Sponsored
First and foremost, I'm reaallllllllly super thankful for this sponsored opportunity given by Nuffnang and Journeyful to experience for myself how a holiday destination like Bintan can be such a paradise.
Introducing to you:
Bintan Lagoon Resort
Bintan Lagoon Resort overlooks the majestic South China Sea and is home to sun, sea and 2 spectacular golf courses. It houses 473 Indonesian-style deluxe rooms, suites and villas that sprawl across 310 hectares of manicured gardens, with a private, milky and sandy Pasir Panjang Beach that stretches 1.5km down. Now, it even has 2 private ferries of its own to transport Singaporean travelers straight to the resort's very own jetty.
Book your ferry at www.Journeyful.com and hotel at www.Mozaichotels.com!
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Shall let the pictures bring you through my getaway.
The bloggers and invited guests met at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal at 12.30pm to do our check in and immigration procedures.
The bloggers were told that we could bring plus1 along and guess who!
Again, the bestie, Lianne. ^^
Issued our room key once we boarded the Ferry, Queen Star 1.
The Warm Welcome
by Journeyful and the staff of the resort!
These BLR staff put their palms together as a friendly greeting when they spotted people snapping pictures at them. Looked like they were trained to be camera ready.
Thoughtful of the organizing committee to station sooooo many staff along the walkway into the resort.
We were not the VIP guests, but the overwhelming welcome was indiscriminate. :)
Pleasant surprise to see the Spongebob and the (naked) Donald duck mascots posing for photos and waving to the alighting guests.
We were led through the long sheltered walkway and there was no instance where we felt bored as traditional Indonesian music rang throughout the walkway to keep us entertained. There were dancers dressed in their local authentic costumes dancing to the music with high-frequency hand gestures that I didn't really know how to appreciate. Anyhow, the message sent to every single one of us was clear. They were determined to make this 2d1n as sweet as heaven for us. Read on!!
Some visual appetizers of the first impression of Bintan -
relaxing, serene, stressfree, breezy, peaceful
It's only the start of the entry and I'm wishing to be back at the escapade already. Goooodness...
Had a glimpse of our resort buildings on the minibus!
The admin office waiting area reminds me of Jurong East MRT station doesn't it? haha
The brown version.
The Environment & the Room
Isn't this pool and this view especially amazing!? The entire island is scattered with soaring coconut trees and yes the island has captured the crucial essence of what their guests desire a dream resort to be.
Refreshing ice lemon tea was served chilled upon our arrival and this is a definite call for phototaking.
Beautiful combination of an elegant girl and a breathtaking scenery.
Lianne and I were allocated a deluxe sea-facing room.
Deluxe - yes, Sea-facing - yes but we realized that sea-facing is not necessary equivalent to sea-viewing.
I love how they design the room to be so commodious and edgy. The colour theme of brown and orange is comforting to the mind and the exquisite ambience is unquestioningly suited for a romantic staycation. ;) Envious of the couples who had their other half but hey I got chiobu to accompany.
After much discussion with the other bloggers about what this exclusive area is for, we came up that it could be for meditation, yoga, taichi, pillow fight or haishiohaishio (so as to keep your sleeping bed clean, iykwim).
Not bad at all, an interesting inclusion for the room. The gf and I utilized it fully by rolling around while discussing about our free and easy plans. Keke. Quality girlfriend time. ^.^v
The toilet.
Clean without a speck of dust. No pungent stale smell. Mirror everywhere.
Andddd..... A BATHTUB. Perfect.
If it's a 2d1n stay that you're considering over at BLR, you can lighten up your hand-carried and not fret about your toiletries. Everything is provided: Shampoo, moisturiser, conditioner, shower gel, shower cap, shaver, comb...You name it, they got it.
We had some waiting time and the camwhore action was undeclared but explicitly understood.
Lianne's OOTD - maxi
This girl has some maxi-obsession nowadays as if she's not tall and slim enough.
My OOTD - f21 bareback abstract print top and f21 shimmering bandage skirt.
Ok you can't see shimmerz. My gf has potential to be my personal ootd photographer. :p
One of the first few to finish changing to gather at the foyer is our wholehearted Nuffie, Jayne.
I was extremely impressed and touched by how dedicated she and the other Nuffies like Huixian, Tricia, Amanda, Chris etc, are at managing the considerably big group of bloggers, by reminding us what time to meet, ensuring that everyone was transported from place to place and making sure that nothing was amiss so that we could all play to our hearts' content. BIG FAT THANK YOU TO THE NUFFIES! XOXO!!
Press Conference at RICE
Rice is the bar/restaurant that is located nearest to the sea. Enjoy the breathtaking seaview while sipping on a glass of Bintan's best cocktail. If you're lucky, you'll probably spot some eye candies clad in summer-coloured bikinis and board shorts. ;)
Enthusiastic greetings from the door girl..
Y'know wad, i'm definitely coming back to Bintan for another getaway. It feels like heaven luxury to just plonk onto these atas furniture in the outdoors, and chat with your travel buddies or quietly enjoy the light breeze and sunny warmth.
Grecian-themed entrance. The entire infrastructure feels so pure and back-to-nature.
Refreshments was a delightful bunch of colours.
Table mates for the press conference:
Clarence, Jaslyn, Johnathan and Hongpeng.
Oh oh, the bar serves fresh juices, champagne, soft drinks and cocktails!
Here's one of the chief directors proudly opening the Ferry launch press conference.
Got to know from his speech that even though BLR has been around for quite some time,
many new inclusions and renovations have been carried out to revamp the home of sun, beach and sea.
All of the hotel's deluxe and deluxe sea-facing rooms have recently been renovated with the key features of the brand new built in refreshment unit (fridges), flat screen television and a range of modern Indonesian designer teak furniture.
All of the hotel's deluxe and deluxe sea-facing rooms have recently been renovated with the key features of the brand new built in refreshment unit (fridges), flat screen television and a range of modern Indonesian designer teak furniture.
The highlight of this trip is the official launch of
Queen Star 1 and Queen Star 2,
Bintan Lagoon Resort's very own private ferries that bring Singaporeans from the Tanah Ferry Terminal straight to the door steps of the resort.
We calculated that the journey only took us about 1 hour sharp, which is not even long at all.
Lianne and I have never done immigration in such a scenic and modern International Ferry Terminal.
While you wait for your passport to be stamped, the see-through glass revealing the beach, greens and resort villas outside the immigration terminal, resembling a wide angled painting before your eyes, would already have taken your breath away.
Mozaic is the hospitality management company that provides marketing support, technological solution and access to sophisticated distribution platform for BLR and Baan Yin Dee resort at Phuket Thailand.
With their help, I, as a guest, can truly sense their professionalism in delivering their superb services and sincere treatment to everybody who was looking for relaxation in BLR.
Some of the other media personnel.
<3<3<3 Old folk, Brad, and his pretty and young Melody! <3<3<3
Apologies to the unglamness of Celine and Dawn being caught on camera.
The press conference ended with a group shot of the younger Nuffnang bloggers, our cute Nuffies
and baby Wyvrn (who's bz scratching his armpit lol)
I LOVE THE SEA-VIEW BACKDROP!!!!
Couldn't help but take more camwhore shots.
My camwhore skills can fight one k. Managed to capture both our faces at a perfect angle with the entire stretch of milky sandy beach behind us! Lianne, i love this photo of us. :3
With Jaslyn, my very easily amused blogger friend. :)
Always being so opportunistic at making friends,
I finally broke the ice with the 俊男美女 couple bloggers while we waited for our bugee tour around the beautiful resort. Very coincidentally, both couples have matching names!
The S couple -
Shawn (shavvn.com) and Sharon.
The J couple -
Jaslyn (justjaslin.blogspot.com) and Johnathan
The Angsoka Villa
If you have a group of 8-10 friends who are interested in booking a villa overseas together for a short staycation, here's one fantastic option for you!
Each double-storey villa contains either 4-5 bedrooms and a fully-equipped kitchen with a stove top, a microwave oven, a toaster, crockery and cutlery that provides convenience and independence.
Personal private pool to unwind and stargaze, maybe?
Maybe not so suitable for skinnydipping cos L and I recce that you can totally peek into the private pool next door from the 2nd floor balcony. Lol.
Huge living room with square coffee table.
Can play mahjong. hahhaha.
Conference room
or Games room for the fun-loving. ;)
Single bedroom
Master bedroom with a romantic king-sized double bed and an en-suite bathroom.
Shamelessly climbed onto the lushly decorated bed to pose for a photo.
Thanks Lianne for the picture. Poor girl had to help me take so many shots for this blogpost. Hehe.
2 other rooms with the single beds.
(If the guys are not ok with slping with each other keke)
The Leisure Centre
This is a must-go at Bintan lagoon resort - the Leisure centre.
Bike rental.
If you're lazy to head to the gym to exercise,
you could rent a bike and cycle around the beautiful island and work your body abit. :)
Laser tag!!!
We had a guided tour around the maze inside - 2 levels with luminous lightings within.
I have never played in any laser quest before, so the tour around the indoor terrain kinda spooked me out.
Be aware of the slopes and enemies targeting their guns at your from the 2nd level!
I have never played in any laser quest before, so the tour around the indoor terrain kinda spooked me out.
Be aware of the slopes and enemies targeting their guns at your from the 2nd level!
The voluminous common lounge.
The exquisite swimming pool!
There's also a mini slide. Cheap thrill. :p
Adequately equipped gym.
Exercise or fitness freaks, please go ahead.
Other land activities:
ATV, amusement arcade, archery, badminton, beach volleyball, billards/snooker, board games, day spa, darts, dune buggy, go-karting, golf driving range, kids club with playgorund, mahjong(!!!!), minigolf, paintball, remote control cars, soccer, street basketball, table tennis, T-shirt painting, tandem biking, tennis...
The Golf Course &Buffet dinner
BLR is world-renowned for its 2 exceptionally designed championship 18-hole golf courses:
Jack Nicklaus Sea View Golf course and the Ian Baker-Finch Woodlands Golf course
The golf courses management also provide professional golf school coaching all year round!
LOVE THIS PICTURE TOO MUCH!
Exciting bumpy buggy ride through the golf course with Jeraldine, Poyee, Johnathan, Hp and Jas!
Another cheerful and brightly-coloured welcome~
It was definitely my first experience dining on a golf course. This idea damn cool la!
Love the Tiff and Co theme. Blue version. :3
Yet another artistic shot by my G12. ;)
Vege salad appetizer.
The mobile bar has everything!!!
My photography! AGAIN!
The Bintan specialty cocktail!
Blame my memory for not being able to recall what exactly are mixed in it,
but this cocktail is truly refreshing and is highly recommended there!
Bintan is full of love!
With the pretties, Poyee, Lianne and Jerraldine! ^^ Lucky me. Keke.
Clarence, the young-on-the-face-and-at-heart. ;)
Dinner time!
Even though the open air concept for dinner means that we have to dine in pitch dark,
the buffet crew set up spotlights and stationed many servers at every food station to serve freshly cooked food and introduce us the food type. How thoughtful! ^^
The talented chefs carved out these flowers from a watermelon! OMG!
Seaweed shaped art sprinkled with glittery sugar.
Never tasted this, so i don't exactly know what it is exactly made of.
Fruits kingdom! HOW CAN YOU NOT WOW AT THIS?!
(I need a DSLR to capture the beauty of this)
Honestly, I wasn't exactly comfortable with dining at dimly-lit places cos
I can't snap pictures of the yummylicious food without natural light. 
TIRAMISU!!!
Sky Lantern and Ziwei's wishes exposed.
HAHA I'M VERY BUAY PAISEH!
So gonna disclose ALL MY WISHES that I wrote on my 1 and only sky lantern which soared into the pretty night sky at first try. <3 Judge la judge la. I'm very simple-minded one!
Earn more money,
stay happy with Leonard,
graduate with good grades,
good health for all my beloved ones...
Pass driving test,
improve youtube viewership,
improve blog viewership,
become prettier and smarter!
Become a successful singer-blogger at ziweisandy.com. :)
I think so far I'm doing great cos every single post is sincere,
I'm not hiding any agenda, neither am i acting shy/mysterious on this personal space. :3
YAY ALL READY TO LAUNCH IT!
Lianne and her sky lantern.
I'm not too sure whether I can share her wishes,but you can easily guess that hers would be along the line of maintaining her second-upper CAP, dream job as a beauty journalist, and i forgot the rest. :x
Unfortunately, her first 2 sky lanterns didn't manage to fly into the sky without self-destructing into the sea.
Her last one did! YAY ALL OUR WISHES ARE GONNA COME TRUE! GOGOGO! <3
Sneaked a little wish on Lianne's final sky lantern which flew up! *shy* JUST JOKING. :p
Silk Bar Night Club
After the sandy affair at the Sky Lantern mass launch activity,
our minibus dropped us at Silk club, the night club located nearest to our rooms with live performances.
Posh interior with red theme.
They've these jellyfish private tables which make the club really unique from the rest!
Camwhoring with Jas inside da jellyfish. :3
Lianne!
I don't remember how many drinks i ordered. :p
The cofounder of Journeyful treated some of the bloggers to cocktail, Sex on the beach!
Was really overwhelmed that night by the idea of being 100% sponsored for, even drinks!
Shots after shots, cocktails after cocktails, games after games (i suck at games),
the night could have ended better if the clubbers were less shy to head down to the dance floor.
The night ended with both the gf and I slightly tipsy, but we did control our drinking, so no hangover the next day! Imagine those who stayed till later. :/
Breakfast at Kopi-O Restaurant
Pancakes, omelette, sausage and apple juice for me.
Tell you something cool, if you ever visit BLR, you MUST have brekkie at Kopi-O cos
they've got 2 omelette push carts that serve freshly cooked omelettes. You can customise the ingredients you wish to include in your omelette. Hardcore eggfan is craving for them again. Haiz. (It's 3am now)
Extra perk from rojak-style cereal - chococrips, cornflakes and rainbow rings. :3
Le bf's favourite, but too bad he isn't around. Nanynanypoopoo.
Off to the beach!!!
The view from Lianne and my deluxe sea-facing room.
Erm yes, it's facing the sea, but the coconut trees are unfortunately blocking. :/
Can see the sea? It's just beneath the blue-ness. I can still feel it. And damn I miss it.
Indonesian massage by the beach.
Have to take off clothes one. Lianne and I did't have the time for this because we're gluttons.
So yup, we couldn't take anymore photos simply cos we went for WATERSPORTS!!!!
Took the flying fish and banana boat ride there.
Flying fish: Many have been asking me how the fish flies. So, yup it's simply a huge inflated float that can accommodate 2-3 people. The speedboat will drag the float at such an extreme velocity that the entire float suspends in the air like a kite. Sexciting max!!! We were merely in lifejackets and had to hold on tightly to the handles on both sides to secure ourselves to the float. For those who know that you don't have that upper body strength, take it at the risk of falling into the sea while being flown like a kite! Sounds fun actually yea since you'rve got the life jacket anyway.
Banana boat: It's as literal as it seems. There're 2 rows of supposed bananas that can take about 8 people on board. Same thing as the flying fish, the speedboat drags at high speed. But the thrill of this ride is the bumpiness and turns. I'd say, even though I've taken the banana boat a number of times at Sentosa, Singapore during Sports Camps and all, this recent experience was the most powerful and most adventurous. By the end of the 15 minutes, the screamers at the start were already shagged out totally as evident from their faces. Some of us attained muscle-aches on the arm, back, thighs and butt. LOL.
(Is it already very obvious that I love the watersports part the best!? ;D)
Lunch at Miyako Japanese Restaurant
Japanese-style garden just outside the restaurant.
Lianne was already raving about dining at this restaurant for lunch on the first day (or the day before the trip)!
We are Jap food fans, so I agreed almost immediately (after making sure that everything was really sponsored)
Another artistic shot! ;)
Neat traditional table set up, themed green.
Bintan is a cocktail paradise really.
I ordered the Creamy Coco and totally had no regrets, in fact i wanted to order 1 more glass of it.
Mixture of banana, vanilla ice cream, baileys and I forgot again. And yes I have a super sweet tooth, which explains why I can nvr slim down to my ideal body size.
Lianne's
My usual routine when visiting a beautifully designed restaurant - go around to snap pictures with my lousy (relatively to the other bloggers) but precious G12.
They even have a teppan counter where you can collect your warm and fresh food from.
The J couple and the lookalike girlfriends (they're straight). :)
Now the food!
Chawanmushi, my must-have when I head to any Jap eatery. :3 I'm gonna die from high cholesterol.
Very fluffy and runny! :3
Our epic sashimi platter shared between Lianne and I.
Johnathan doing the OPPA SASHIMI STYLE!!
I must put this 1 more pretty picture of the pretty bestie on the blog. :D
Philadelphia roll - cream cheese wrapped in fresh salmon. 8 of this is too much as compared to my usual intake, but I finished them anyway simply because they're irresistible.
Fried scallops! Alot of flour la!
Jaslyn's vegetarian dish!
Looks pretty healthy and yummy too.
Salmon overload but we love it like this. Lianne and I ordered 1 more set of salmon sashimi each and wiped them all out ourselves.
People say that your tummy will always reserve some space for desserts no matter how full you are, but i'd like to add on that the stomach will always have enough capacity for any amount of fresh chilled sashimi. :3
King prawn teppan! Juicy, tender, nicely seasoned with garlic bits.
Going home :(
Didnt't really take a lot of photos because we started suffering from withdrawal symptoms the moment we entered the immigration point.
With the S couple!
Finally got the chance to take a solo picture with baby Wyvrn
cos Hp had been hogging the cutie to himself, claiming him to his plus1 throughout the trip. :p but not joking.
Ending the post with YET ANOTHER picture with Brad on Queen Star 1.
And with his pretty girlfriend, Melody this time round! Such an honour. :D:D:D:D:D
Someone really sweet to sacrifice his omnipresent blazer to someone else now. ;D
Spent a hell lot of time on this post even though I've tried to summarize the 2d1n more simply already. I'm just being informative and repaying the kindness of Nuffnang and Journeyful. THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN!
Booking info
Ferry booking: www.journeyful.com/#/Find/Ferry (Starts at $62SGD)
Hotel booking: www.mozaichotels.com/bintanlagoon (Starts at $140SGD)
Hearts,
ZiweiSandy
P/s: I've really put in a great deal of effort to come up with the detailed yet compressed post with a hell load of photos which I spent quite some time editing (colours and exposure). Feel free to chat with me through the Nuffnangx conversation function! I'll reply ya as readily as i can! :)
Meanwhile, my next post will be on Spooktacular @ Sentosa! Stay tuned!
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