Just got back from our national day getaway at batam!
I know, how patriotic hehe. But the irony is, many people leave at this time of the year for short trips. Which is why people pay more during this peak period for hotels that are always fully-booked.
Anyway, i personally think that batam is pretty dull but it is a cheap alternative if all you want is just to get out of singapore.
OUR BATAM CHRONICLES...
On the first day, we almost missed our ferry because we didn't know that boarding time was 1 hour earlier.
We happily ate our macdonald's breakfast and arrived at the ferry departure to hear our full names read out over the PA system. Then we rushed to the wrong ferry and was redirected to the correct one. The comforting part? We weren't the last ones to board. Hur hur.
We were left with the sunny-side seats that were glaringly bright. But thankfully, the ferry U-turned when it departed and there was no need for the shades.
Kat as usual, in her own world.
When we reached sekupang ferry terminal, we waited and waited. First, for the immigration queue to clear and then, for the rest of our hotel stayers to board the coach. They took us to several places and at each stop, we had to wait for everyone to be back.
Some of the stopovers...
Chocolate factory which is really, just a retail outlet that sells many types of chocolates. Some familiar ones were chocolates that we ate as kids but are no longer sold in singapore.
Polo outlet which sells the real stuff and the fake stuff.
Our seafood lunch at golden prawn 933. Totally below average. Of the 7 dishes, only the fried prawns and vegetables were decent. The coconut was huge but tasteless.
Us getting ready for go-karting! One of the better activities in our itinerary. 10 minutes of go-kart, 20 pellets of paint ball and 1 round of flying fox at golden city. Though the flying fox view was not much of a view.
After having to bear with all the waiting and stopovers that were uninteresting, the 3 of us concluded that we are the free-and-easy type of people. That 1 day tour was enough to make us feel like old aunties.
Before we could finally check in to our hotel, we had ayam penyet for dinner at BSC mall for around 1 SGD.
Food in batam is generally very cheap but taste-wise isn't that fantastic. Hmm..
Anyway, we were very satisfied with our room at golden view, which is a 4-star hotel. Although we were quite disappointed that there's no wi-fi in their rooms. How to whatsapp/ instagram/ facebook?! Only the first level had wi-fi and breakfast was the time where all of us glued to our phones.
Our day 2 and day 3 buffet breakfast. i like their porridge! Had to forgo some of the spicier options because of my weak stomach, which is exceptionally vulnerable in the morning.
Satisfied our craving for A&W at nagoya hill. i was surprised by the lack of variety they have, compared to the ones in KL. But i was happy enough to have my curly fries and root beer float.
Coffee time at godiva coffee. We had run out of ruppiah by then and had to share a cup of carama which costs 33,000 after tax.
Managed to catch total recall at the cinema and their tickets are freaking cheap! We only paid 10 SGD for 3 tickets. Apparently, cinemas cannot price their tickets any higher because of the countless pirated VCDs around. People would rather pay less for more. So, yup...
The best part of the trip for me was the spa package we took with isabella massage house. Their service was good. Not only did we have free transport from and back to our hotel, we were given a spacious private room that had a jacuzzi bathtub, sofa, coffee table and safety deposit locker. i like the body scrub and milk bath jacuzzi but the massage wasn't too good. i've had better ones in thailand.
And we had this super nice tim sum at grand duck restaurant! Their fried prawn dumpling with mayo and har gow were delicious!
We actually ordered roast duck and fish maw soup but we were busily attacking the food that we forgot about taking pictures lol!
The thing about going on holidays without your boyfriend is that, you will always somehow end up buying stuff for him. Because NZ is gonna transit to summer, i got some t-shirts and one of those couple bracelets.
I like them! Don't you, piggy? =P
And our last meal in batam before ferrying back was starbucks! Iced caramel with coffee jelly latte, Kat's iced blended green tea with red bean and our chocolate croissant.
Coffee and free wi-fi, why not? We are people who can't live without 3G and/or wi-fi, kekeke!
