QW's belated bday lunch for me @ Maison Ikkoku + 2D1N Batam trip with HT + Prive @ Keppel bay with YB! + Bah Kut Teh @ Balestier!

Met up with QW aft she came back from Taiwan. We tried popiah somewhr near Bugis street, and headed to Maison Ikkoku around Arab st for lunch! *Changed SGD100 for IDR926,000 for Batam trip!*

Pretty packed on a monday even during lunch hours at Maison Ikkoku, and poor two of us had to squeeze around one small wooden table... which is supposedly for one pax nia I reckon. Their salmon big breakfast was pretty much your average standard outside, though the watermelon pieces were round in shape... cute haha. *Thank you QW for my bday presents too! Love the necklaces!*

Bought and tried Rich and Good Cake Shop's kaya Swiss roll too... mum liked it cos it's not very sweet, though I must say the shop auntie was pretty rude.
Finally confirmed my Batam trip with HT~ and off we went to Batam last Sat and Sun! Two of us reached the Ferry terminal and HT cannot wait to grab Choya wine at the DFS.

HT suggested we went over to the non-air area to enjoy the breeze~ and awesome neh... my hat almost flew away lol! She loves the sea and though I'm not ur "sea-lover", I loved the breeze too... and I actualli prefer outside than in the air-con area cos I guess I'm a lil' sea-sick and I get uneasy if I feel the waves exceptionally unsteady and yet I can't "see" what is happening outside...

After alighting at Sekupang terminal, we proceeded to take a cab to Harris Hotel at Waterfront... costed us IDR 45000 for a 10-15mins ride. Paid SGD50 deposit and we were given a 4th flr non-smoking rm at the new block~

Honestly, the swimming pool wasn't as awesome as it looked online. Our room was decent and spacious enough. I liked the whole orange concept of Harris... feels very welcoming. *Then again, the stuff sold at their hotel's mart is super ex as compared to those at Nagoya's mart lor.* HT saw Harris Spa and wanted to try their hot stone massage, so we went about to look for H Spa but apparently they dun hav that massage available atm so sad~ Walked ard a bit but nt much scenery... nt even at the beach side. No one was playing the water activities at all.

We planned to head to Nagoya shopping mall and do massage outside, so the taxi counter guy offered us a "to-and-fro" taxi service and charged us IDR 225000 for the round trip, and that the taxi uncle would bring us ard and come to fetch us whatever time we feel like. Initially, we wanted to go for seafood at Golden Prawn, but HT said seafood in Malaysia is cheaper, so we gave up the idea, and just went for shopping and massage. Alighted at Nagoya shopping mall, which was about 15-20mins away from our hotel and we tried the fried ebi shroom (IDR 17000) and Mango Yakult green tea (IDR 25000) which was yummy!

Bought myself a pair of slippers for IDR 59000 too... which is cheap! Then, we hopped back onto the cab and the uncle (lucky he is the few that knows English) drove us to Indo Thai massage parlour which was only about 5mins away... our appointment was at 4.30pm. *Well, I'm sure they earn some commission for recommending tourists thr~* HT and I stick with 1.5hrs of hot stone massage (IDR 360000 each). Yes and next minute we were about naked, though given shorts and a piece of top garment. It's the first time I'm doing a full body massage, oh and I heard my neck and finger bones cracked alamak haha! I dunno was it cos I'm that weak or what cos HT almost didn't make any sound or comments thruout the session, but here I was "ouch-ing" for one moment, and saying "hot...hot..." the next when the lady placed the stones on my palms once she finished rubbing them keke. *I tried to relax and enjoy, but I couldn't help giggling esp when she touched the neck, back and waist areas lol.*
Nope I didn't fall aslp at all but was pretty sleepy by the time the massage ended... pretty unique experience~ well can always try other kind of massages in future!

Taxi uncle waited for us at the parlour till about 7pm, before we headed back to Nagoya mall for dinner. I had the seafood fried rice, and both of us shared their chilli stingray and fried sotong. Dinner costed IDR 61500 each which is super cheap la~ and though a tad too spicy, I kinda liked the food.

Surprisingly we didn't have much Rupiah left on us, so we grabbed some tidbits and cup noodles before heading back to hotel. The shopping mall... hmm nth interests me besides food haha. *Spent IDR 55100 buying tidbits for the family~*
After shower, HT and I started "supper"~ tried their cup noodles which was normal neh... and HT was forcing me to try all three flavours of Choya that she bought. *Can't tahan the flavours~ so gave up aft having a lil' of each hehe.*

HTHT-ed till like 4+, 5am in the morning and it rained in the middle of the night too. Woke up and it's Sunday and aiyoh even though there really isn't much to do at Batam, it's still not bad a get-away with ur gd friends.

The breakfast at Harris was nth exceptional... jus buffet lor. Headed back to room and we nua-ed for few hrs before checking out 12+pm, and waited for the cab to pick us up at 1pm. *Now it costs IDR 110000 just to go back... feels like we gt conned somehow cos it's some diff from the amt we came... but alas nt like it's super unreasonable.*

We were much earlier till departure check-in time at the ferry terminal and we really wanna get rid of all the Rupiahs we have, so I ate my childhood fav ice-cream: Rainbow Paddle Pop!

After ending my Batam trip on Sunday, I met with YB on monday for a lunch date at Prive at Keppel bay. Had to walk like 15mins from Vivocity, and guess what? The inner part of the restaurant was under renovation apparently, so we could only do al fresco... luckily the weather was pretty nice.

I had the creamy pasta with shrooms but told the waitress to take out their bacon... not bad but I can't stand the cream aft some time... as usual. 

*rRandom tThought: Grateful for the encouragement and advice but I think I know the rule in my heart and head well enough as to what is best to do. I feel like some things are already lost, just contemplating how to find it again.*

Mike and I headed out of office for an interview with horse owner Mr Teng, but oops we actually went wrongly to his residential area when he was supposedly  waiting for us at his office at Balestier Plaza haha. Pretty fun an interview session... he is a nice uncle. After that, we hed Bah Kut Teh beside Balestier market place which Mike said it's the place he met Desmond Koh... well the bah kut teh was pretty ex ($8) and so-so nia imo. But on the brighter side, the weather was nice that day~ and hence a pretty photo!