Batam: The Unlikely Adventure

Introduction

Batam. Where do I start this unlikely adventure?

The Adventure
2 days 1 night trip to Batam on a budget
Weekend getaway


About Batam, Geography and How to Get There?

Batam is located south of Singapore (about 40-45 minutes ferry ride). It is a free trade zone island and is one of the largest islands in the Riau archipelago.

Batam is famous for being an industrial zone for Singapore companies outsourcing their manufacturing facilities.

A running joke in Singapore, Batam is where the Singaporean men keep their second wives.

Doesn't so funny if you are from Batam, Singapore or a man does it? :(

It is known as a famous budget weekend getaway especially for folks looking for cheap seafood, A&W and J.Co donuts. And maybe some light shopping.

Most Singaporeans head on to Harbour Front MRT and get on to the second floor at Vivocity to take the ferry down there.

While we were on the ferry, we decided to go upstairs and go for the scenic view. Remember your sunscreen.

Batam also has the Hang Nadim Airport but still go for the sea route man!

The ferry process of boarding, customs and immigration on both sides are similar to that of an airport, so no surprises there. As soon as we docked there, it was huge crowd at the immigration. Mainly due to it being a weekend. After 30 minutes or so, we were finally let into Batam.


Duty Free, Cash and Money Changer

There are many money changers at Harbour Front, so fret not if you didn't get local currency.
I advise change your currency to Rupiah and use Rupiah as much as possible. The rates are better.

Avoid places which uses the Singapore Dollar (SGD) because you will be literally paying for Singapore prices in Batam.

I heard of many incidents of scrupulous money changers in Indonesia, so my advise change what you need in Harbour Front.

This trip I changed about 150 dollars and came home with a lot of balance.

Alcohol can be purchased at Sekupang Check point and is relatively cheap. Buy one, you won't regret it later (see Night Life).
Beer and any other alcohol isn't really cheap in Batam so make use of duty free.

Note you can't bring duty free alcohol into Singapore if you stayed for less than 48 hours. I think you need to stay longer for that. Do check out Singapore ICA website for more info.


Best Way to Enjoy Batam

Now the cheapest (and best) way to enjoy Batam is to get a package deal.
I paid full prices because I came on late for this trip. A package deal can be less than SGD 100. But anyway this is what I paid.

• return ferry tickets SGD 47
• transfer to and fro Batam Centre/ Sekupang to Hotel in Nagoya (SGD 17), which I think I may of paid the agency twice for the tax.
• extra bed for the night SGD 45 (with a welcome drink and morning breakfast)

There are many tour agencies in Singapore which handle Batam, so a quick Google and hey presto, budget weekend getaway.


Hotels/ Nagoya Mansions

Outside view of the hotel

About 20 minutes drive from the Sekupang we arrived at our hotel in the Nagoya area.

Our hotel is located in town and was in the residential area. Nagoya Mansions (hotel name) looked pretty brand new.

There is still more being built in this hotel including a sky bar and a spa.

It was pretty decent. The staff is friendly and loved the food and the morning breakfast especially the nasi lemak is a must try.

The only peeve I have about this place was the air-con was poorly maintained so we were kinda sweating waking up in the morning.

Here are some more pictures.

The Room

Still in construction

Nagoya and Nagoya Hill

Nagoya's new name is Lubok Baja. If anyone can solve the mystery why this place is called Nagoya (after a Japanese city) please comment.

Nagoya Hill on the other hand is sort of a shopping district, where you can find shopping malls, food, massage, spas, karaoke and other wholesome family entertainment. The place is gated so vehicle can't come in after certain hours. This is would be about 10 or 11 PM local time.

Spa, Massage and Facial

Now the one thing you have to try when in Batam is the spas, massages and facial.

I won't go into details but Nagoya Hill has a strip of spas, massages and facials. Check them out and ask prices first.

A&W Craze

For some who might be too young to remember the root beer float and the A&W bear, well you are in for a treat.

You can't find A&Ws in Singapore but you can find it here in Batam.

We found one at Nagoya Hill and another at Batam Center.

But we couldn't find the bear anywhere.

J.Co Donuts

J.Co is a donut place. Coffee and tea is served. I saw the assortment of donuts. Yummy!

Well you are on holiday, so indulge. I bought a cup of coffee and it came with a complimentary donut.

The prices according to my colleague is half of what you get in Singapore.

You can find it at Batam Center so you don't need explore far to get a fix.





Batam Center

Batam Center is rather interesting. If you want to be in Batam just for the day, then after docking at Sekupang check point just walk over to Batam Center. You get your A&W here, J.Co here, sports goods, DVDs and even some local crafts. Shopping to me is minimal. I would equate it to Johor's Kotaraya. Anyway we had some time to kill before our ferry arrived. So we just chilled.


Turi Beach




Haa, what can I say about Turi Beach. It was the highlight of the entire trip.


The beach itself took about 40-45 minutes drive from our hotel in Nagoya.
Costs for cab 104,000 rupiah using meter.
The return trip without meter was about 150,000 rupiah.







We realized 2 things while we were at Turi Beach.

One, everything is paid in Singapore dollars which makes for an expensive stay. And two you get your Singapore mobile phone signal.

Anyway the expensive prices turned us off and we decided to take the spas, massage and facial in Nagoya Hill instead.








But we did have time to try out some water sports while at Turi Beach. Also paid in Singapore dollars.

The resort itself is built on a cliff and the view is marvelous. Take a look see.

Night Life

There wasn't much stores opened after 10 pm and the fact that we were roaming around after 11 plus (local time) didn't help.

There was this one pharmacy opened 24 hours close to our hotel but no 7-11s or any 24-seven local franchise stores here.
We walked back to Nagoya Hill and yup there was some Family Karaoke's opened till late.

At the hotel it was difficult to find alcohol at this hour. We inquired with the hotel reception and they told us there are pubs in some hotels which we never checked out.

So that bottle of liquor purchased at Sekupang Check Point comes in really handy now.

Bintang Beer is a local beer. Can't review cause couldn't find a bottle. Tiger, Carlsberg and Heineken seems more abundant.

Do drop comments if you have seen other good night spots.


DON'T PANIC:

Street Food, Musician and Beggars

Few things you need to be wary of when eating out in Batam
We headed for some street food so to say. It wasn't exactly fantastic but we wanted the experience anyway. You will be approached by street musician and beggars who both may go "Yo brother".
Although we gave some money to the street musician, we did not entertain beggars.

Advise:

• Like sharks smelling blood, once you give in to one, every other beggar and street musician will rush over to you.
• About the street musicians, they will be singing from table to table and probably may not know more than some classic Indonesian 80's hits like "Madu and Racun". At some point when we were trying to pay for food they started becoming bothersome. Constantly placing their tipping hats to our faces.
• Back to food, it was only so-so. Satay tasted very different. But loved the rice cake. The seafood was OK. The total bill was SGD 70 including beer and a lot juices for the 8 of us. But I guess it doesn't get more economical than this.
• Do not attempt street food if you have problem with hygiene.
• Do tip your good waiter who attends to all your needs but do it discreetly and subtly.
• Check your bill before paying. Insist on finding out on what you are paying for. They did try overcharging us.

Staring (Didn't you mom ever tell you it's not polite to stare at people?)

I don't know if this is local thing, we get stared at, like a lot.
We walk into a restaurant, we get stared at.
We make a wrong turn into a street and some locals was smoking at a corner, we get stared at.
We walked in to pharmacy, we get stared at.

Advise:

Smile, ignore and keep walking


Taxis

Beware of taxis. Do get a cab which uses a meter to save you the headache on price negotiations.
Once you give off that scent you are not a local, every person will approach you for a cab.
True story on two occasions, a car just stopped in our path while we were walking. Literally blocking our way. Turns out to be cabbies.
So this is how the cabs or taxis work.

1. The hotel cab: Usually works with negotiated price. The cabs are usually in good quality and air-conditioned.
2. The meter cab: The meter is there so you pay what's on the meter. This is usually the cheaper option and is hard to get.
3. The street cabs: Usually identified with signs on the roof and sides. We been into really good ones and terrible ones. Teribble meaning dirty seats and no air-conditioning. So far we didn't find one that uses a meters.
4. The not-a-cab: They look an feel like street cars. This is basically just locals turning their privately owned cars into cabs. They can be a pain. On one occasion, two of them were fighting to take us. They are aggressive and needless to say no meters.

Advise:

• Ask hotels for help on getting a metered taxi. These guys will be polite enough to ask if you like them to come and pick you up at a later time. If they do, then estimate how long will you wait and a rendezvous point.
• Avoid the not-a-cab, if possible.
• Try not to haggle over 1000-2000 rupiah it's not worth the time.
• So far I found the difference between metered and not metered taxis to be in the range of 5,000-10,000 rupiah.

Spare Clothing After Turi Beach

The cabs refused to take us because our beach clothing was wet.

Advise:

Wait till you are completely dry or better yet bring spare clothes. Turi Beach has toilets and facilities that you can use even though you are not a patron.


Long Queues

There is a long queue on Saturday mornings at Batam Center customs/immigration checkpoint and Sunday evenings for boarding the ferry also at Batam Center.
It can't be avoided.

Advise:

• Keep your stuff in easy to carry bags like a back pack.
• Try the earlier trips if you want to avoid crowds.

Alcohol and Night Life

We forgot the one basic rule is that the community here are mostly Muslim, so alcohol and night life is still much a no-no.

Advise:

Be wary of you who ask cause you don't want annoy a local.


Food

There is food for every kind of taste buds. So no worries there.

Advise:

• Try to stick to restaurants. 
• Street food can be unhygienic.Plus if you are into seafood, do check out reviews on other sites like Tripadvisor.

The Milk Tea

I couldn't end this entry without talking about the milk tea.
Well Batam's version of tea is not something you find in Malaysia or Singapore.
It's condensed milk, water and a hint of tea.
So Tea Milk Shake anyone?

Advise:

Try hotels, J.Co and other franchises if you wanna avoid this tea.