Batam...my second destination in Indonesia in my whole life. Never knew what was waiting for me there.
I've went to Batam by Firefly direct from Subang airport. From udara in Batam, I can see Batam has many small islands close to main island which is very beautiful for me. But I am not sure if there are any resorts available there.
I've reached at Batam airport around 1pm local time and my present was waited by our company local agent. While waiting for few more members to arrive from Jakarta, we went for quick drink inside the airport. The local agent asked me, "bro, minum apa bro?". After some simple chatting, I realized that the local Batam people talking malay in dialect which almost similar to Malaysia. This is easier for me to understand compared when I was in Bandung previous week.
After all members gathered, we went to centre of Batam to have our lunch. Of course Nasi Padang restaurant. Nasi Padang is actually malaysia Nasi Campur where there have many lauks to choose and eat it with rice. The lauk have many variants from fishes to chicken and beef. When we are having the meals with many peoples, we can asked them to serve the lauk on the desk. After finish the meal, the restaurant staff will come to desk and count how many lauks have been taken and calculate for the charge. Different with Malaysia where when we ask to serve the lauk on our desk, restaurant will charge the lauk by the time they serve. It is a waste if we are not finish all meals as it has been included for payment.
In Batam we can see many retails selling cheap shirts, hand bags, chocolates, and perfume. Friends from Jakarta said that Batam is popular with the cheap handbads etc. However it is hard to confirm if the item is original or fake.
One night, we had our dinner at Golden Brown restaurant. The local person said the restaurant is quite popular for tourist. At the entrance, we can choose any lobster, fishes or crab we like from a room containing with few marbles ponds. The restaurant also entertain visitors by a live shows, dangdut ler. Surrounding the restaurant is a fish pond which according to them, the place originally a swamp area and they purposely develop the area for floating restaurant above fish pond.
Going there with a friend who does not like to explore places, I made my decision to explore around hotel alone. Just to look for anything interesting around here. Once I got out from hotel compound, a person from across the street called me offered a taxi ride. Every minutes while I'm walking along the road, countless of taxi offer came. I am not sure if it is normal and always happen to everyone including local people. Also when I walked beside to a food stall, all of the peoples at the stalls suddenly stop talking and looked at me. To make sure if I am not embarrassing myself with ripped trousers, I checked my wear found no problem. A shabby crocs shoes, just bought jeans, shabby tshirt, G-shock watch, and my laptop bag without the laptop to keep anything that I might buy. I entered a few shops selling watches, bags etc. Just to look the items and the price. But have no interest to buy any. Most of the items I can found here in Malaysia with a similar price. After walking around 15 minutes, and feel uneasy with the people surround kept watching on me, I returned to hotel.
Batam is an island located very close to Singapore. In weekends, the area will full of tourist especially from Singapore. I heard that hotel should pre-book earlier if you planning to go to Batam in weekend as the hotel will always fully booked. As anything are always expensive in Singapore, make a trip to Batam for shopping and rest is also a good option beside Johor. Batam also lived by many chinese descents community. It is not hard to find a good chinese restaurant like Golden Brown restaurant. If you like for natural, there are many islands surround Batam that can provide good experiences like Bintan Island, Tanjung Pinang area or Pulau Galang.
I was in Batam only for 3 night for meeting purpose and sure I do not have much time to explore Batam more. But I think Batam is a good place to have rilexing condition beside other popular islands like Bali.
I've went to Batam by Firefly direct from Subang airport. From udara in Batam, I can see Batam has many small islands close to main island which is very beautiful for me. But I am not sure if there are any resorts available there.
I've reached at Batam airport around 1pm local time and my present was waited by our company local agent. While waiting for few more members to arrive from Jakarta, we went for quick drink inside the airport. The local agent asked me, "bro, minum apa bro?". After some simple chatting, I realized that the local Batam people talking malay in dialect which almost similar to Malaysia. This is easier for me to understand compared when I was in Bandung previous week.
After all members gathered, we went to centre of Batam to have our lunch. Of course Nasi Padang restaurant. Nasi Padang is actually malaysia Nasi Campur where there have many lauks to choose and eat it with rice. The lauk have many variants from fishes to chicken and beef. When we are having the meals with many peoples, we can asked them to serve the lauk on the desk. After finish the meal, the restaurant staff will come to desk and count how many lauks have been taken and calculate for the charge. Different with Malaysia where when we ask to serve the lauk on our desk, restaurant will charge the lauk by the time they serve. It is a waste if we are not finish all meals as it has been included for payment.
In Batam we can see many retails selling cheap shirts, hand bags, chocolates, and perfume. Friends from Jakarta said that Batam is popular with the cheap handbads etc. However it is hard to confirm if the item is original or fake.
One night, we had our dinner at Golden Brown restaurant. The local person said the restaurant is quite popular for tourist. At the entrance, we can choose any lobster, fishes or crab we like from a room containing with few marbles ponds. The restaurant also entertain visitors by a live shows, dangdut ler. Surrounding the restaurant is a fish pond which according to them, the place originally a swamp area and they purposely develop the area for floating restaurant above fish pond.
Going there with a friend who does not like to explore places, I made my decision to explore around hotel alone. Just to look for anything interesting around here. Once I got out from hotel compound, a person from across the street called me offered a taxi ride. Every minutes while I'm walking along the road, countless of taxi offer came. I am not sure if it is normal and always happen to everyone including local people. Also when I walked beside to a food stall, all of the peoples at the stalls suddenly stop talking and looked at me. To make sure if I am not embarrassing myself with ripped trousers, I checked my wear found no problem. A shabby crocs shoes, just bought jeans, shabby tshirt, G-shock watch, and my laptop bag without the laptop to keep anything that I might buy. I entered a few shops selling watches, bags etc. Just to look the items and the price. But have no interest to buy any. Most of the items I can found here in Malaysia with a similar price. After walking around 15 minutes, and feel uneasy with the people surround kept watching on me, I returned to hotel.
Batam is an island located very close to Singapore. In weekends, the area will full of tourist especially from Singapore. I heard that hotel should pre-book earlier if you planning to go to Batam in weekend as the hotel will always fully booked. As anything are always expensive in Singapore, make a trip to Batam for shopping and rest is also a good option beside Johor. Batam also lived by many chinese descents community. It is not hard to find a good chinese restaurant like Golden Brown restaurant. If you like for natural, there are many islands surround Batam that can provide good experiences like Bintan Island, Tanjung Pinang area or Pulau Galang.
I was in Batam only for 3 night for meeting purpose and sure I do not have much time to explore Batam more. But I think Batam is a good place to have rilexing condition beside other popular islands like Bali.
