[Lifestyle] JB 2D1N getaway - City Square Mall, Taman Sentosa Food and Things to do

Hey guys,

Where did you go for your Labour Day holidays?

It was a long weekend for many of us.

Well, I was practically still working on that day but went to Johor Bahru the next day morning for my escapade. :)

There's really alot of things to do in JB. 

We had it planned way before going in.

We'd booked our hotel room way before this planned trip so that we know our room was reserved. Kiasu indeed. haha!

Play safe lah huh, you know it's really hard to predict especially you do not know the country so well. (I only go JB like 3-4 times a year just for shopping and food and it's always a day trip!) 

This time round is just more of a chilling trip. Didn't really plan to go drinking that night. 

Maybe next time round with friends. :)

So here's what we roughly planned..

To-Do List:

- Watch Movie (Avengers: Age of Ultrons .. Wah MUST-WATCH!)

- Food (duh?!)

- Watch Man United Football Match

- Sleep

- Food again...

- Buy Goodies back for parent

- Buy whatever!

haha!

Went to Bugis bus terminal to board the bus.

SG-JB custom

Ticket was S$3.30 one-way.

Passed the JB custom, we head over to City Square Mall to purchase the movie tickets.

Kiasu the tickets sold out or seats available are miserable 

so we bought early. 

(Movie at 7:15pm,we bought at 2:30pm lol!)

Don't say I don't share hor...

Here's the new Cathay movie ticket prices:

It was weekend so we paid RM18 for each ticket.

At time of trip, the exchange rate was 2.69 so each ticket was a mere SGD6.70?! 

Where to get sia?!

After getting our tickets, we were pretty hungry (we didn't had anything in the morning, except an ice cream with bread from the ice cream uncle at Bugis Mrt carpark), I suggested having Arashi hotpot restaurant for our brunch.

It was Melvin's first time. :)

Had the Salmon/Pork & Salmon/Chicken set with Tomyam Broth/Herbal Broth.

2 Drinks: Golden tea Ice Drink (mine) and Ice Lemon Tea (his)

Add on: Slice Pork Collar

Resulting the bill to be about RM104 so in SGD is about S$38.70.

Slightly on the high side but it's very filling and the soup was sedap!

*yeap, I removed my hair extensions. Back to mid-length hair. 

Our drinks.

The Ice Lemon Tea was pretty different from the other places we'd tried before.

It's refreshing and not sweet at all.

The Golden tea drink was really made of real tea leaves and flowers.

No sweetness at all but it's pretty good for cooling down.

After our meal at Arashi, We walk around, had our hair trimmed at Reds.

Well, I won't say it was a great experience there or what but I won't visit that salon again. EVER.

The guy that assisted Melvin and me was literally busy bringing in customers, cutting our hair, asking his colleagues or staff (I suppose he's the shop owner or at least a manager there) to tidy up the place after doing their job for their customer and blar blar... ALL AT ONCE! Like hello, you asked us to wait, we waited, And when it's our turn, he just do a swift job, anyhow do one. -_-'''
The price list on the counter stated
RM40nett for Males and Females RM48 and above BUT....

My hair length was just touching the shoulder and all he needs to do was just trimming my hair ends and layer it which he did it very fast because his focus was everywhere and I got charged RM65+.

wtf..

Fine, it's fine though.. But when we are done and ready to pay, he says our bills got to add GST.

He separated our bills which I thought the male's bill would be RM40nett.
I was WRONG!

I was like huh? Okay? If you're charging me with GST I'm pretty fine but your price list stated for guys is nett price and you're charging him GST too?

Seriously not very professional. 

Plus he did hurt Melvin several times when he trimmed his hair on the sides because he was in rush to reprimand his staff or colleagues or whatever. Melvin had to remind him to go slow and not in a rush and have to ask him to trim gently. People's head leh hello. -_-'''

Never going back*

Anyway, after that bad encounter, we went shopping around.
That really helps calm me down. haha!

He bought a pair of casual shoes at only RM49.90 ( SGD18.55). 

Pretty good deal I must say.
And I bought some eyeliners and makeup from Sasa and Watson's.
No picture because lazy to take. heh heh.

Made him take a picture with Hulk at Action City and he pose like this for me. LOL!

Oh!!

If you're always going home late or suspecting someone stalking you home, you can get this!

Pepper Spray!

I don't know if it's legal or what to buy this back to SG but it seems pretty legit since Watson's in JB sells it yah.

Watched the movie.. omg! Super nice! I was enjoying every bit of it and yah, even my 'neighbor' was shaking his leg, I enjoyed it. haha!
Took a cab to our hotel to check in.

No hotel photos because I don't quite like the idea of taking pictures in hotel room especially when it's dark at night. I scared lah okay.

After leaving our things in the hotel room, we head to the coffee shop opposite for our dinner.

*p.s: Don't mind my photo-taking because I was taking the food photos in a dark environment, I have to take them in flash aiyah you get what I mean. heehee.

This is basically right opposite our hotel, Grand Sentosa Hotel located at Taman Sentosa.

The popular hawker where there's stalls selling Zi-Char and Beggar Chicken?
Yeap, it's pretty near there, or rather it's approximately a 10mins walk.

And this is like da bomb there!

Barbeque and green chili goes super well. Blogging this now makes me salivate already omg.

These are just some of the yummies you can pick, there's pretty much of a good variety there you can choose from. But don't say I never remind you, You gotta wait for your order to be served and it might take pretty long because some other tables already picked their items and they really pick alot lah can. Like mountain-full sticks of food! 

Must-order that chicken meat look alike haha.

 I really don't know what's that called but it's damn yummy!
this plate of delicious costs only RM19!! SGD$7 only!! 

Must dip this green chili sauce! 

Ordered stir-fry lala.

Nice~

Sambal fried rice because my boy loves sambal fried rice.
It rhymes~ haha!

Sambal four season beans.

Crunchy but a tad lil oily.

Still, it's nice~

All these for less than RM 60= SGD22.30. 

wO_Ow

Went to De Cave for some light refreshments after our dinner.

Located just beside our hotel.

Watched a depressing Man united Match that night.
Very sad that Man united didn't win.
There's live band going on and the lady sing pretty well.

He drank beer while I have orange juice.

Rained that night too.

Off to hotel to chill and zzz.

NEXT DAY~~~

Checked out of our hotel at 12noon and headed to the other side towards the famous hawker to check out some food places for brunch.

Settled for their local economic rice stall.

Very simple fare but it's good enough to start our day :)

Headed back to City Square by cab and went to buy some yummy goodies for our parent
before we go back to SG.
These bought from a store, Mika. They have quite a good range of designed and yummy sponge rolled cakes!
Like it that the cream's not too sweet and they're pretty cute!

Had to head back to SG early for my mum's birthday dinner.

Oh!
If you're going to head back to Queen Street via the Causeway link Buses, do get small change in Ringgits though they accept Singapore dollars but ringgits more worth mah.

RM3.40 back to SG Queen Street, S$3.40 Back to Sg Queen Street.
Which one you think worth?


DUH!
So do remember to get some small change before going to the custom.
*Those guys in CW uniforms will NOT help you change your notes! so
GIVE EXACT OK!

Will share some photos on that occasion soon too!

Oh! I didn't forget about my Hongkong trip as well.

Will be sharing very soon. :)

Till then,

Zerika-says

xoxo 

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[2D1N Batam Trip 2015] 1st anniversary trip to Turi Beach Resort at Nongsa, Batam.

Hey everyone,

 I'm gonna share with you guys what I did during our first virgin trip to Batam for our 1st anniversary. :)

We were actually thinking of just a short getaway to KL/JB or Bangkok but time doesn't really permits us and since our dearest friend, Micole suggested that we should visit Batam this time round and stay at Turi Beach Resort as her experience when she visited there was remarkable.

 *She'd been there a few times! 

I totally agree with her.

Glad I've listened to her! 

Well, here it goes..

We'd booked our 2D1N Turi Beach Resort trip via Groupon Singapore at a very reasonable price S$99 each that comes with pier transfer, ferry ticket, 1 night stay with a buffet breakfast.

Of course there's extra surcharges such as the Batam terminal taxes and because we're staying during the weekend, there's a charge of S$25 each for the resort stay. 

(*do convert into rupiah because the resort only accepts cash or credit cards payment!)

The reservation via email was pretty much efficient and everything went smoothly.

*all can be confirmed via email.

Day 1: 7th March 2015, Saturday.

As I booked our ferry departure to be at 12noon via Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, we actually were there almost 1.5 hrs earlier because it's our first time there and we didn't want to lost our way or miss our ferry.

The Ferry Agent that we'd booked from was from Batam Fast.

All in all, it was a very smooth ride.

The ferry ride only took approximately 35mins to reach Nongsapura Ferry Terminal.

*Most of the resorts in Batam located at Nongsa area. :)

Reached Nongsapura Ferry Terminal and queuing up to get our passport chopped!

After which, the very friendly staff from Turi Beach Resort ushered us to the shuttle bus parked outside the building. It only took about 5 mins to reach the resort. 

Us in the shuttle bus. Excited!

Checking in was a breeze and so glad they had prepared our room and let us check in earlier than we should.

But because we have like almost a few hours in between before our dinner, and it was our first time to Batam, we definitely have to head to the popular shopping malls to check out.

Booked on the spot a return shuttle trip to Mega Mall (*chargeable) and the scheduled shuttle was from 1pm -5pm.

We need to put down our bags and hurry to the lobby to catch our shuttle!

We were brought in to our room at the Riani Wing, facing the beautiful beach and sea.

Here's the bathroom. Spacious!

Left: Rain Shower so spacious you can dance around!
 Girl's favorite friend; hairdryer!

Our queen size bed with cute ermm.. elephant? or dog? or.. whatever it is.. IT'S CUTE!!

aww.....

The beautiful scenery and our balcony.. <3

Reached Mega Mall within 30mins and when we head in, we were thinking of what to have for our light lunch. Ended up passing by A&W and I just couldn't walk away without having rootbeer float!

Then, I realized Mega Mall is actually another shopping mall which is super near to another ferry terminal which many just come here for a day's trip; eat, shop, go back.

*Okay I know I super slow lah.. Virgin trip ma... -_-'''*

Anyway so we ordered a meal which I thought was 'light' because the chicken looks small and the amount of fries just look so... little. lol!

BUT! 

The root beer float was in this glass mug, it was HEAVY and HUGE!

Why Singapore's A&W have to close down?! WHY?!

And oh, I was trying to figure out the receipt because I remembered staring at the menu board and ordered accordingly which by right should be RP58.000 each set without float (just root beer only!).

Then, we asked the staff who took our order that we wanted to change our drinks to Root Beer Float, and she said ok. Then she asked us if we want our chicken spicy? We said yes. 

There you go... I didn't even know we need to pay for 'spicy' chicken.

And so, this meal costed us RP140.000 total. We were full after that.

Overall, I can conclude Mega Mall doesn't seem to have much things to do or shop. It's not really our style and definitely not cheap as what I thought it will be.

If you want to, probably go for their movies I guess. 

Their cinema seems good and toilet is definitely cleaner than the rest of the mall's.

We only bought a carton of Indo Mee back from the hyper mart at basement and that's it.

Oh! I was pretty much amazed that their hyper mart sells motor bikes too! 

You must be wondering what we do the whole time since there's nothing much there to do or shop.

The mall was having this mini singing competition and some teens or rather kids as contestants singing their best to get judged. We stood there for nearly an hour to hear them sing. Impressed with some of them. Some very young and already have powerful voices. NICE~

If it's me, I won't have the courage though. Shy max!* Teehee

Okay so back to our resort...

We decided to chill for half and hour then go and check out the resort and see the sunset.

While walking around, we saw that the poolside buffet dinner being set up.

Very pretty scenery.

Aqua Pool which has like up to 2.4m deep! 

The Riani wings' rooms

There's so many kitties around the resort. Cute max!

You don't have to worry if you're afraid of cats as they don't usually disturb anyone who passes by.

They will prolly appear when there's food but usually waits patiently around. :)

Beautiful. Windy. Crazy hair.

Love this kind of weather. 

The bridge that links to the Island bar. Super pretty!

My boy with his signature victory sign. Everywhere he go also must use this.

hahaha!

And me...  <3

Sashayed to the Tirta Wing side and checking out their exterior.

The emerald pool is nice too.

I miss this... the weather, the scenery.. very relaxing.

*Conclusion for watching Sunset at such windy place: Never wear short dresses even if you feel it's very resort style or relaxing. You'll have to keep 'Giap-ing' or holding onto the bottom of the dress as you walk because the wind's so strong will make you become Marilyn Monroe anytime. LOL! Wear long dress, helps to keep mosquitoes at bay too. :)

Back to the Poolside for BBQ Buffet dinner.

I was telling Melvin I can't wait to dig in because I was famished and yeah.. didn't manage to take pictures of what food was available. oops!

Dinner was not very extensive but I think is worth every penny. It's about S$25++ each (RP 336.000 nett) There's salad station, beef kebab, noodle soup, Ice Kachang, sambal sotong (good!), satay and many more.

There's a live band performing and singing lovely ballads and we can even request songs as well.

And because Melvin informed them on the purpose of this trip, the management was so kind to get us a chocolate cake wishing us happy anniversary! Announced by the pretty singer and I became super shy can. But super sweet of them! <3

It was a very satisfying dinner and we decided to head back to our room to rest and just chill with our beer we brought at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.

*Yes! You can bring liquor on board to Batam but make sure you finish them there and don't bring it back. The liquors purchased at the TMFT was rather cheap as it's Duty Free e.g. 1664 Blanc 3 bottles at S$11! You buy at our local supermarket one bottle already costs you S$5-6 liao.

So, BUY THERE! 

Anyway, we rested pretty early so we can swim the next day after our breakfast.

Day 2: 8th March 2015, Happy 1st Anniversary BB!

We woke up a little early thinking it was going to be 9am (*but actual fact the time was only 7plus am batam time!) iPhones have this problem of sudden change of timing.

Ended up we both woke up pretty early. -_-'''

Didn't take any photos for the breakfast buffet spread because most of the dishes needs replenishes. lol!

Well, it's more or less the same with every other buffet breakfast such as eggs station where you can ask the staff to prepare your eggs in sunny side-up, scramble or even omelette, porridge with condiments, westerns breakfast like hashbrown, sausages and hams. There's toasts and cereals as well.

Saw Wynn during breakfast time. :)

Our ferry back to SG, TMFT was at 6:10pm depart Batam Time. We went back to our room to apply some sunblock to prevent the scotching sun from burning us BUT...we ended up lying on bed. LOL!
Simi swimming after breakfast. haha!

The air con was too awesome. The bed. And the TV channel where we can watch HK movies.
How nice. So we ended up slacking in the room instead till we have to check out at 3pm.

Yeap. We manage to get a late check-out thanks to the management.

 After we checked out, we left our bags at the reception counter and explore the resort again.

I must admit it's a very beautiful resort with pretty scenery. We both were staring and differentiating fish and mini crabs along the wet sandy beach during the low tide season. We just stood there on the island bridge and enjoy the breeze. Couldn't bear to leave this place. :(

When it was about time to go, we reached the Nongsa Ferry Terminal early via Turi Beach Resort's shuttle. The ferry was suppose to depart at 6:10pm but something cropped up (I don't know why it dragged till so long!)  waited till 7:10pm to get into the Ferry. It was super pack with many other tourists going to SG. -_-'''

So anyway.. This is what we did for our anniversary trip.
Nothing really fancy, but definitely sweet enough <3

THANK YOU!

Thanks to my dearest bb for being so sweet to organize and plan this for us.

Thanks to our dear friend, Micole for introducing such beautiful place to stay.

Thanks to Zaenal and team from Turi Beach Resort for making sure that our stay was a splendid and enjoyable one.

We will probably be back soon for a short getaway again!


Till then,
Zerika
xoxo