The continuation...
Bintan Day 3
Wake up in the morning to D who has already woken up first before me and he was watching TV. So, we got up to wash up and headed down for breakfast.
The breakfast place is called 'Warna Warni Restaurant'
And they had a change of menu compared to yesterday's
I was so happy to see them doing the bull's eye egg. Lol! Like literally so cool.
And D wanted his omelette.
And we were quite lucky today because it wasn't the school holidays plus it was a weekday, so we had the whole crystal lagoon to ourselves. See how beautiful this place is. The closest I can get to Maldives I guess. Hehehe!
We didn't swim for long, so after half an hour, we showered and changed. We headed down to the lobby restaurant, The Patio. This is where you will book your BBQ night session - The Canopi Grill with, not at the activities lobby reception. We were unsure at first too and asked the activity counter at the lobby and they directed us to the restaurant.
The prices and range you can choose from.
D and I wanted to choose the BBQ Set A for 2 person but we realized we don't like certain food, so went for ala carte but the order have to reach at least 55,000 IDR. That was easy. LOL!
So we ordered:-
1) Chicken Wings X6 - 20,000/Stick = 120,000 IDR
2) Beef Skewer X3 - 30,000/Stick = 90,000 IDR
3) Local Satay (Chicken & Mutton)/6 pcs = 50,000 IDR
4) Squid Skewer X3 - 20,000/Stick = 60,000 IDR
5) Crab Stick X3 - 15,000/Stick = 45,000 IDR
6) Sotong Ball X4 - 10,000/Stick = 40,000 IDR
7) Jacket Potato X2 - 10,000/Pcs = 20,000 IDR
8) Fried Rice X2 - 80,000/Portion = 160,000 IDR
9) Potato Salad X1
And it cost us about 600,000 IDR. Greedy much? Hahaha!
We then to head for Mangrove tour but the staff said they will have to charge us double the price per person because we are the only ones going for that tour. We then cancelled the tour. I would rather we go for the tour with at least a few people. The more the merrier, no?
Lol!We had no idea what to do or where to go when D suggested Plaza Lagoi. (D wanted to do e-scooter again but I was like "Not again?"
) Plus, I didn't want to go to Plaza Lagoi ever since Pujasera. I read the reviews online that this place is as good as ghost town too. Even the driver who drove us to Pujasera said there is nothing much to do in Plaza Lagoi besides some eating places but since we had nowhere to go, we decided to head down there just to pass time and look-look see-see.
Plaza Lagoi
We booked the ride from The Canopi to Plaza Lagoi. The driving time is about 10 minutes long compared to Pujasera.
When I saw the external design of the shopping mall, I went wow. It looks nice but the driver told us, that only the 1st floor is accessible with some cafés and 1 tourist shop but it was all empty on the 2nd floor. True enough, the place look really like a ghost town. LOL!
Anyway, they have shuttle bus too in case you only want to save cost by taking 1 way transportation instead of 2-way. But since D and I are not having lunch there, meaning we won't be staying long, so we decided to get a 2-way drop + return trip from the Canopi.
Their shuttle bus timing.
This is how Plaza Lagoi looks like in the inside.
Creepy ah this train. HAHAHA! But we spot 2 locals there. I really wonder what do the local people do there. I mean compared to Singaporeans, we will still be loitering around shopping malls etc at 11pm. But here in Bintan, probably nope? Given a chance, I wouldn't even think twice to because it looks like basically there will be no one around, maybe just a few people that is.
Now I'm starting to the difference between Bintan and Langkawi. Despite Langkawi being an island on its own further away from anywhere, it is actually more "hype and up to date" with KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks accessible. In comparison to Bintan, it is as good as having nothing. Even the tourist shopping spot is expensive. Lol!
Anyway, our driver us asked what time we wanted to be fetched back. I asked him the "smart" question of how long would people usually shop & spend their time here. He said for at least an hour or slightly more if they are having lunch here. So, I told him to pick us back in 1 hour's time.
D and I visited this shop called Oleh-oleh tourist shop. We bought some "unique" food like certain chips and crackers that cannot be found in Singapore for souvenir. And again, I bought Magnum Ice-cream of a different flavour. Lol!
Halal Tiramisu.
While D and I were seated down enjoying our Ice-cream, our driver walked past us (I did say they will not drive back first) and saw us sitting down doing nothing besides eating Ice-cream and we still had like 40 minutes to an hour before being fetched back. Our driver then suggested us to go to the Lagoi beach further down. Since we had nothing to do, we headed to Lagoi beach and the driver helped us with our shopping plastic and brought it back to the car.
While walking down to Lagoi beach, we noticed there are small push cart stall and immediately I clued in, this is the Lagoi Pasar Malam which operates only on the weekends. But funny thing, I thought it was a big one, looking and googling through all the pictures online, only to see it so small, like having 8 stalls is that?
No food sadly. Lol!
Another Lamak Basamo. We didn't try dining here but I hope the stall owner here is nicer compared to the one in Pujasera. Hurhur.
Some more stall but it looks like it's half-operating. Lol!
Some Lantern Garden exhibition I supposed.
Lagoi Bay / Lagoi Beach
We are finally here.
Lol! I did bekam 2 days before this trip, the reason why my back looks like that. Hehehe!
It's actually nice that we get to go the beach. I love the beaches and I still remember during our honeymoon in Langkawi, we weren't advice to go to the beach since it was the jellyfish season.
We then wanted to check out the Singaporean DJ, Flying Dutchman's café - Flyboyz beach café but sadly, I guess the café has already been closed down. It has now turned into a different café called Warung Yeah. We were hungry and wished we could dine in to one of the café but we were looking forward to our BBQ session too. Hehe!
After a few minutes, we finally bid goodbye to this place and headed back to the canopi.
The moment we reached back to our tent, we saw our BBQ set-up right outside our tent. So happy and yet so hungry that I cannot wait. Hehe!
The Canopi Grill
We told them that we wanted the BBQ by 6.30pm and slowly the food was served to us one by one and I cannot wait to indulge.
D was the sweetest, while I was hungry indulging on the fruit salad (I ordered potato salad but they send the wrong order but it's okay I was too hungry to complain. Haha!) D did the most BBQ-ing.
Half-way I was feeling slightly full, so I helped D to continue BBQ instead.
Then we realized we ordered too much food that we couldn't finish them. I even saved the jacket potato and brought it back all the way to Singapore to eat. Hahaha! After eating, we called the reception to get our BBQ waste and leftovers cleaned up.
It was time to pack our clothes since we were going to check-out the next day. We both literally were in food coma while packing our stuff. The BBQ session was definitely fun but it would have been better if our family was there, so we can take turns to BBQ or at least have fun BBQ-ing together.
Bintan Day 4
We had breakfast in the morning first.
And we had our chillax moment in the tent before checking out at 12pm. So I took this opportunity to take a picture around the place.
The "open space" toilet.
Checking out time.
Bye bye Crystal Lagoon
We paid the activities by credit card since they already had block a certain amount in our credit card. We can choose to pay by cash but I was afraid that they won't return the already 'blocked' amount to our credit card, so might as well just deduct the amount that they have already block. And they have already prepared our ferry tickets too during check-out, so we don't have to worry about the ferry tickets.
We then waited for at least 15 minutes before the bus brought us back to the ferry terminal.
The 7 seater-car that we rode around to Pujasera & Plaza Lagoi.
Did a last minute shop in Bandar Bentan Telani Ferry Terminal. We bought kuih lapis mostly.
And we are ready to go board the ferry back to Singapore. Hooray!
Some of our loots,
We stayed a total of 4 days and 3 nights in The Canopi and it mostly shock the staff there that we actually stayed that long. Lol! I guess mostly people stayed for 3 days 2 nights. But anyway, D and I had a relax and fun vacation. The staff there are all super duper friendly. We don't mind coming back here again to chill but probably we won't stay that long as before since we have already explore much of the places here.
Another thing, the canopi is nearby a mosque. So you can imagine how soothing it feels having to hear the sound of azan or prayers call each time it is for prayers and then you get to hear people reciting the Qur'an too. So, of course D will make sure that we at least perform our prayers.
At the same time, it had the Sentosa feel because you can also hear the in-trend music being played from the Crystal Lagoon (not when during prayers time) from the safari tent. And try not to speak too loud especially when you are in the toilet. Remember it's an "open space" toilet, so you can basically hear people from the outside talking and people from the outside can hear you in the toilet. Hehehe!
XOXO,
Princess Azie Anni ♥
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