 2PM(WID) outside Nagoya Mall. We panicked a little because we had no more time to finish what we need to do….. but as soon as we found our driver, we asked if we could extend the time to 4.30PM(WID) instead.. We felt so bad because he had other errands to do, yet he agreed to wait for another 2hours. SO NICE OF HIMMMMMM SEE I TOLD YA MONTIGO SERVICE IS AWESOME
So… In that 2.5hours, one of my friends did her nails and afterso we raped the hypermart together! Almost everything that is a few times cheaper than Singapore.. It was funny how we bought a BOX of IndoMee back. 1 Box = 40 Packets. We ran through alleys with our trolley and baskets and grab what we could. You will never guess what we bought the most…… Girls out there reading my post, you might consider going to batam to stock up on your monthly supplies of PADS. It’s dirt cheap there. So after gathering what we could, we made payment and rushed over to meet our driver.
The section of MaggiMee!
Nomz.
Was packing the items into the boot! That’s our driver behind.
AND OFF WE GO, BACK TO OUR RESORTTTTT!!!! PS: We were super lucky, the weather wasn’t perfect but it only rained when we were indoor!
Once we got back to our resort, one staff then drove us to our villa using a buggy! Despite the fact that there’s only 88 villas at the resort, it’s quite a distance to move about like from our villa to the lobby or spa place, etc. Thus, the buggy that runs 24/7 definitely brought us a lot more convenience!
On the buggy!
Feeling: BLOODY EXCITED
Honestly we were already excited when we were on the way to our villa!!!! Our excitement built up more and more as we were nearer and nearer to our destination.
Hilltop Villa 8!!!! Coincidentally, it’s my favourite number 🙂
That’s what you get for going with a bunch of bimbos. We take photos EVERYWHERE.
Buggy!
*Door opens* – R U N – Just kidding, we did a villa tour with our friendly staffs and everything was just breathtaking??? THE PLACE IS JUST AMAZING. No I ain’t kiddin’ ma frenz. The first thing that captivated us as definitely the private pool. I shall just let pictures do the talking, the place is just beyond description.
Living Room TV
First floor toilet
Master Bed Room! (Although there are 2 rooms, we all camped in this one) Behind the bed, was the spacious toilet!
View from the bed. Gorgeous ain’t it?
Outdoor dining
There you go, out private pool
We then chill around while the staffs prepared for our in-house dining! We decided to have our dinner just right beside our pool! Perfect company at the perfect location with a perfect view and ambiance, what more can I ask for.
3 days before the trip, I also rented floats to bring over to our villa to play with. And this is what everyone is asking me about: WHERE DID I GET THE FLOATS? Don’t say good things I never share ok! I rented the floats from HERE!!! It’s only $5 per float and you can rent it for a week. Head over to the web to find out more! Without the floats, I don’t even think we will spend THAT much time in there chilling or like have that much fun. It is really worth-it for us to rent it so you might consider renting one too!!
Donut and Pretzel
Also, it was evening and the sun was setting. So we rushed up to the rooftop to catch the breathtaking view.
Dinner started around 7pm(WID) and we got seated as requested. It was a very professional service as the staff prepared the table and served us food. To sum it up, it’s like an in-house-fine-dining!!!!
Friendly staff that hosted the dinner and served us!
Friendly cook whom made us really good stuff
Dinner setting
Chef busy preparing
The sauces that came along with the meal. Personally, I love one that has the chilli padi inside.
Food next up!
Salad as our appetiser!
Grilled seafood and veges!
Before serving us.
Bought mashmallows during our shopping in the day. And they helped us grill it. IT. WAS. SO. GOOD. (Idek how do they do it)
Poulet and potatoes
We ordered a 2 people set instead of 4, partly because of the price, and also the amount of food. To your surprise, this 2-people set actually made us super full… So you might just want to consider saving some money and not over-order!
After dinner we made payment… it was around 30 SGD each person! We also calculated the money we spent for the day… and declared BROKE IMMEDIATELY. Girls are girls, we can’t stop when we chanced upon branded make ups cheaper than Sg. We can’t stop when it comes to buying necessities which are 2 or 3 times cheaper than Sg. We can’t stop when it comes to pampering ourselves with a good full body massage. WE JUST CAN’T STOP. Also, now you know why I said bringing a luggage is not even exaggerating? 😛
We discussed previously to change $200 SGD and bring along another $100 SGD. Actually, you don’t really have to change into Ruppiah as Montigo itself accepts SGD. On average, we spent almost $150 SGD on the first day.
That pretty much sums up the hectic day 1 we had. Day 2 and 3’s posts will be more visual alright! In addition to that, there will be a video which summarises the 3d2n trip! So check back alright!
Feel free to drop me any comments below! Or do you have any question to ask, just ask away!
Qian 