Batam Indonesia - Bye Bye Batam

There are five ferry terminals in Batam. When I first arrived, my ferry landed at Sekupang Terminal. When I left, I took the ferry from Waterfront Terminal. You need to take note that once you arrived Batam, it is important to confirm your return ferry tickets as soon as possible to ensure you get the time slot for your departure.

That Sunday, Waterfront Terminal had only two departures, i.e. 2.30 pm and 4.30 pm. The 2.30 pm was full so I ended up taking the 4.30 pm ferry. It is actually better to take the 4.30 pm ferry so that you can have a nice slow lunch. The late check out at Harris Hotel at 1 pm is actually very helpful too.

Hubby and me had buffet lunch at Harris Hotel that cost us S$15 and we spend about two hours there eating the buffet and watching repeat telecast of the world cup in the coffee house. At 3.30 pm the free shuttle bus from Harris Hotel fetch us to the ferry terminal.

You need to prepare S$7 for the departure fee before you enter the ferry terminal.

So it is bye bye batam and home sweet home Singapore. It will be months later before my next trip...hahaha.

Batam Indonesia - Harris Hotel

We had breakfast in the coffee house of the hotel and something caught my eyes. I saw all these plates signed by our mediacorp artistes. The one I am familar with must be the one in the centre "Guo Liang". Did not take photo of the buffet breakfast cause too crowded at the buffet table.

This is so cute. Harris Hotel has a small pond where there are so many cute ducklings swimming around.

Hubby and me took a walk around the hotel beach before checking out time. We saw some youngsters enjoying rides on the sea scooter. It is not cheap renting these, it costs about S$20 for ten minutes rides.

Batam Indonesia - Harris Hotel

We stayed at Harris Hotel during our weekend getaway to Batam. The hotel is really very nice and the staff are so friendly and efficient. Whatever you want, they try their best to get for you.

From the balcony of our room, we could view the pool.

The hotel has a small bowling alley in their premises.

Our package included one free game of bowling, one pizza per room and free shuttle service to Nagoya Shopping Centre and one welcome drink.

Batam Indonesia - Buffet at Harris Hotel

After a whole day of sightseeing, we finally settled into our hotel. Hubby and me decided to have BBQ buffet by the pool at the hotel we are staying. We stayed at Harris Hotel, Batam.

The prices are all quoted in Singapore Dollars. The BBQ buffet costs us S$35 nett.

It was an enjoyable stay at Harris Hotel. The staffs are all very friendly and efficient. They really made my stay so pleasant and happy.

Some photos of the food at the buffet.

Batam Indonesia - BCS Shopping Mall (Batam City Square)

The earlier cancellation of two hours of part of our tour due to the sudden and heavy downpour, resulted in us stranded in this mall for three hours instead of one and the half hour...lol

The mall looked very new and just like one of the malls in Singapore. The stuff sold there are not cheap and are comparable to Singapore prices.

I did not shop much, if I have known better, hubby and me should have watch a movie instead...lol. By the time we discovered the cinema, there's not much time to watch the movie. It is so much cheaper to watch a movie in Batam, for weekdays, the cost of a cinema ticket is RP15,000 and for weekend it is RP20,000 (exchange rate RP6400 = S$1). Watching a movie in Singapore during weekend can costs about S$8.50 or S$9.50

Batam Indonesia - Street Scenes

Some photos of the street scenes in Batam. It is always cheaper to eat at coffeeshops like the above photo then in restaurants and in eateries in the shopping malls. But most of these coffeeshops are non airconditioning same as those found in Singapore.

A local market in Batam. Geez, we dont get to visit the local market as it was not in our itinerary and we dont have time to rush in the market to take a look...lol. Spotted this market near a souvenir shop that we were in and we were given twenty minutes to shop in the souvenir shop instead of the local market, geez.

Took the photos of the malls from inside of my tour bus. There are several shopping malls in Batam now compared to when I first visited Batam in the late 80s.

A street vendor selling his goods from his van. So cute. The bags are all made from batik and they are not costly. The bags are well designed. I bought some. The small bags were sold at three for S$5 while the bigger bags were sold at three for S$10. Most of the time, they traded in S$ because of the close proximity to Singapore and the majority of the tourists are from Singapore.

The bags are folded like rectangles and open up into a bag.

Batam Indonesia - Heavy Rain

The sudden and heavy downpour cancelled some of our tours. It was so sad and a waste.

We have to miss a cultural show, visit to Batam Folk Culture Villages Miniature, High Rope Teambuilding, Go Kart, ATV, etc. The rain took two hours of our tour away.

The youngsters in our tour group are not happy cause they have been looking forward to the Go Kart and ATV rides and the rope climbing, etc

We got stuck in the souvenir stores browsing through some local products.

The two hours that we missed because of the rain, meant we have extra two hours in our last stop at the big shopping mall.

Batam Indonesia - Seafood Lunch

Lunch was at Golden Prawn Restuarant. I did not take photo of the restaurant and lunch. Too hungry to remember that...lol.

A short video showing customers choosing live seafood for lunch.

Batam Indonesia - Buildings

We got a chance to look around some of the buildings and houses during our walk to the layer cakes/kueh lapis factory that was situated in the residential area. Our bus could not go into the residential area, so we need to walk towards the residential area.

Some very beautiful buildings where the shops are located on the ground floor and residential on the upper floors but the whole area looked so deserted with some shops not occupied.

Look at the satellite dish on top of the building. Very common to find them on the island.

A house in the area undergoing renovation/rebuilting.

According to the guide, one such unit costs around S$30,000. It is so cheap but only available to the locals and not to foreigners. Such landed houses in Singapore cost more than a million dollars.