Short Getaway to Batam!

Long overdue post! Mom and I had our short 2 days 1 night trip to Batam on 11/12/2011. We signed up for tour package so the ferry tickets and hotel accomodations are all included.=)


Some general information about Batam:


Batam is one of the 3000 islands that make up the Riau Archipelago. Batam is 20km away from Singapore or about 40 minutes by the air-conditioned ferry. Batam is gradually developing into a major industry and tourist area attracting tourists from all over the world. 

The native people of Batam are of Malay origins but over the years various ethnic groups from Indonesia can be seen to settle down in this island. "Bahasa Indonesia" is the language used most frequently to communicate.  English is commonly recognised. Batam's main transaction currency is "Indonesia Rupiah" (IDR), they do accept "Singapore Dollar" (SGD) as well. Batam time is UTC / GMT + 7,one hour behind Singapore time.

On board Batam Fast Ferry. The whole journey took about 1 hour from Singapore Cruise Centre  (Harbour Front) to  Batam Centre Ferry.

We proceeded to Nagoya Hill Shopping Centre as our room  wasn't ready to check in yet.  It look exactly like those shopping malls that we have here in Singapore however they do have quite alot of shops that sells replicas of branded bags/wallets (LV, Gucci, Coach, Prada etc..)

Golden View Hotel. A Four-Star hotel in Batam just 10 minutes away from Harbour  Bay Ferry Terminal. 

On board Imperial Cheng Ho Cruise for our dinner. This cruise was stationed in Singapore before it stay put in Batam.  Dinner was served in buffet style  with wide-spread of  Asian delights.

Exterior decoration of the cruise. 

Second day's lunch at one of the famous Nasi Padang Restaurant (I can't recall the name of the restaurant :x)  I was impressed with this gentleman who handled 20 plates of dishes at one go! Our dining area was at the second floor and the kitchen was at the first, so can you imagine he had to handle the dishes and climbed 2 flights of stairs?

Traditional Indonesian dishees. Surprisingly, lunch wasn't as spicy as what i thought cause usually Indonesian are quite generous with their spices.

After lunch, we proceed to Miniature House Indonesia where  mini buildings  of traditional architecture were housed.  

Some of the mini architecture buildings.

We head over to Golden Prawn 933 for our dinner. 

Our dinner location at Golden Prawn 933. The place looked  abit like "Kelong"  cause of the  "Sticking Points" as shown on the above picture.

Coconut drink that was bigger than my face/head.

Overall, this trip was very fulfilling. Not only Mom & I get to relax and enjoy, we get to have a taste of their culture and food. Definitely would want to go back to Batam when we have the time, its just 45minutes to 1hour journey! =)

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