Friends who know me well would learn of my reluctance for holidays to anywhere but Japan. However, with three friends pestering for confirmation and a post-worklife adrenaline, I agreed purchase a deal for a trip to Batam, Indonesia. Deciding on a Friday, we arrived at Harbourfront Ferry Terminal early in the morning and after the first of many hearty meals to come at McDonalds before we boarded the ferry, which reminds me of my weekly trip to Tekong during my Basic Military Training.
One hour and a short nap later, we were at Sekupang Ferry Terminal meeting our tour guide, Ah Heng. If there’s one thing I hate when I’m traveling, it’s guided tours. I’ve always been more comfortable with free and easy, but in the case of Batam, there are really limited places you can visit and you probably don’t wanna go to those places alone. The tour consisted of visits to local snacks shops, souvenir shops, traditional dance performance (which includes fire and glass eating), factory outlets and a house that makes layered cake. For some reason, you would see Ralph Lauren Polos everywhere at killer prices, but I wasn’t in the mood to shop in Batam. The entire feel or the place was just dreary and it drains my energy quickly. After resisting the locals snacks and home-made layered cake, we headed to Golden Prawn 933 for a seafood lunch as part of the tour package.
Gong Gong at Golden Prawn 933
Golden Prawn 933 was supposedly the go-to place for seafood in Batam, but the whole setup felt way too much like one of those touristy locations. The menu included gong-gongs, sweet and sour fish, chilli crabs, kai lan, deep fried calamari, and was pretty average. We ended our tour with an hour long Balinese massage at Sawadika Massage. Ah Heng tried to upsell a lavender aroma “upgrade” for SGD$10 by stating the health benefits of aroma therapy and how using the standard cream would leave your skin oily. I would advise that you do not waste your money on this “upgrade” as it’s obviously a whole lot of bull. Anyway, the massage was pretty solid despite the some parts of my body feeling sore afterwards. Those masseurs were strong!
Arriving at Novotel, I was impressed with the double room, also included in the package. A quick word with the bell hop revealed that most of Batam’s nightlife happens in the stretch behind Harmoni Hotel. After the bag dump, we whisked away on the free shuttle ride to Nagoya Hill. The first sign we saw when we arrived was A&W’s and boy, was I looking forward to it. We made quick work of the place and proceeded to a roadside satay stall just outside Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall. The chicken and mutton satay tasted weird, but the Es Jus Alpukat was really good. However, do prepare for a constant flow of beggars coming up to your table. I half expected to get overcharged for the meal but the entire meal for 4 of us cost just SGD$10.
After our ten-minute walk navigating roads without pedestrian crossings and dodgy-looking youths loitering, we arrived at Harmoni Hotel. Going behind the hotel, we visited Chilli Bar and Ice Pub for really cheap beers. Both bars had hostesses that you could probably pay for the night, but they left us alone as we were a mixed group. The main clientele of both of those places were middle-aged Caucasian men, and no prizes for guessing what they were looking for. After experiencing the lack of a scene and really poor vibes, we hopped on a cab back to our hotel rooms and spent the rest of the night playing cards and talking over cans of Heineken.
The next day, we booked a massage with Isabella massage, which came highly recommended from various blogs. They picked us up from the hotel to Nagoya Hill where the massage place was. I was half-worried that I would “merlion” the morning’s buffet breakfast during the 2.5 hour Thai massage, which costs a mere IDR250000 (about SGD$36). They brought us to Batam Center Ferry Terminal after the massage and it was homeward bound!
All in all, I enjoyed myself thoroughly and the above described trip costs no more than SGD$180. With only massage and eating worthy of my itinerary, one really can’t expect much of such a cheap holiday. I, however, probably wouldn’t come back again.
All photos with captions here.
