Glamping at The Canopi

WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY!!

Sunset at The Canopi

Ever heard of Glamping? Hahaha. It's actually glamorous + camping put together. Well..  The Canopi has been on my list since last year so the bf and I have decided to go for it (partly to clear off my annual leave for 2015 and also have a mini celebration for our monthsary.) No we don't usually celebrate our monthsary but if we could kill two birds with one stone, why not? It also serves as a relaxation get away for our minds and soul!

Anyway... so we have been surfing around the net for the cheapest and value for money package around and decided to go with the agency straight chancing upon Groupon. I did not purchase from Groupon as the agency was very near my workplace. I have booked my stay with Lokopoko Travel and it was a swift and efficient transaction :)

My agent was Melanie and she answered all my questions and everything was processed nicely. Initially it was a 3D2N but we thought a 2D1N would be sufficient enough so yup! Changed our itinerary to a Wednesday ferry and we will be back on Thursday night. Taking a weekday return ferry also means no surcharge!! We also upgraded from Safari Tent Suite to Lagoon Suite at an extra cost of $40. Seaport tax was $54 and the 2D1N package was $238 for two pax. Total damage = $332.

So....... on Wednesday! We woke up early in the morning to catch our ferry at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. Had to check in 1.5 hours earlier than the stipulated ferry time so we got there about 1000 when our ferry will set sail at 1110 hours!

Hello!!

Reception area

The journey to Bintan was about 1.5 hours and the time to clear the custom was super short. We had to leave our passports with the custom upon arriving which made us felt super uncomfortable because it's the most impt document when you're out of your own country?! (Our passports will be returned to us upon check-in at 3pm.) Once we stepped out, the people from Canopi were already there waiting to transfer us which only took about 5 minutes to reach!

Otw to Pujaseri!

Stalls in Singaporean hawker style lol

Can't remember what stall was this, almost everywhere sells the same thing

A plate of Squid, Egg, Hash brown, Chicken Wing and Rice! IDR 35000 (SGD S$3.50)

As we had plenty amount of time to kill, we walked to the "white house" in Canopi and rented a Electronic Vespa Scooter for half a day at IDR 250000 (SGD S$25). Started our journey to the Pujaseri Hawker to fill our tummies!! Their food was normal nothing special and the place was... small.

Of course, we had to have Magnum whenever we're in Indonesia!!! Its only like RP20000 (SGD $2?!). Cheap thrills ;)

Lagoi Mall or ghost town? Lol!

Just doing our thing!

Lagoi Beach. Kinda reminds me of Patong hahaha

Scooted off to Lagoi Mall and Beach afterwards and it's the worst mall I've ever been to?!!? THERE WAS PRACTICALLY NOTHING and turned me off so bad the moment I reached. The place was pretty clean though, that I would have to admit and it's near The Sanchaya!!! What a pretty resort that is :)

Lagoi Lake. Saw this on our way to the mall, not bad right!

Went to Nirwana Gardens after to look at the Kelong Seafood Restaurant! Was deciding between this or BBQ right outside our tent but decided to settle for the latter. Oh what a wrong choice, more on that later! I CAN'T BELIEVE WE SCOOTED AT 30KM/HR FOR LIKE 3 HOURS?! LIKE 30KM/HR ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! (I used to go mentally crazy when my driving instructor told me to drive at 30km/hr.) I swear I don't know where all that patience came from... and the SCORCHINGGG sun. Oh my I can't even... Headed back to Pujaseri again to get some snacks and water and back to Canopi for check in!!!

Cute tents

The bed!!!! The linen was a little hot though

'Luggage' cabinets and big ass air conditioner at the side

The interior of the room. Didn't take any pictures of the outdoor bathroom as I'm not an 'outdoor bathroom' kinda girl.. I really like my bathroom indoors, clean and well... it's just the most important factor to me wherever I go. Hahaha!

Bathed and changed!

As we had about 3 hours to kill till dinner (we are having BBQ), we decided to watch Harry Potter (all the episodes were screening on TV) instead of heading out to bask in the sun. It was reallllyy warm. I never had any problems with getting any sunburnt so this was considered my first time (because of the ride from the scooter)!! VERY.PAINFUL. To make it worse, the sun only burnt a rectangle shape on my legs.... NOT EQUAL, NOT PRETTY.

Waiting for our bbq!

Foooooooooooood

Anyhow the staff from Canopi will actually prepare your food and get them delivered at about 1830 hours and allow you to start BBQ at 1900! It was nicely set up for us and all we have to do is put the wire over the fire and start barbecue-ing! The boy and I was so excited until...we had our first bite. OMG I can't believe I actually chose bbq over KSR!! The food was quite bad and only the Chicken Wings was good. Guess it's true when they say you get what you paid for. But at IDR 370000 (SGD $37) and for these little amount of food (there's still marshmallows and a few more meat), it wasn't exactly justified. Nonetheless, we enjoyed ourselves very much and had a great time watching HP marathon from the door :) It was a great night, with our alcohol from the ferry terminal, chocolates and chips! After all how many times can you actually BBQ right outside where you sleep, right?

This sums up my DAY ONE.

Breakfast spread

Woke up early for breakfast and definitely did not expect much ever since we tried their BBQ food. Lol. Indeed, only the omelettes were good!! The spread was quite meh... and I only tried a few mouth here and there.

Was supposed to chill at the Crystal Lagoon and take a few pictures because the main point is the lagoon right?!! The weather however wasn't in a good mood and it's too hot to even step out of our room. Sigh back to room.....We did not have much time left in the room since we had to check out at 1200.

White float at the lagooon ^^

SO... 

8 HOURS TILL OUR FERRY BACK TO SG. 

HOW TO PASS TIME?!

D' Bintan Salon Day Spa

Reception

Massage beds

Decided to book our massage with D' Bintan Massage and Spa because it's the cheapest around! Took many brochures and asked for price and this seems like the best out of all. Located at Pujaseri, you can just call them and they'll send a car over to pick you up! Yay. (You may contact Erwin at +6282386410888, he's really good and will not cheat your money hahaha!! plus there is a 15% off).  We did the Tropical Massage for an hour which cost IDR 595000 for two (SGD $64 after credit card conversion)

It was initially 4 hours till our massage (booked the slot at 1600) so we wanted to watch a movie on our laptop in the resort. Then again, the heat jussst had to kill us. Both of us aren't a fan of heat (as you should probably sense by now). Lol. Went to the reception, changed our ferry timing to the one at 1735 instead! It was quite sian because I had to skip sunset at the Kelong Seafood Restaurant just for an earlier ferry back home.

Kelong Seafood Restaurant 

Salted Egg Yolk Crab 450G IDR 360000

Sambal Kang Kong IDR 118000

Black Pepper Chicken IDR 155000

Erwin (from D'Bintan) arranged a car to pick us to Nirwana Gardens for Kelong Seafood Restaurant right after our massage and back to Canopi to take our luggages. He got us a one way transport back to Canopi at only IDR 120000 when usually it costs IDR 150000. Sounds good! The food at KSR was good though overpriced. Spent about IDR 653000 for two and will definitely be back if I ever come back to Canopi again.

My favourite pic!

Returning the scooter at the reception!

All in all, THERE'S NO REGRETS though one shalln't expect to be WOW-ed!... There really isn't anything much to see nor do at Canopi/nearby and despite all that, it was a really relaxing short getaway. I would be back if they add more activities, upgrade their food quality and have more things to see.

♡