Montigo Resorts Nongsa Batam December 2012

This is a super belated post. Last Christmas, a group of us went to Batam for our annual Christmas gathering. My friend suggested Montigo Resorts Nongsa in Batam which I have not heard of. I only know of Harris and Holiday Inn Hotel. Apparently it is quite a new property about a year old labeling itself as 5 stars luxury resort in Batam.

This is the check in lobby of Montigo Resorts Nongsa Batam. The place is really beautiful. In fact, I can see Singapore across the sea and even spotted Marina Bay Sands.

A map of the resort. The villas are all built along the 1 kilometer stretch of private beach facing the South China Sea. Unfortunately the private beach is still not fully completed when we were there. The beach and water was muddy.

Upon checking in, we are transported to our 3 storey villa by buddy. The first floor considers of the living hall, a toilet, a kitchen bar, balcony and pool.

Balcony area with an infinity pool facing the sea.

There are 2 bedrooms on the 2nd floor. This is the master bedroom which is really spacious.

This is the view from the master bedroom. The left side is the spa villa. As you can see from the photography, the private beach is still under construction and muddy.

The toilet is very spacious too. It is like half the size of the bedroom. Unfortunately the bath tub was quite dirty so I never used it.

The other bedroom is smaller and comes with twin beds. There is also an in room toilet and tv.

On the top floor is the sky terrace. In front is the view of the sea while the back are the hillside villas.

The design of Montigo Resorts Nongsa is really nice and the place is beautiful. It doesn't feel like I am in Batam at all, I felt like I am somewhere in Phuket or Bali. There is basically nothing at Nongsa area and its about an hour drive to Batam City. It is suitable for a nice romantic weekend or getaway from the hustle life in Singapore. There are also a lot to be desired on their housekeeping and maintenance.
For a year old property, the place is considered quite dirty and worn. The private beach was also not ready yet.

Montigo Resorts Nongsa, Batam
Tel: +62 778 7768888
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MontigoResortNongsa
Website: http://www.montigoresorts.com/

Short Batam Trip Part 2

Tempat Senang is a peaceful and private resort. However the down side there is nothing near its vicinity except for the golf course. Nevertheless the resort can help to arrange for taxi service for SGD$20 (IDR$150,000) for 3 hours and SGD$7 (IDR$50,000) for subsequent hour. Just tell the driver where you want to go.

I went to Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall which is about 20-25 minutes car ride. I usually went there to do some toiletries shopping as well as having my A&W root beer float and waffle. This trip I found the super spicy local snack (on the left on the pic below). It is damn "shiok" if you are a chilli lover. Be warned! It is not for the weak taste buds.

After shopping, dinner was at Golden Prawn 933. It is a restaurant built on top of a pond. I suspected it is a prawn pond which was how the restaurant name came about. There is another restaurant, Golden Prawn 555 beside it. Both restaurants should be owned by the same owner since the receipt came with both the restaurant names.

Compare to another seafood restaurant Delima near Harris and Holiday Inn, the food at Golden Prawn 933 was far better. The chilli crab sauce was different from Singapore version but very tasty and nice. The mussels were fresh and big too.

Golden Prawn Chilli Crab 4.2/5

Kailan 4/5

Mussels 4.5

Hotplate Tofu 4/5

4 courses dinner

Short Batam Trip Part 1

During the Christmas period, I went to Batam for a short getaway. Many of us probably have visited Batam and stayed at Harris, Holiday Inn or Novotel. Not many may have heard of Tempat Senang. It is a boutique Balinese resort that only has 7 suites with its own spa and restaurant. Each individual suite is decorated with a different theme (Bali, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Thai, Tree and Sultan). Recently they have also added 2 more apartments, Ocean Spray and Sea Breeze to cater for larger group. Do note, no children is allowed at the resort.

The other attraction is their mix and match 3hr spa packages that caters to your liking. For example they offered different massage types such as Aromatherapy, Tibetian Hot Stone, Chinese Bamboo Stick, Hawaiian Lomi Lomi, Tradition Indonesian, Thai, Balinese, Swedish, Shiatsu and Water Shiatsu. In additional the resort also has day trip spa package.

I was the peak period over Christmas and the resort was fully booked. I was quite lucky to make reservation as someone cancelled his booking. I was given the Thai room which actually came with two bedrooms.

After my 3 hr spa which I chose the Hawaiian Lomi Lomi, Coconut scrub and Foot Reflexology, lunch was served at the restaurant on the 2nd floor overlooking the golf course.

Watermelon Juice

Nasi Goreng 4/5

Beef Redang 4/5

Beef Redang with Rice 4/5