Jocie Lilin: Harris Resort Barelang Batam, Nagoya Shopping Mall, Mega Mall

Hello readers! I am back to updating my blog again. We was planning a short trip since majority of us have limited leaves and can't get away too long, so we decided to do a 2D1N trip and one of the nearest getaway will be Batam! It has been years since i visit Batam, the last time i went was on a school trip to Nongsa Resort at Batam.

We booked through a tour agency called the Weekendgowhere, apparently if you do a search on facebook, you will be able to find their facebook page, they have different type of promotions for 2D1N trip in different countries. It's still useful to book via tour agency to save all the hassle.

So i went to ask for the quotation for our 2D1N trip, i think it's quite affordable. Since there is 3 pax, so i asked if additional bed can be request so the agent help me to request from the hotel at no additional charge.

For 2D1N trip, we was quoted for 3 pax @$366.

one pax $122.

1 Night stay at Harris Hotel Barelang Batam and inclusive of breakfast.

This is inclusive of the two way ferry tickets (with tax).

Two way land transfer from batam ferry terminal to hotel.

We choose our ferry timing and land transfer timing and informed the agent, they will send a confirmation booking voucher so with that, we present it to the counter to collect our ferry tickets. We took the 1040am ferry, Batam timing is one hour behind Singapore time, the whole journey is pretty fast only one hour.

Initially the queue was long when we reach the immigration clearance, but the queue is moving so it's better than clearing the JB customs. We took about half an hour to clear and spot the signage for our hotel pickup, we was given about 30min before the shuttle bus will depart from the ferry terminal to the hotel so we had a quick lunch before boarding the bus.

The resort is located about 30min away from the ferry terminal, and if you are planning to stay at the same resort as us, i would advise you to buy whatever you need at the ferry terminal mall because it's not very accessible once you checked in to the resort.

This is a new resort so everything look new and beautiful when we finally reached the resort.

Plenty of seating area for the guests. They have lots of space.

Since we request for the sea view room type, the room is located quite a distance from the lobby so we had a buggy to pick us from the lobby to our unit. Each unit looks like a chalet to me, upon entering, it's very comfortable, new and we was able to access internet on the tv, totally regret not bring my nintendo switch over. Hahahaha

It was kinda of disappointing the seaview was not exactly what i had imagine, seaview with trees blocking. hahah

After we checked in, settled down, we thought we could request for the buggy to pick us back to the lobby, but apparently buggy service is only available upon check in and check out. Hahahaha i thought it's the same back when i stay in Amari Phuket when the buggy will come whenever we are heading out. Hahahha, so we had to walk back to the lobby to book a cab out.

Initially we wanted to get the 4 hour one, but since we are going to have seafood dinner in the evening, we thought it's would be better to get 6 hour service which cost about 550K rupiah. As the staff don't really converse well in english so it took us awhile to communicate with him but pretty funny when the driver got confused by us and almost quote us 440k. Hahaha.

The taxi service is provided by Harris resort own driver so i think it's the standard rate. You don't really have a choice. Haha
We went for go kart first, it cost about S$14 per pax for about 10min.

This go kart is located at this golden city, the famous golden prawn seafood restaurant is nearby as well as one of the popular Batam Layer cakes. JJ and JY wanted to buy kueh lapis but i can't really tell the difference after sampling them at this store, they thought this was pretty soso only so we didn't purchase at this shop here. However, i think this is a popular tourist destination because we saw buses parking outside and many tourists will buy over here.

Our next stop was to Nagoya shopping centre, allocating 2hours at this mall, this mall have alot different stalls selling kueh lapis, we ended up buying from one of the store, and we bought macaroons too! It cost only $1 per pc.

Nagoya has nothing much that we would shop for, but visiting the supermarket is different. JJ was laughing how we have really downgrade to auntie at this age. Not interested in their fashion clothing but spending all our rupiah at the supermarket. Hahahaha

We bought some snacks since we had expect we are not going out of the resort at night. Hahahaha Just take a look at all our shopping plastic bags.

There were plenty of massage and manicure/pedicure services but since both of them are not a fan of massage so we didnt go for massage or manicure.

In the evening, which is our last stop before returning back to the resort, we went to Gopak Jaya for our dinner. This place is located very near to Harris Resort.

Frankly, the food wasn't fantastic, not sure if its because we ordered all the wrong dishes. Hahaha we was saying that we shall go and try the golden prawn restaurant next time. Hahaha we went back to our unit to put down all the things we bought before exploring the resort.

They have a movie screening with free popcorn stationed at the lobby but we wasn't interested as i had bought my rummyka games to play with them. We spent the night playing rummyka game, blasting music and having cup noodles for supper. Hahaha this almost feel like a chalet night to me.

Another new morning to start the day, we realised the balcony is pretty big.

Breakfast time!

It was a vibrant morning when the staff dance with the music and i guess music do make anyone feel good.

They have 3 different pools, so after the breakfast, i went to the infinity pool! Just right in front of this pool is actually the beach, so if you want to go to the beach, it's just walking distance ahead with swings as well!

It was nice to go for a swim at least before we checked out. Hahaha, as we are taking turns to shower and get prepared, JJ went for his gym session while we head back after that. We had some time before our land transfer to the ferry terminal so i was sharing with JJ and JY about the video i saw of how others can take a twin of themselves in the same photo.

It's actually not as easy as we thought it will be, so we take multiple shots before we finally found a decent one. We wanted to add one that have three different us doing different pose, but it's too hard so eventually we settle just for JJ posing.

We was waiting for our buggy to pick up to the lobby so it's selfie time while waiting!

We was still early for our land transfer at 1.00pm so we play another 2 round of rummyka game at the lobby. Hahahha

Before we went for our lunch, we went to mega mall, found a baggage storage counter and asked if there was any charges, its free! So we place our stuffs instead of carrying it around.