Batam Trip

Batam is an island in Riau Islands Province of Indonesia. It is located approximately 20km off Singapore, with the ferry journey from Singapore to Batam taking around 45 minutes – the perfect weekend getaway near Singapore.

I blogged about going to Batam the last time here: http://coffeeluvs.blogspot.sg/2010/08/time-to-finally-blog-about-my-batam.html. My previous blog post is so duh with no photos, etc. I will blog better this time. As I read my old blog entries, I find that my blog posts are getting better. Hope that my readers will like and appreciate it and that I can improve my writing skills.

Anyway, Onyee said that she wanted to spend her birthday overseas. Due to budget and time constraint, Onyee, Rachel and I decided to just head over to Batam for a short getaway. We took the 9:30am ferry from Singapore Cruise Centre at Harbourfront centre. More info here: http://www.batamfast.com/home/index.ashx. For hotel wise, we stayed at The Hills. More info here: http://www.thehillshotelbatam.com. Although it is a budget hotel, the staff's service is excellent. Very prompt and polite. Moreover, it is located just across Nagoya Hill which is superb. Very convenient to go shopping, spa, facial, etc. Although I heard some people mention that there's only wifi in the lobby but not in their rooms but we had wifi in our room. Perhaps it is because we stayed on the second floor which is quite close to the hotel lobby, that's why there's free wifi in our room. By the way, we stayed in a deluxe room.

When we reached Batam, there was a bus to take us to The Hills. After we had checked in and left our luggages in our hotel room, we crossed the road to Nagoya Hill for lunch at A&W. After lunch, we got a driver (Onyee booked him when we were still in Singapore) to drive us around Batam and see some of the tourist attractions. We even went to a temple where I prayed. The driver cost $7 per hour. Actually, there wasn't really any tourist attraction in Batam. It is still a better place to shop in the supermarket, do facial, spa, massage, foot reflexology, manicure, pedicure, eat, etc.

Checking in to our hotel. The hotel lobby isn't grand but doable. 

The bathtub isn't clean.

Nagoya Hill.

At one of the supposedly famous bridge in Batam.

The scenery is beautiful.

OMG! My hair is so messy!

At the Batam museum.

Batam's old jail cell.

Afterwards, we decided to stop by a kelong for some drinks.

The coconut tasted really awful =.=

Dragon fruit drinks.

Onyee enjoying her dragon fruit drink.

We went to the factory outlet near BCS Mall. They sell lots of T-shirts there. Should really explore BCS Mall one day. Didn't have the chance to do so when I was there.

Based on some blog reviews, Onyee, Rachel and I decided to try out Wey Wey Seafood. You all can just take a cab there. Most taxi drivers should know the way.

The otah is simply awesome! 

The butter crab is so-so only.

I love the sotong too.

The black pepper crab is also so-so.

After dinner, we took a cab to our hotel. Cost about Rp50,000. Rachel slept in the hotel room after dinner while Onyee and I went supermarket shopping. We bought lots of pads. The pads there are really cheap and of reasonable quality. Even their local brand Charm's (didn't see it in Singapore) quality is not bad. I also really love the Frestea (can't remember the spelling) there. Cheap and good.

We shopped in the supermarket until it's time for closing. The cashiers at the check-out counters are so slow. As some of the exit doors had closed, we lost our way and had to make a detour back to our hotel. Walked until we were so tired.

Breakfast in The Hills.

My Loots! Haha.

After breakfast, we went to Eska Wellness (http://www.eska-wellness.com/aboutUs.php). I did facial, eye-brow trimming and foot reflexology. Onyee did facial and body massage. Rachel did facial and eye-brow trimming. I would do manicure and pedicure if I have the time and money. By the way, they do accept Singapore dollars there. If you simply can't survive without Internet, there's free wifi in Eska and the Hypermart at Nagoya Hill.

Their facial room. Not much privacy but you can do facial with your friends.

Can wear our own clothes while doing facial. Something which I like.

After facial. The therapists did a great job in removing my blackheads. Although it was really painful, at least my face was clean =). Decided to tip her Rp20,000.

Went for eye-brow trimming too. 

I also did foot reflexology. The foot reflexologist is not bad. Feel quite comfortable and he can speak English.

We had a quick lunch around Nagoya area before heading back to our hotel to get our luggages and went back to Singapore. The cab fare from our hotel to the ferry terminal cost Rp60,000.

I like the Fruit tea there too.

The Ayam Prenet is not bad as well. 

Ice-cream at A&W. Melts really fast!