This time, it was Batam. Located about 20 km south of Singapore, Batam island is very much similar to Bintan which we had visited last year. Lush greenery, plenty of 'sea' to 'see', sun, beaches and sand. Nothing less to expect from this truly beautiful island in Indonesia.

Our population doubled this time - we were a group of (lucky?) 13 restless souls, just waiting to get our asses out of our labs and a few hundred kms away from research. And get off we did, in style :). Merry-ly taking the ferry ride from Tanjong Pagar, we made for Batam on Feb the 15th, the start of Chinese New year hols. The ferry ride is a most enjoyable experience - apart from being hot due to the sun, the ride is actually pretty Cool :). Watching the busy Singapore skyline (and along with it, all memories of research fading into the distance.. seriously, no feeling could be better !

Yup!! Went on a trip to Batam. It's been 10 years since I last went overseas (excluding JB) for a holiday. Went with Mum, Aunty Noor, Uncle Hamid, Mak Yah, Kak Ida & the 2 galz, Syuhaidah & Sabrina.

Wednesday.
Reached Harbourfront at 9am. I think so. So in the ferry, me n the 2 galz walked around the whole ferry and went up where it's open space. Really syiok to the max!! With the wind and everything.. So reached Batam and went straight to the hotel. It's not a hotel actually. It's an apartment, the room looks just like a hotel. There's a small living room and 2 bedrooms. It is just in front of Nagoya Mall and from our room, we can see inside the mall.

I use to hate korean alot cos ppl keep starting the korean thingy aft the boys over flower and the "Nobody nobody but you"and then starting with the "Superjunior".Then now i finally,influence by Wong jiaqi then now i'm in love with bigbang!Haiz,dunnoe how come so easily influence by her.Probably cos we normally like the same thing.I like jjlin,more of show luo.As in i actually like show luo but not so much until wong chicky tell me more about him.And also i trust her taste.Then after tt got some shows also influence like haipai but i came across it at yu le first.So,now i am addicted to BIGBANG le.I love lies:)

Everything was booked and paid for through a Travel Agency a month and half before, to celebrate our Wedding Anniversary.   I paid $258 for the honeymoon package exc. misc ferry taxes. ( Was a little confused about this bit because it included the return ferry tickets, seaport tax so what else was there?)  So armed with our passports, luggage and travel documents we made our way to Harbourfront.

Boarding Passes And Ferry Services

We had to proceed to the 3rd floor at Harbour Front, I believe it was unit 03-25 to exchange our voucher for Boarding Passes.  But before we could get them we had to pay $40 (i.e. 20 each) for some other taxes, fuel? terminal? Anyhow the counter staff was pleasant enough, and issued us the card-based boarding passes together with electronically filled immigration cards.  We were also informed that we would have to book the return either at the Ferry Terminal or through the Hotel.  We could take any of the ferries based on their individual schedules from any of the various ferry terminals though we would have to make our own arrangements to get there.  The ferry terminal stop for where we were staying was called ‘Waterfront’

i went to Batam island on October 15 for work meeting and went touring to Singapore on October 17, and return to Jakarta from Batam on October 18
Batam seemed stranded in some area, the tour guide told me that a lot of industry closed down during the monetary crisis in the late 90s.
in Batam you can get cheap branded stuffs (fake or original), like bags, perfumes, cell phones, and other electronics, some of my colleagues bought Blackberry with a very low price, i think they’re illegal smuggled goods from Singapore.

HELLO! im back from my batam trip. didn’t take a lot of photos cos’ batam really look like singapore in a way. just that singapore quite developed. the resort i stayed was Batam View and it is great!

if you guys want to go batam in future you can go to batam view for your stay. they have sea sports, swimming pool, massage service and many other fun things. its a pity we are all too lazy to try it out. went there to relax and the resort villa i stayed in is super good. the toilet is sooo nice and in front of me is the sea. every morning i wake up i see the sea!!