Bintan Agro Beach Resort

Over the long weekend, found myself at the Bintan Agro Beach Resort. I thought it was part of the Bintan  group of Resorts but unfortunately or fortunately, it was not. Why?

Night view of the main lobby and a wee little swimming pool

It wasn't really much of a resort. The website looks good but look can be deceiving as we found out too late. Firstly, it was small. Too small for my liking. I had brought along my running gear intending to do a nice round around the resort but the only runnable route was a 800 metres stretch of pavement. 

The signboard seems to suggest a whole lot of facilities but most of them are the name of the blocks of rooms.

The accommodation was rather basic and looks run down. There were only 2 restaurants serving rather mediocre food! In fact, for the time we were there, we had the typical buffet lunch and dinner that back in Sg we normally cater during family gatherings. So after dinner on Sunday evening, a group of us took a cab and went to Tanjung Pinang for seafood!

Aroma River Spa

This was supposed to be the sole purpose of our visit to Bintan Island - a spa cum massage session at the Aroma River Spa. What we didn't bargain for was the almost 1 hour trip from our hotel to the spa located in another corner of Bintan Island at Trikora Beach. The road there was long and winding and left M with a giddy spell. Fortunately we did not had lunch yet otherwise she probably would have thrown up part of it.

Our first impression when our driver announced that we had arrived was shock and disbelief. OMG, the place looks like a run down kampung. Lots of coconut tree and a small outhouse. From the web, we had vision of a beautiful Balinese cottage but this was like.But all doubts was dispelled when we stepped behind the hedges and saw this small cluster of attap houses It looks so quaint - a sort of mini kelong and kampung huts on stilts sitting on a mangrove river. There was a small broadwalk and our treatment room although basic looks clean and neat.
The changing room was a small curtain off area much like the curtain changing rooms in some of our department stores.
Likewise, the 'bathroom' was also inside the treatment room with just a curtain and a jug of water to bath. There are no electricity and running water there and best of all, no irritating elevator music that keeps repeating. All we had was the light sea breeze and as we laid there being kneaded and rubbed upon by the young therapists, all the stress and tension in our body seemingly just seeped away into the water below. It was so soothing, calm and peaceful.

Included in the package was lunch which was a stone away away at the Mutiara Beach Resort
where we were served with a huge coconut and a plate of delicious nasi lemak. Incidentally, the spa receptionist and our driver were also the waiter and I think maybe cook?

Unfortunately, after our meal, the sky opened up and we had to forgo our mangrove tour on the sampan.However, a Ma-Chik there taught us how to make a ketupat casing while we waited for the rain to stop.

This has gonna be one of the best most relaxing spa/massage treatment that I received. Despite the lack of amenities and facilities, it was really like what the ad promised - traditional Javanese massage. Although not cheap by their standard $88.00 per pax for the Aroma Half Day package, I think it was definitely worth the money and I would highly recommend this to those who want to relax.

PS: This is not a sponsored post although I wish it was:)

Rest and Relax at Nirwana Resort

We had wanted a quiet weekend escape just to rest and relax and do absolutely nothing except nuay around so we headed for Bintan Resorts - a consortium of resorts located in the north of Bintan Island. What we didn't bargain for was that things at Bintan Resort wasn't exactly cheap. The 2 days 1 night trip seemed cheap enough. S$150 for room, return ferry trip and breakfast. But when we arrived there, we found out that it was like we had never left Singapore. Every darned thing was in SGD and expensive like hell. Anyway, we were there already and had to make the best of it.

We had randomly picked the Nirwana Resort hotel to stayed in. It looks nice from the pics on the web and cheaper than Banyan Tree or Club Med and better than Bintan Lagoon. We were not disappointed in this aspect. The resort itself is actually part of Nirwana Garden which was situated on a huge sprawling piece of land and actually comprises several resorts - Nirwana Resort; Mayang Sari, Beach Club, Banyu Baru and the Indra Maya.

After checked in, we escaped from the resort and took an hour car ride to the other side of Bintan to a quaint and unique spa - the Aroma River Spa. More of that here.

Back at the Nirwana Resort, we went for dinner at the Kelong Restaurant, suppose to be one of the best on the Island. The set dinner at S$44 per person again wasn't cheap but it was a full 8 course dinner and did came with a bowl of shark fin soup, crab and prawns. There wasn't much to do for nightlife so we walked around and sat on the deck chair where I promptly fell asleep much to the annoyance of M who wanted to just sit there and do small talks and admire the stars.

The next morning after a forgetable buffet breakfast (ain't all hotel buffet breakfast), we went for a walk around the resort. There was a mini zoo with crocodiles, a soft shelled turtle, a snapping turtle, what looks like piranha, Arapiama, Alligator Gar, Giant catfish, a vulture which spread its majestic wings for us to look, a Brahminy Kite, a lot of White Cockatoo, and some Amazon macaws. That show how mini the zoo is since I can remember all the animals.

The chalets at the Beach Club looks lovely, so rustic but a bit ulu and away from the main building.

The highlight of the resort was of course the beach with its movie like scenery; coconut trees swaying gently in the wind, stretch and stretch of long white sand and beautiful clear blue water.

After checkout, we went over to the pathetic looking Resort centre but found a hidden gem when we discovered a food court selling food at very reasonable S$ as in $6 for a bowl of noodle. There was also a sports wellness centre offering a whopping 50% discount off all treatment. How to pass up such a offer? We gleefully went for another round of massage, this time a 'sport' massage at $35 for an hour before heading back to Sg.

Compared to Batam 2 weeks ago, this was heaven. Although not exactly cheap, we did achieve our objectives of resting and relaxin and to me that is money well spent.

More pictures here

Batam Island

Been quite some time since we went 'oversea' to Batam island. The last time we were there, we went straight to the resort and nuay there the whole time. Before that, was when there was only one Matahari dept stall, 1 big wet market and 1 main street and the only tourist spot that the local guide brought us to was the tree planted by our LKY.


So when the Company organised a free day trip there, we went. Dunno how tall is the tree that LKY planted has grown but there are now many more malls and hotels there. We didn't get to any tourisy spot - heard there is a Chinese temple; a mini kingdom or something but instead of those places, all we got to go to was one local product shop after another.

Will I go there again? I don't think so unless it is to one of the beach resort to nuay again otherwise spare me the agony!

Batam Getaway

Decided to surprise M with a short escape to Batam over the weekend. Booked a room at the Batam View Resort. No kids to tag alone. So nice. The weekend all to ourself.

The last time we came here was like almost 10 years ago I think and there have been major refurbishment at the resort. Still other than the renovated rooms, nothing much seem to have changed. Spent the afternoon strolling through the grounds before dinner at the Kelong Seafood restaurant. We liked the black pepper flower crab so much we went back the next day for lunch!



After dinner, the highlight of the trip - the 3 hours pampering at the 5th Dimension spa. Wah, I never felt so clean after the scrub. And I got a facial too. First one in my 45 years! M said my nose now so clean it practically shine. The massage was shiok too but after that my calves hurt but in a kinda nice way.

So nice and so relaxing don't mind going back again but maybe with the kids. At least got some companion to do the sea sport rather than just keh keh sit on the jet ski:)

More photos here