Batam 1st Day!

Hi guys! We are back from two days 1 night trip from Batam.

Over the weekend, my family, boyfriend and i went to Batam during 9 November ~ 10 November 2013. It was our first trip to Batam as none of us had never been to Indonesia before. As i was a keen explorer to cheap neighboring countries, i decided to explore batam after some thoughts. It was a quick and fast decision.

So i called my mum, dad, brother and of course my dear to go Batam together. I booked the tickets throught Batam Fast and paid the amount online. At the same time, i booked Goodway Hotel at Nagoya. The hotel was rather cheap and breakfast were included. We paid about $75+ for one room. I felt it was reasonable.

Maybe , i should call this post :A guide to first trip to Batam

On the 9 November, dear drove us to Vivocity and all of us reached the ferry terminal at 8.10am. As i heard some horror stories from my dear, i thought that we will miss our ferry. What's worst was that the tickets were fully sold out for 9.10am. However, i had bought the tickets online and that ensure our seats. There were many people at the Departure, ranging from family, friends and students.

We found a good spot to stand. Seeing a cafe just behind of us, we decided to walk into the cafe and order some foods. After a good 20 minutes, its time for us to depart. The ferry was very punctual. We left on the dock at 9.10am. All passengers were on board on time as well.

Time to go!!

Everyone's virgin trip to Batam

The ferry just next to us

The passengers

Time to go!

A photo of us.

After a good 45 minutes ride, we had finally reached Batam. Thoughout the journey, the wind was like slapping our faces with full force.

Look at our hair and eyes.

Yeah! Reached Harbour bay!

Our ferry nearing the harbour.

We loaded our self down the ferry and followed he crowd. It was a one way route so we wouldn't get so lost around. At the arrival hall of Batam, we queued in line to get our passports "chopped". The place was really small to serve big groups. There were only 3-5 counters serving all passengers. And few counters were allocated for Indonesia citizens. So technically speaking, there were only 2 serving "All Passports". At the hall, there were signs of "no noise", "no photograpgy", "no food" etc.

All of us kept as quiet as we could be until we were out of the arrival hall. Once we were out of the custom, there were many drivers asking for "taxis, taxis" and some even follwed me to a shop, willingly to wait for us to shop finish before we hopped their cab. To their disappointment, i had plans to visit Harbour Bay Mall before checking hotel at 1pm.

We stopped outside some stores and took some photos after asking for directions.

My younger brother has grown so much taller than me.

Following the aunty's instruction, we walked to road, passing by Morning Bakery. As we didn't have some breakfast, we decided to patronise this decent looking bakery and have some foodies!

Our bread

Teh -susu

Indomie goreng

Indomie rubus

The foods were nice: breads were soft, teh susu was not too sweet, the indomie rubus was very spicy, and so as my indomie goreng. Overall, it was a nice experience.

It cost 94,000 rupiah (SGD10.38) to feed us all. Isn't it cheap?

Leaving the cafe feeling good, we headed towards Harbour Bay Mall. It was beside Morning Bakery. So, we took some photos before going there.

All of us wore very shabbily.

The first thing to reach shopping mall: to visit the toilet. All of us needed to have some sort of relief. The toilet was quite clean BUT! Surprisingly, there was no flush system at all. All they have in every cubicle was a bucket and some tap. As there was no flush system, we used the most traditional method to flush: using the water to fill the bucket and flush down the toilet bowl.

Harbour Bay Mall was just a pathetic mall with J.Co and some shops in operation. Besides that, the rest of the shops were closed. I was so disappointed to be fooled by the website. I had thought that it was a complete shopping mall with carrefour and many shops. but i was horribly wrong when we reached there. Besides the OG Home hypermart at the basement, there was nothing else. But the hypermart was a pretty good place to shop. They offered low prices for almost all foods! Dad and Xiong bought colgate and tooth brushes -.- As usual of the Singaporeans. Before entering the hypermart, we need to put out barang barang at the counters.

Some shots while waiting for my dad at the toilet.

At 12pm, we left the mall for our hotel. Goodway Hotel looks decent. We reach the hotel at around 1215 but they told us that we can only check-in at 1pm . So meantime, we walked around the hotel to pass our time. When it was 1pm, we walked to the counter and asked for our rooms. The staff told us that our rooms were available but not ready.. They are cleaning up the room. Seriously they need an hour to clean the room? Stupid right?! We paid for it and we had to wait for 2 hours. I mean.. it is a 4 star hotel and yet we had to wait for 2 hours?!

This is Goodway Hotel Batam. My dad waited till he was so frustrated and he asked the counter lady at 1.30pm. The lady told us that the room was ready and we were ready to go up. The room was quite okay. The bed was very big and there was also a balcony facing the swimming pool. (However i(wx) saw that the bed is stained with some unknown liquid but i do not want to delay our trip any further so did not ask for change in bedsheet)..

The entrance of Goodway Hotel. It is rather dark.

Around the hotel

Walking about

Hotel lobby

The room

Overall

I was trying to show how big the bed was. I wasn't trying to occupy the whole bed myself. Don't get me wrong.

The balocny

There's a place for you to sit.

We took a cab to Nagoya Shopping Mall by taxi. The taxi in batam allows the 5 of us to squeeze onto a cab. There was no limit like 4 persons to a taxi like in Singapore. The whole ride cost 50.000 rupiah. It was expensive of course because these taxis worked for Goodway Hotel.

We aimed for A&W the moment we reached there. We were dying for the waffles!

Reached Nagoya shopping mall!

The entrance

The float

They have KFC as well. It is very nice and very different from Singapore

The legendary waffles ice cream from Batam!

Every now and then the waffles sold out. Some even had to wait for an hour before your waffles appeared in front of you. I think Singaporeans had eaten all the waffles up.

At 4pm, we had a date with The Spa Secret. I had came accross this website: The Spa Secret. It was located very very near the Nagoya Shopping Mall. It was just a few steps ahead.

We found our way easily at the Spa Secret.

The Spa Secret occupied the whole building. I had signed up for Body Spa Treatment for me and dear. Upon entering the lobby, we were well served by the receptionist. After choosing our treatment, we were brought to the next floor and given our massage room.

The massage was good, scrub was nice, relaxing Jacuzzi. We paid only 660,000 rupiah ( $69 SGD) for the 2.5 hours of massage. The lady was nice and everything was good. No hard selling nothing. However, there was one treatment rather weird, called the V-Ratus treatment body lotion (ladies). It was meant to treat our virgina area. All I had to do was to sit on some sear and let the smoke smokes my V area. It was rather a weird method but there was no harm doing it.

This is my spa treatment:

Choice of Fruity Scrub:

Avocado (Moisturising)
Strawberry ( Regenerating skin)
Lime , papaya (Anti-oxidant)

Steps:

Sea salt foot bath
body cleansing
Calming Frangipani oil body massage
Fruity body scrub
Body Steam
Fruit body masker
Soak in flower petal bath or bath from Jacuzzi pool
Shower V-Ratus treatment and body lotion (ladies)
Back and shoulder massage (gents)

Complimentary Drinks:

Avocado Juice
Strawberry Juice
Lime and Papaya Juice

After 2.5 hours, we went back Nagoya shopping mall to meet my family.

The night view

We had some japanese food at Nagoya. The potion was big and it was really yummy. We had decided to give a miss at the Harbour Bay Seafood restaurant as my dad didn't like seafood. Dear, we shall go back one day k? My sis seems to be very interested to go there soon too.

After the dinner, we went back to the hotel and watched some HBOs movie. At 12pm, we were already in our dreamland~~~~~~