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My batam trip - 2/1/11 to 3/1/11

Met Chin-i, cw, mj, kyn and zy at harbourfront in the morning to take the ferry to batam in the morning. And almost all of us were late. HAHA. supposed to meet at mac and eat too, but only 3 of us managed to sit down there to eat. And the reason gave was because the iphone alarm didn't work and cw couldn't wake up. It was quite funny.

We went to the counter and took our advance tickets. It was batamfast, and the guys only remembered that they have to notify SAF that they are going overseas AFTER they scan their passports. Nice. HAHA. They kinda panicked and stood there using the iphone to send the notification. So, we ended up being one of the last few going into the ferry and got lousy seats which are stuffy, and there were also people smoking in the ferry. Not good. MJ and I htht-ed in the ferry while cw just slpt RIGHT AFTER he got on board. Damn zai. With us talking so loudly, I'm amazed that he can slp right through it.

Took like around 45 mins to reach batam. I got a bit sian of the scenery after awhile though. Not too much of a scenery person, I guess.

MJ and I- My first trip to Batam!!

Leaving Singapore~~


We went to the counter to book our advance tickets back to Singapore, and then went to walk around the shops at Batam Centre. Got hooked on the timezone there because it was super cheap. The shooting hoops game is only around SGD0.20 per game! We started playing that and cw came up with a rule that if we never shoot 50 points each, we can't go and check-in into our hotel. So we all starting shooting like mad, and all passed after a few tries except for kyn. HAHA. We ended up giving him a discount of 20 points and he managed to do it.

Imagine how much we spent on the arcade!

DDR-ing~


Cw even took videos of kyn trying to shoot hoops and it was super hilarious. It was also at this point of time that I realised that my chin actually reached cw's shoulder level. but i digress. MJ and I wanted a soft toy each so we kept the tickets and continued the journey to the hotel.

Our haul at the end of the two days in Batam~

Went to Golden View Hotel and check-in. The taxi ride was 60,000rp, but I still think that it was too expensive because we never bargain at all. The ride was also quite bumpy, but it was fun! We booked a family room at 150USD but it's also a bit too expensive, considering that if we book direct with the hotel, it's only 185SGD. I think it's because we book through agoda and they did count some handling fee in. But something that impressed me was the service. We were served orange juice right after we reached. Even though we weren't that tired because it was only a short ride, it was still a heartwarming gesture. Got the room 619-F. The room was abit small IMO, since we intended to squeeze 8 pple inside, but otherwise it was fine. The whole place looks a bit run down, and the ocean view stated isn't really an ocean view, but more of a pool view? But we didn't really go for the ocean view in the first place, so it wasn't much of a big deal with us. One room was smaller than the other, but there were still 2 bathrooms, with one having a jacuzzi.

The hotel is also a bit far away from the city centre and the shopping mall, and the shuttle times running to the malls are actually quite limited. Other than that, it's quite alright. I think that it's really a good place for couples who want to have more time alone because they can just walk to the coast line without any trouble.

We went in and put down our stuff, and then went out to nogoya hills shopping centre. Oh ya, kyn wanted his A&W that the first thing we did when we reach the shopping centre was to find it and eat lunch. Our conclusion - A&W is very expensive in batam. We could have found cheaper food somewhere else, and the food isn't that good. And they were all moaning about the curly fries. Personally, I don't see anything attractive about the fries but oh well...

Went a round around the mall, and we ended up in J.CO for some weird reason. I'll give it a hit for the doughnuts! We were quite surprised when we came in cuz there was a queue for the doughnuts but then we knew why when we ordered them. The doughnuts were really light because they came out straight =) managed to finish mine even though I had complained that I was quite full.

Went to walk around the shops outside after eating and chin-i, kyn and cw went for a 3hr body scrub and massage. The 3 of us went to the hypermart and continued shopping, and then after that, we took the shuttle back to the hotel. Asked about the activities at the counter, and they were really nice too. but we didn't do any of it. We went back to the hotel and slpt. HAHA. Woke up half-way, and when the guys came back, they were banging on the door, macham like some cops raiding the house sia. Super funny. And they seriously smell super nice, and I commented. And cw said that he used 3 diff types of body foam on his body. >.< no wonder la. The 3 guys are like walking body lotion lor. Makes me want to curl up to them like how I curl up to my pillow liddat.

We played cards until time for dinner and we went to the 933 prawn restaurant to makan. I think that the food there is good, even though it's expensive by Batam's standard. The hits are the fish, baby kailan, you tiaos. Lalas were good, but the portion is too small. The prawns are only normal, as was the tofu hotplate. Kangkong was not bad. Ordered 9 dishes and ended up with a bill of almost 600,000rp. A tad too expensive ar, but since it's live seafood, oh well.. And we saw 2 different weddings in the restaurant, and they were singing some weird chinese songs.

Went back after eating and chin-i went to shop in some shop inside the hotel. The rest were playing pool/snooker while I accompanied chin-i to choose the colours of the shirts. Saw bh and yuxi walking into the hotel while we were doing the choosing. Ended up going for a second round of dinner. After the dinner, all of us except for mj and zy went for a walk to the beach. There were quite a lot of interesting stuff such as an abandoned? ferris wheel (like the one in the haunted amusement park) and some others. Saw alcohol that has only 4.8% alcohol content and tastes like soft drinks. Bought them. Different flavourings.

Went back to the hotel and continued cards and such until around 3am?

Super tiring day.

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