Travelogue: Batam, Indonesia - May 2012

Blogging about my 4 years worth of trips would need me to backtrack real hard.  I guess starting with the most recent one is the best way to go – A short getaway to neighboring Batam, Indonesia.

My husband and I wanted to go somewhere for our 2^nd anniversary last May.  We didn’t have the luxury of time to go farther ‘coz my husband just started with a new job.  At first, we were only planning to have dinner in one of the fancy restaurants around Singapore and it must be somewhere we haven’t been to.  Since both of us are food buffs, we are hoping to try from any of the so-called celebrity chef restos at Marina Bay Sands.  Well, that plan didn’t materialize, realizing we have to spend few hundred bucks for an experience that will not even stay longer than 3 hours.  So we opted for something with at least a night hotel stay.  We’d still probably try the resto next time… :)

Thanks to www.deal.com.sg where we found 2D1N Eat, Shop & Stay Package from Falcon Travel.  For $98 sgd, the deal includes return ferry tickets, return land trasfers, guided city tour with seafood lunch, a night stay at Holiday Inn Resort and a hefty buffet breakfast.

Redeeming the deal was a breeze.  We just dropped by Falcon Travel office at Harbourfront Tower, presented our passports and got our tickets, tour stickers, hotel vouchers and itinerary.  I must commend the friendly tour consultant from the office named Tero Boey!  He was a darling! 

For those of you who do not want to travel all the way to Harbourfront, I think you may also call/email them to redeem the vouchers and then the tickets can be claimed 2 hours before the scheduled departure.  Knowing how packed the ferry terminal is during weekends, we opted to drop by the office 3 days before to save ourselves from hassle on the day of the trip itself.  Worked for us!

I'm in no way connected to Falcon Travel, but here's the card for anyone's reference.

We left the ferry terminal at 9:50 am, and arrived at Batam an hour later.  Upon clearing the immigration formalities, we were greeted by our friendly tour guide, Juni.  With a warm smile on his face, he politely asked for our passports and collected $14 sgd as terminal fee (that’s $7 each).  I was a bit surprised that Batam terminal fee was collected at this early stage of our trip and that we had to surrender our passports too.  This was probably our 3^rd time visiting Batam but this is the first occasion when we had to do such a drill.  I wasn’t too comfortable leaving our passports behind.  In fact I was skeptical, but seeing everyone adhering to it, I proceeded anyway and boarded the tour bus. :)

We were glad to have taken the front seats of the tour bus and just in front of us was the funny, Juni, who was very busy making full use of his microphone. We were taken to the following destinations. Apologies if I can’t post pictures of these places and the food that we enjoyed at the Seafood Restaurant.  My husband and I were both attacked by habitual laziness and opted not to take the camera as we hop off the bus.  Yes, we were too lazy even to use our iPhones!

• Maha Vihara Duta Maitreya Temple - One of the largest in South East Asia according to Juni.  He added that whispering your heart’s wishes while rubbing the buddha’s head, could make them all come true.  Of course, we did it!  After all, we still throw coins to wishing wells!
• Miniature Park - You can see traditional houses from the 27 provinces of Indonesia.  We just spent a good 10 minutes here.
• Branded Outlet - Sorry, but my husband and I found the outlet rather small and limited.  Most of the items were not as cheap and do not look authentic too.
• Batik and Indonesian Souvenir Shop - Aside from the traditional souvenirs, this shop also offers wide variety of “branded and luxury” bags, wallets, passport holders… only, they are all imitations.
• Kueh Lapis Shop - We tried some but never bought any.  It was really yummy and you can even place an order and have it delivered to your hotel so you can bring it fresh back to Singapore.  The price is a bit touristy though.
• 933 Golden Prawn Seafood Restaurant - Probably the best part of our day tour! Hahaha! They served chili crabs, cereal prawns, squid, fishball vermicelli soup, sweet ‘n’ sour fish, ginataang kuhol or snails in coconut milk, garlic veggies and of course, plenty of rice.  I think I still missed something else.  They were served hot and fresh, partnered with any beverage of our choice.  Most people in our tour group opted to have fresh coconut juice but the two of us had soda.
• Beng Kong Dry Food Product Outlet - My husband got 2 bags of corn crackers here and they were cheap.
• Batam City Square Mall - We didn’t explore the place as much due to time constraint.  The mall is fairly new but if you’re looking for famous brands, you wouldn’t find them here.  It houses the “famous” Ayam Penyet Ria – the smashed Indonesian Fried Chicken.  I love this dish and it’s just sad that I wasn't able to try it from this store.  I’m taking a mental note to try it next time as the store also has a branch in Singapore.
• Spa - Sorry 'coz I cannot remember the name of the Spa but it’s somewhere near the BCS Mall.  The massage was pretty good for the price.  I paid $30 for 90 minutes full body massage+scrub.  My husband went for a 90-min full body massage with essential oil and paid the same amount.  There are cheaper options, starting from $15. 

It was already around 6pm Indonesia time when we were dropped off to Holiday Inn Resort.  The hotel is very charming - not too grand but expectedly, far better than Harris Resort although Harris boasts more activities you can enjoy.  Staffs were all friendly and to our delight, our room was upgraded to 2-bedroom suite!  We don’t need the other room but definitely, we can use more space!

Lovely pool! A nice place for a short getaway! :)

Holiday Inn Resort Batam: Our 2-bedroom suite

From the balcony of our room, we can hear live band music coming from Terrace Café, the resort’s in-house restaurant.  The ambience was inviting and you can dine next to the lovely pool.  We ended up having dinner there, although we knew it’s gonna be expensive.  In all fairness, they have a wide spread that suits our palate. Saturday was a BBQ night and brought out the carnivore joy in us.  There were other selections like fish, noodles, veggies, sushi, sashimi, roasted stuff, sauced up viands, incredible appetizers and desserts.  In summary, the food was great and I especially liked the roasted beef with grilled veggies and black pepper gravy.  It was impeccable!

Yummyyy! Food porn!  I wasn't able to take photos of the rest from inside the restaurant.

Check in counter, lobby, game room upstairs (for an extra charge), restaurant exterior (Top 4 photos)
They also have playground for kiddos (left photos).  The rightmost photo is the gateway to the gym and in-house spa.
Photos of the two of us!

We spent our 2^nd day lazing around the pool and enjoying the comfort of our room. We were even offered a late check out, gave us an additional hour to watch HBO. Hahaha!  And by the way, turned out our passports were delivered to us in the hotel complete with the terminal fee receipt.  It saved us from the long queue of paying passengers at the terminal. Good stuff and good service!

It was another trip to remember albeit it’s short.   More importantly, travelling on a tour group means meeting new friends.  At times, you talk to a stranger but after a few words, few laughs, it would feel comforting to add new contacts to your phone and new friends to Facebook.  My husband and I were all smiles – more inspired when we got back to Singapore.  Short and sweet! :)