Went Batam the first time from 26th Nov to 27th Nov, on a short weekend trip. Woke up at 4 or 5 plus and woke up my friend too. Then we met at Harbourfront Ferry Terminal at 6.30 am. After we met up, we went and collected our ferry tickets and grabbed some food for breakfast. Then we waited to go in for our ferry ride. We passed the customs and waited at the departure hall for at least half an hour to 45 mins for our ferry to arrive. There were many passengers waiting too and it was quite hot with so many people waiting inside. Some people even jammed at the escalator there, as the queue to board the ferries was lining to the escalator there. We waited until around 8 am, the ferry arrived and we were allowed to board the ferry. So we went up to the ferry, it was under BatamFast company. We managed to get seats on the middle deck, as it was free seating for all. So everyone was trying to grab seats once onboard. Anyway the whole journey was 45 mins, so we just rested while waiting to reach Batam.
Arrived at Batam, Sekupang Ferry Terminal @ 9.45 am. The terminal looks new and there were not many people there except those from the same ferry. We passed the customs and walked out of the arrival hall..There, we met up with our day tour guide. His nickname was 'Cowboy', cos he is always wearing a cowboy hat. Then he instructed us to walk outside to go the coach bus which we will be taking for the whole day tour. So we went outside and found the bus but as we were the first few who came out first and there were so more others that we need to wait, we went and walked around the jetty first. We took a few photos before boarding the bus to wait. Finally all the people arrived, and we were off for our day trip. But before we can go to the places of interest, the tout guide told us that he needs to go to a hotel and pick up a family of 12 people @ Golden View Hotel first (they are joining us for the tour too).
So when we arrived at Golden View Hotel, the guide went to the lobby to find them. We waited for at least half an hour for the family to arrive...which we all think it was a waste of time to us. So crap...Anyway, the family of 12 finally arrived, which we were all so glad. The guide brought us first to the Miniatures House, which displays all the different houses in mini size (not so mini, though) and it was outdoor...the whole place was quite of small and looked crappy (not much maintenance on the houses too, got spider webs around, if you look carefully..lol). We walked 1 round and went back to our bus. Next, the guide brought us to the mini kart, flying fox and paintball place (all are next to each other). We skipped the kart ride, cos the route was super small and nobody is interested too. So we alighted at the flying fox and paintball area. The paintball was also super miserable..it was just target shooting..The flying fox area included high elements too, a couple from our bus went and had a try on it. The worst part is, there were many many many small flies flying around the whole area. Anyway my friend and i just walked around and see whoever played. Then, we went back to the bus..too many flies..lol....
After that, the guide brought us to see a floating restaurant on a chinese ship. It was not open for business when we were there. So we just took photos of it and left. After that, we went to a place to see a performance by some people who can eat fire and glass, and can even peel off a coconut with just biting. After the performance, we were asked to donate some money for the show. Later, we walked over to a shop which is selling layer cakes. My friend and i each bought 1 cake, which was $25 sgd each. There was a mini zoo behind the layer cake shop, so we walked over and have a peek. After that, we walked over to a seafood restaurant called 'Golden Prawn' for our lunch. It was a 7 course lunch which was included in our day tour. And we were siting a family with 2 kids, sian sia...the younger kid was having cough and she was coughing in front of the table...think her cough virus was flying to our food whenever she coughed. And she was kicking on the leg of the chair i am sitting on too!! Pek chey...Luckily i was just too engrossed on eating my food.
We had crabs, fish, fried sotong, prawns, vegetables, gong gong and a soup. The food was quite ok (not too bad) but my friend and i didn't manage to eat the fish as it was placed further from us. And nobody hardly touch on the crabs, we left quite a lot..wasted. We even had to ask 4 times for ice from the staffs, they seems like not bother to get ice for our table, we even asked the guide to help to request for ice from the staffs. But he also didn't bring ice for us, we were like going to die from thirst at that time. The coconuts were very big there too.
After lunch, the guide brought us to Da Pu Gong Temple, which was very famous in Batam. We walked around the temple for a while, after that, we were brought to a factory outlet. A couple was brought for spa treatment nearby. which was 1 hour. And for the rest who are not doing the spa, were forced to stay at the factory outlet for the same 1 hour (which was stupid). The factory outlet was just a big shop selling clothes and some shoes, my friend and i walked inside the shop for 3 or 4 rounds, just to pass the time. Finally, we were allowed to board the bus..at the time, we were all feeling hot. So we were happy to board on the bus for some air-con. After that, the guide brought us to Batam shopping Centre. It was around 4 or 5 pm when we reached there. We were allowed to shop there for 2 hours, the shopping mall was very big and there were alot of shops there.
We walked level by level, and walked the supermarket there. We bought a cup corn there, we saw Shilin banner there, wanted to buy snacks from there but we were unable to find the stall. After that, we went to the meeting point to wait for our guide to come fetch us. After we boarded the bus, the guide told us that he had to drive from hotel to hotel, as we are all from different hotels. The family of 12 got off first and the hotel they were staying looked scary...lol...the kids were complaining when they were getting off. Next, we were brought to our hotel. We alighted on the opposite side of the road, the guide took us to cross the heavy traffic to get to our hotel...And the guide helped us to check in the hotel, and we went up to check out our room after we got the room key.
The room was ok, quite big for 2, it was not as bad as i thought it would be. hohoho...we rested for a while, watched tv..then we went down to Nagoya Shopping Mall for dinner. We walked some road stalls which were selling satay, seafood and ayam penyet. But we still proceeded to Nagoya Shopping Mall for A&W dinner. We spent the last bit of our money on that meal, we even didn't have enough to pay..the staff just accepted what we had..hohoho....After the meal, we went to change some money just in case. Then we went to the supermarket to walk walk, we bought cup noodles and some snacks back.
After that, we walked back to the hotel. We bought satay and a ayam penyet just to try. The satay tasted differently from ours in singapore but it was nice. The ayam penyet was tender, more nicer...lol
After that, we jumped onto the bed and watched TV. My friend fell asleep while watching, so i continued watching it alone. Only managed to sleep after 2 plus...lol....
Day 2
Woke up at around 7 or 8 am, and we got ready for our free breakfast, provided by the hotel. There were not much variety on the food. So we just ate some, my friend tried to toast the bread and she got the bread toasted real black..hohoho....After breakfast, we walked to buy banana cakes. We just bought 2 boxes as we didn't have much money left..After that, we went back to our hotel room to wait for the guide to come pick up us. We sat on the bed, watched tv until the time comes. Then we checked out our room and waited for the guide. He was late, we thought he left without waiting for us. Anyway the bus finally came and there was another family stayed in the same hotel as us boarded the bus too.And so, we were brought to the ferry terminal and our departure time was 3 plus. But we arrived there at around 12 plus. So we were stranded there for a few hours. We walked the shopping mall opposite the ferry terminal. We walked for awhile, and tried to find seats to sit as we were getting tired. I just almost fell asleep there..it was so boring there. Finally we walked back to the ferry terminal but we were not allowed to go in yet. So it was another standing wait there.
We finally got to go in and cleared the customs. We went down to the departure hall and walked for the ferry to come (wait again)...Then we went up to the ferry but we were able to get seats on the lower deck...So we just fell asleep on the ferry on the way back to Singapore, which ended our weekend trip.
Hotel Stayed: Nagoya Plaza Hotel
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