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Batam Time is lagging by 1 hour from SG Time and the boat ride is an hour, that's why. =P

anyway, i went on a 1-day Batam trip with Mr Tan & his colleagues (also my ex-colleagues) last sat.

Mr Tan & i met up with the rest of them at Harbourfront at holy 7am. Mac breakfast then off to board our ship at 820am. 

and we reach the Batam customs!




their speed of working is SPECTACULAR. only 3 counters were opened, and 1 of the "chop passport" officers was chatting on his handphone. buaytahan. we took about half hour to clear the customs.


then we went onto the minivan which we had hired for the entire day to bring us to the places we wanted to go.

when you're at Batam, you simply cant leave the place without 2 items: keropok + kueh lapis!


so our 1st stop was to grab their local products!





then to their kueh lapis factory. it's actually a terrace house converted to a factory where they only bake their kueh lapis when you place an order, so you only get the freshest. =)





after getting some of their goodies, off we went to massage! the clean and decent type la.


on the way we passed by their imperial building & their hospital.





and we've reached!




this massage centre is quite popular among Singaporeans from what i read on forums. i took the Frangipani with Avocado Body Scrub which costs SGD$33 for 1.5 hours. but the scrub is damn pain la, must be able to take it. if you exfoliate often it should be easy. many of them said they thought their skin would come off, freaking funny!!


and the massage centre ♥ me because when i came out of the room after the massage, i saw these on the table!



they will also give every customer a small cup of ginger tea to help expel "wind" from your body after the massage. reminds me of confinement though. ughh.



then it was lunch at Golden Prawn aka 555, which is also a must-visit seafood restaurant in Batam according to forums. you will see all sorts of... marine creatures... when you walk in.
















the forums say until the seafood there is sooo fresh and to-die-for so i was really looking forward to lunch. but i say the food they served was CRAP. maybe cos we went as sort of a group tour and the lunch was provided for so we were given the less-than-fresh ones. if we went there F&E we can choose the seafood ourselves. we were probably given those who were dead/dying already. eeew~

and though i didnt take the coconut for my drink, those who did commented that the coconuts hardly had any meat and the coconut water tasted sour.

also, the amount of food they served was little for the 9 of us. imagine if all 9 of us were guys, we would have to go hungry! tsk horrible place, boycott!



after the unsatisfying lunch, off we went shopping! we visited Nagoya Hill, Batam City Square (BCS) & a new shopping mall in town Kepri Mall.

Nagoya Hill was a wasted trip cos none of us got anything there. almost half the shops sell the SAME things as one another. i was wondering to myself if Batam only has 1 or 2 suppliers. -.-"



i thought everyone would be so calm for the rest of the malls. until we visited BCS.







that trolley was not what the staff was using to pack goods on the shelf. it was A's trolley, and just her alone. the humble basket is me & Mr Tan's. that bag was sooo huge we referred to it as The Bag With A Corpse. i think it weighs more than 10kg and it couldnt even go through the luggage scan machine at departure. no problem at Singapore's though. all of us looked like we were ready for war when we exited BCS. cannot blame, the groceries are darn cheap! 1 packet of Indomie instant noodles for SGD$0.20, how to not buy!! the most hilarious was when the minivan had some difficulties moving off when we were departing from BCS. luckily the driver didnt charge us for the extra fuel required.


last stop was Kepri Mall, which was nice and clean cos it was really new. the place is huge, probably the size of Vivocity. but about 30% of the shops were still renovating/not opened for business.



then it's time to grab some dinner and catch our ride home. Mr Tan & i also grabbed $99k worth of donuts hahaha.



and while waiting for our ship, we went to take a cheapo nehneh neoprint which costs SGD$2.20!



and it's finally Home Sweet Home after a long day.





that sums up my Batam trip. i probably wouldnt return again unless i'll be staying in one of their highly-raved resorts. then again if im after resorts, i'd probably go Bali or Bintan. Batam is the kind of place i wouldnt visit a 2nd time, not cos i didnt enjoy myself but cos there just aint many stuff to do over there.



enough of the long-winded post. till then! ♥