Nongsa, Batam – A travel diary

I went on an impromptu 5D4N trip to Nongsa, Indonesia last month and decided that I’d (finally) get to writing my first travel diary! I hope that you guys will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed documenting my trip! 😊 Also, I’ve reviewed and rated my trip to Nongsa at the end of the post for those who are interested to pay the island a visit!

DAY ONE: HELLO 🤗

As we were taking a ferry to the island, the trip didn’t call for us to wake up early. On the contrary, we left for the island at twelve noon. Nongsa is actually a short forty-five minute ferry ride away from Singapore and definitely a great place to visit for even just a day trip. The ferry was also not as shaky as I had expected from previous experiences. However, seating on the ferry is based on a first come first serve basis.We stayed at Montigo Resorts, which I have to say is absolutely stunning! I mean, this was the very first view that greeted us upon our arrival at the resort.

Picture perfect

Little cutie who came into my photo 😍

Everything about Montigo Resorts is so dreamy that just being there makes me want to retire and live there for good already!! The first thing we did after checking in was to fill our hungry tummies. So off we went for lunch at TADD’s restaurant, located in the resort itself.

Outside TADD’s

While waiting for our food to be served, I took a stroll around the restaurant. I mean, how could anyone resist the temptation to explore when there’s a pretty view all around?!

Cloudy skies

Here comes our drinks!!

Then, we decided to rest up and hence headed back to our villa. With a private pool and nothing much to do, we went for a dip in the evening. The highlight of it all was honestly the setting sun. It was such a beautiful sight that photos ain’t gonna do no justice!!

 

The breathtaking sunset as viewed from our balcony

We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Pantai also in the resort as we were far too exhausted from swimming.

DAY TWO: EXPLORING + SHOPPING 🛍

On the second day of our visit, we explored Nongsa with a private tour guide, who brought us to Barelang Bridge, a chain of six different types of bridges connecting the islands of Batam, Rempang, and Galang! Kind of reminds me of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge! 🤗

No idea what i was laughing about. Probably how ridiculous i looked

Our tour guide then brought us to a Kelong seafood restaurant. So what exactly is a Kelong restaurant? Basically, a Kelong is a house built on stilts out at sea. Think kampong style.

The place we visited was a kelong cum restaurant. We had the opportunity to hand pick the different types of seafood as well as the way the food was cooked. Definitely an interesting experience. As for the kelong, the kampong children run freely and are totally comfortable diving into the waters. Stray dogs and roosters roamed the roads. It was definitely an eye opener as I’ve neither experienced kampong life nor witnessed it first hand before.

If there’s one takeaway I have from my visit to the less ‘touristy’ side of Batam, it’s that being in the kampong alone had the effect of making me appreciate everything I have. Life as the kampong children know it isn’t the same as we do. Though there’s nothing like what we consider fancy in their lives, the children simply appreciate what they have and have fun, which I found really heart warming…

After lunch we visited a kueh lapis factory, which makes kueh lapis fresh out of the oven everyday. There were many flavours to choose from such as cheese, mocha, chocolate and durian. This is definitely not your typical kueh lapis shop with merely the original flavour.

She was trying to wave at me!

Really creamy ice cream that I got for only RP 25000 / SGD 2.50 🍦🙌🏻

Having done a bit of exploring, we decided to take a stroll in Nagoya Hill. Later on we decided to settle dinner at a casual dining restaurant before heading back.

DAY THREE: TAKE IT SLOW 💤

Day two really tired us out and as such, we spent day three sleeping in, watching movies and relaxing within the resort. We lunched at TADD’s again, because they have quite a wide selection of food.

My iced blue latte and my sister’s strawberry smoothie

It was roughly 4.30 when we finished lunch. We returned to the villa to laze about. I also went up to the rooftop which is really breezy, with a spectacular view of the resort from above.

DAY FOUR: I’M SICK 🤒

I woke up not feeling too good but tried my best to get through the day BECAUSE ITS THE LAST FULL DAY 💪🏻 I got a few mandatory rooftop shots after breakfast before visiting Kepri mall! Kepri mall has a huge variety of restaurants so you’ll be spoilt for choice! But the downside is that there isn’t much to shop for in Batam, so ya girl sure was a little bored at this point. 

The view from my breakfast table

We lunched at a Hong Kong restaurant in the mall, bought donuts and then went back. Since I was feeling under the weather, I got a cuppa to keep me awake!

The later part of the day made up for the boring ‘shopping’. The photo-taking continued in the evening and though I was feeling tired I really didn’t want to waste the day! As we were shooting by the beach, I got to witness the beautiful sunset again! AHHH 😍😍

My face looks so chubby here omg

Fire fire burning bright

Fun fact: If you look closely, you can actually see Marina Bay Sands in the distance

DAY FIVE: GOODBYE 👋🏻

Everything comes to an end~ Same with this trip 😭 But it’s alright as I’ve had fun and it was a good getaway 😊 We left the resort after brunch and took the ferry back to Singapore, marking the end of our trip!

The look you have on your face when you know you’ve had a throughly relaxing trip

❗️OVERALL TRIP REVIEW ❕

Personally I feel that Montigo Resorts is a great place to relax and just chill out. The staff are really friendly and helpful so that’s definitely something that will make your stay at the resort memorable. Every inch of the resort is super pretty so it’d also make for good photos! The food at the two restaurants we ate at were really tasty so if you happen to be staying there do give them a try. The only complaint I have is the substandard water pressure. So if there’s one thing that could be improved upon it’d be the poor water supply and fluctuating water temperature. Personally, I would recommend staying at the resort for 4D3N as anything longer than that may be a bore. So here are my ratings!

In the resort 🌊
Overall: 9/10
Food: 8.5/10 (food at the Chinese restaurant Pantai is 10/10 while food at TADD’s is 7/10)
Friendliness of staff: 8/10
Cleanliness: 7/10
Facilities: 8/10
Pocket friendly: 6/10
Accessibility: 6/10 (the resort is far from the city, but near the ferry terminal)
Photo worthy: 9/10 😍

That sums up my trip to Montigo Resorts in Nongsa, Batam! I hope you enjoyed reading my travel diary 😊 I’m looking forward to writing more travel diaries hehe! ❤️