Day trip to Johor Bahru

 Mr Love is very fond of massage but the services in Singapore are just too expensive to patronise. We tried going once to JB which his colleague recommended but the journey was too far and we weren't really familiar with the roads and gave up after that.

Recently, he keep bugging me to search for something near to go too again and I stumbled across this massage center near to Woodlands Causeway named Bangkok Spa.

Decided to try our luck to make our way there with no GPS help. Only armed with a hand drawn made by my colleague which seriously makes me second guess how accurate it is.

Turns out it's pretty easy though we did got lost in the process.

My directions (Follow at your own risk)

1). Keep right lane after exiting Malaysian Customs (Its a up slope)
2). Go straight, keep left lane, Petronas and Shell station should be on your left. Do not go up the flyover.
3). You will hit a junction which is under the flyover. Turn right.
4). Go straight, make a U-turn at the 2nd U-turn you see along the way. The 1st U-turn should be pretty near to Pelangi (Pink building) but unless you know how to navigate your way through the gardens to get to the place (We don't).
 5). After making U-turn go straight. On the way you will see Jalan Serampang on your left. Go straight further till you see a colourful hotel (Bliss hotel)
 6). Turn into the lane perpendicular to the hotel and Bangkok Spa is 200m down the street.

It's pretty easy if you know where Bliss hotel is, but we didn't know and ended up making a big detour before realising the mistake.

Shop front

The shop opens at 11am and we reached aound this time. It was still pretty quiet and we are one of the 1st customers. The good thing is, there are carpark lots outside the shop and there would be someone helping to look after your car. This is a concern to us since we heard countless stories of smashed windows. Not worth to risk it for a massage.

TV in the room

 We chose the traditional Thai massage package for 2hours at RM95 each. On top of it, we also took a VIP room which means we will have the whole room to oursleves at additional RM30 for the room. They told us that they will be adding 6% GST on top of the charges. It was much later then I realised that we were cheated. GST in Malaysia didn't started till Apr 2015. We went in Dec 2014. Basket.

Anyways, the prices were agreed before the massage and we only need to pay after the session. No other charges were added.

Mattress

Truth to be told, the masseurs that was assigned to us were pretty good. Working non stop for 2hours and had really good skills. We felt much lighter after that. Though some reviews were negative on the services but we encounter nothing like that.

In fact, we even tipped them a little for the hard work done since it was pretty tough to massage for non stop for 2 hours.

The ambience was good too though I hope the TV would have much more to offer. I nearly fell asleep in between the massage but managed to stay awake since passports and monies are all with me. Mr Love on the other hand took a nap.

 There was also a bathroom in the VIP room where we could change back to our clothes or wash off the oil after the session.

Happy after the massage

 After the massage we were famished. Drove around the neighbourhood and decided to take lunch at Lavender which is a famous bakery and there is a restaurant above the bakery.

Table decorations

 By now we didn't have much cash left since I did not factor in lunch since we are supposed to rush back for a dinner date with my parents. Anyhow we still ordered main course since we were very hungry.

Peppermint tea for me

Expresso for Mr Love

Interior

 The price here is still acceptable if you take in our favourable exchange rate. Ambience is good too with very good service staff.

We order spicy chicken wing before main course and tucked in immediately when it is served. The chicken wings are tasty alright but I do not like my fried chicken to be dipped in sauce since the skin will lost the crispiness which is not exactly to my liking.

Spicy chicken wings

 My prawn Aglio Olio came next. The prawns are big and juicy and grilled to perfection. No kidding.
 Grilling the prawns till they give out a bit of the grilled taste but not chao-tah requires certain skill. The prawns were pretty fresh judging from how easy it is to peel them off the shells.

 My mil once told me that prawns that sticked to their shells are not fresh anymore. So from then on I judged their freshness by how easy it is to peel off the shells. Hehe

My main course

 Mr Love ordered grilled chicken which is quite a big serving and with potate wedges and some seasonal vegetables served alongside. I didnt' get to taste the chicken and couldn't comment much. But the picky eater was very happy with his main course and I assumed it is nice too:)

Mr Love grilled chicken

Wefie in the restaurant

They do served wine here and offered set meals along with it but since we are non drinkers, we gave the set meals a missed. Total bill was around SGD 60 and we left the restaurant happily filled.

The bakery down stairs is not to be missed too if you are a fan of Lavender cakes and bread.