It has been close to twenty years since I last visited Batam with my secondary school friends. At that time, we went to Waterfront City and the chalet bungalows had only just been completed.
When I learn that my brother had booked us a one day trip to Batam on Labour Day, I was elated to revisit this slow-paced city again!
Early that morning, I brought my folks to meetup with my brother and his in-laws for breakfast at Habourfront where the Singapore Cruise Centre is located on the second floor.
After breakfast, we went up to check in to board the ferry but was told that the gate has already been closed even though we arrived at the stipulated time as told by the tour agency.
The personnel spoke to someone via the walkie walkie and we were given the green light to proceed as the ferry have not departed yet.
The personnel spoke to someone via the walkie walkie and we were given the green light to proceed as the ferry have not departed yet.
We hurried in and was just in time to hear our names being announced over the PA system.
When we arrived at Batam, immigration was a breeze despite the holiday crowd. I would say the speed is much faster than going through the Malaysian custom.
We were picked up by our guide outside the arrival hall and we boarded the coach while waiting for the rest of the group to clear the custom.
We were among the last few to have our passports stamped hence there were not many people behind us but we waited a fairly long time for a mother and son who seemed to have some problems with their passports (which was eventually resolved) much to the dismay of the other members of the group who could not wait to start the tour.
Our first destination on the itinerary was the Polo Ralph Lauren factory outlet which was a mere five minutes drive away from the ferry terminal. We were given twenty minutes to shop which is an awfully long time as the fashion is quite outdated and nothing caught my fancy.
After that, we were brought to the Maha Vihara Duta Maitreya Temple where we were given another twenty minutes to comb the temple grounds. There are three individual chambers side by side with each one housing a different diety/buddha.
The first chamber houses Guan Di (关帝) or more commonly known as Guan Gong (关公), while the middle chamber is 大雄宝殿 housing Samantabhara ( 普贤菩萨), Shakyamuni (释迦牟尼佛), and Manjushri (文殊菩萨). The last chamber houses Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy.
To call this temple big is a gross understatement. It is humongous yet very clean and well-maintained. This is such a striking contrast compared to the streets that are lined with rubbish everywhere.
According to our guide, the chinese community here in Batam love to congregate at this temple during chinese festivals.
Next, we are at the Batam Chocolate House where all sorts of chocolates are sold. Frankly, the chocolates here are not that cheap but I still bought a giant box of Pepero nonetheless.
They do have a very cute mascot inside the shop though.
There was a roadside kiosk outside the Chocolate House selling ready-fried belinjau (Mum's favorite!) with very dark-colored oil and the guide warned us that these hawkers usually buy second-hand oil from elsewhere that have already used the oil to fry chicken (or other meats).
So... do exercise caution when buying foodstuff from unknown sources!
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Now, what is a trip to Batam without having some Kueh Lapis?
We were brought to one of their Kueh Lapis factory where we could see the preparations behind a glass window.
This process is repeated until the desired layer is reached. Can you imagine the time and effort put in to bake one?
The Kueh Lapis are 1kg each and you could request to pack them into two boxes of 500gm each for ease of carrying.
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Free sampling!
As we were leaving the Kueh Lapis factory, it began to pour quite heavily.
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We were brought to Yong Heng Food Trading which sells a wide variety of crackers.
There are free sampling for every type of crackers they sell and I would like to recommend the Prawn Cracker shown in the photo below (left).
Our guide got us some sample to try and after tasting it, everyone just grab the cracker in packs of twos and threes. I managed to lay my hands on the last two packs before the entire shelf was wiped clean.
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Here's what we had.
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I think most tour guides would bring their group here. Whether there is any commission involved is anyone's guess.
I feel that the food here is at best fresh but taste wise is nothing to shout about. If you have been to the seafood restaurant at Kukup, what they serve there tastes much much better then here.
However, it is just my personal opinion.
While on our way to the restaurant, our guide informed us that our lunch package includes drinks and we could pick from the usual range of canned soft drinks as well as the coconut juice.
Then, she said something puzzling like "whatever coconut you get, you cannot 'hiam' or something to that effect.
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If you have been to such tours before, you would know that you have to share a table (up to 10 person per table) with other members of the group during meal times.
It could be a rather traumatic experience if you were, like me, a hygiene freak who goes crazy at the thought of having to share food with complete strangers who do not use communal serving spoons.
However, my family and my brother's parents-in-laws managed to fill up one table all to ourselves so it was a relief for me.
Back to the topic of coconut, everyone from our table opted for it but to our disappointment, the coconuts were not chilled and it tastes sourish.
Now I finally understand what the guide meant earlier by saying that we should not 'hiam' because the coconut juice is not sweet and not served chilled!
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Near the exit, they have these indoor aerated pools where all their 'live' seafood were displayed. Customers come here to pick what they want and the restaurant would serve them to you on your table.
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There are two seafood restaurants here namely 933 and 555 under the same roof and possibly under the same management as well.
After leaving the restaurant, we passed by this Golden View Hotel and was brought to yet another factory outlet called the Golden Factory Outlet. Just outside the store, there is a Golden Go Cart circuit as well as a Folk Culture Miniature Houses featuring miniature houses from the various Indonesian provinces.
If you have not already link two by two, all these "Golden" businesses belonged to the same towkay. We did not want to visit any of these so we simply stay in the coach and waited for the others to return.
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Our next destination is massage (own expense). Those who do not wish to go for massage will go shopping instead.
I have gone for several massages at Thailand before but this is by far the most embarrasing one. Those massages which I did at Thailand (eg. full body massage) are fully clothed but this one required customers to strip down to their underwear and change into the shorts they provided.
What caught me by surprise was that my masseause rolled down my shorts to massage my buns. Even after she went on to massage the other areas, my buns were left to chill in the cold for a while before she remembered to unroll my shorts back.
You know what's weird here is that this is happening with Dad by my side going through the same thing. We were sharing the same cubicle and there is a curtain between us but because of our relationship, our masseause did not draw the curtains.
I was burying my reddened face in the pillow the entire time and I thought that I could hide my embarrasement off like that till the end of the session... until she told me to turn over. I did not know that full body massage included the front; the ones I did in Thailand only involved the back.
That was when I managed to take a proper look at my masseause under the dim lights.
Quite chio leh.
All I'm worried about at that moment is did she see the holes in my underwear? ROFL!
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After our massage, we were waiting for the coach to come pick us up to meet up with the other tour members at the mall where they have been shopping for the past one hour. Dad walked across the street and discovered this very delish Epok Epok that is fried on the spot!
He bought eight pieces for each of us which we ate happily on the coach.
"It tastes so much better than Old Chang Kee!", someone exclaimed and the rest nod in unison.
Indeed, the curry potato tastes like nothing I have ever tasted before. There is something very appealing about it which I cannot put into words.
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On the other hand, Dad also bought twenty sticks of chicken satay from the stall next to the Epok Epok stall which is by the main road. You can choose between curry or kachang but sad to say, the satay was not well marinated and the kachang sauce unmemorable.
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There was nothing much to see or buy at the mall which is pretty run down and reminded me of Bukit Timah Plaza.
There isn't any international brands here except maybe for Starbucks and KFC. They even have a BFC (pictured above, left) which really stands for "Best Fried Chicken".
And that, was our last itinerary of the day. The guide sent us back to the ferry terminal and left.
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There were still some time left before boarding time and we decided to go shopping at the connected Megamall.
Megamall is so much better than the previous mall. Not only is it bigger, newer and livelier, the retailers inside are more well-known and familiar to us.
But most important of all, it is because of...
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A&W!
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Two piece chicken meal
The chicken and curly fries are a little salty but all is forgiven as it still taste good!
We spent so much time reminiscing at A&W that we totally forgot about boarding time! We ran all the way to the ferry terminal but thankfully, we still made it in time.
Similar to the ferry terminal at Habourfront, Batam's custom was located on the second floor of the ferry terminal. After having our exits stamped on our passports, we went down the stairs to the first floor where the holding area is to board the ferry.
I am taken aback by the sight in front of me. The tiny holding area was packed with hundreds of people all eager to go home.
There was alot of confusion as we do not know where the queue starts or end nor even know which ferry we are queuing up for. The people coming down from the second floor would just cut into any queue they could get into.
(I think you would understand what I am saying if you have ever queued for a bus from Woodlands custom going to Johor, Malaysia)
It is very disorganized with no clear instructions or even barricades to distinguish the different queues (if any at all).
It took us quite a while to figure out that a immigration personnel would shout the name of your ferry when it arrives and everybody would just swarm towards the door in a stampede manner.
As our ferry have yet to arrive, we sat on the rows of chairs and waited while the crowd who came before us disperse by the shiploads.
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At this point, my brother took out the half-eaten waffle ice cream which he had hastily wrapped up earlier when we were rushing over from A&W.
I took a bite of the waffle which is still warm, fluffy and moist. It tastes salty on it's own but when paired up with the vanilla ice cream, the combustion of flavor in my mouth is h e a v e n l y !
Our ferry came eventually and after boarding, was yet another round of catching up on precious sleep. The trip back to Habourfront took close to an hour since it was night time.
So... do exercise caution when buying foodstuff from unknown sources!
Now, what is a trip to Batam without having some Kueh Lapis?
We were brought to one of their Kueh Lapis factory where we could see the preparations behind a glass window.
Making Kueh Lapis is tedious work, requiring each layer to be baked separately. After one layer is baked, the tray is removed from the oven, with the next layer of batter slathered on and returned to the oven once more.
This process is repeated until the desired layer is reached. Can you imagine the time and effort put in to bake one?
Kueh Lapis comes in many various flavors such as Pandan, Mocha, Chocolate, Prune, Cinnamon, Cheese, etc.
As we were leaving the Kueh Lapis factory, it began to pour quite heavily.
We were brought to Yong Heng Food Trading which sells a wide variety of crackers.
There are free sampling for every type of crackers they sell and I would like to recommend the Prawn Cracker shown in the photo below (left).
Our guide got us some sample to try and after tasting it, everyone just grab the cracker in packs of twos and threes. I managed to lay my hands on the last two packs before the entire shelf was wiped clean.
The picture above (right) is the Honeycomb Cake also from Yong Heng Food Trading. It is available in Original and Honey.
The texture is fluffy yet not too sweet. I like the taste of it but did not buy any cause I feel it is a little cumbersome to carry a cake around on a tour.
Up next, lunch!
The texture is fluffy yet not too sweet. I like the taste of it but did not buy any cause I feel it is a little cumbersome to carry a cake around on a tour.
Up next, lunch!
It was still raining when we reached the restaurant
Lunch was served at Golden Prawn 933 Seafood Restaurant which was built partially over the waters kelong-styled but I doubt it was a kelong at all.
Big fishes swimming underneath us
Here's what we had.
I feel that the food here is at best fresh but taste wise is nothing to shout about. If you have been to the seafood restaurant at Kukup, what they serve there tastes much much better then here.
However, it is just my personal opinion.
While on our way to the restaurant, our guide informed us that our lunch package includes drinks and we could pick from the usual range of canned soft drinks as well as the coconut juice.
Then, she said something puzzling like "whatever coconut you get, you cannot 'hiam' or something to that effect.
Some of the coconuts are bigger than our heads!
It could be a rather traumatic experience if you were, like me, a hygiene freak who goes crazy at the thought of having to share food with complete strangers who do not use communal serving spoons.
However, my family and my brother's parents-in-laws managed to fill up one table all to ourselves so it was a relief for me.
Back to the topic of coconut, everyone from our table opted for it but to our disappointment, the coconuts were not chilled and it tastes sourish.
Now I finally understand what the guide meant earlier by saying that we should not 'hiam' because the coconut juice is not sweet and not served chilled!
Near the exit, they have these indoor aerated pools where all their 'live' seafood were displayed. Customers come here to pick what they want and the restaurant would serve them to you on your table.
After leaving the restaurant, we passed by this Golden View Hotel and was brought to yet another factory outlet called the Golden Factory Outlet. Just outside the store, there is a Golden Go Cart circuit as well as a Folk Culture Miniature Houses featuring miniature houses from the various Indonesian provinces.
If you have not already link two by two, all these "Golden" businesses belonged to the same towkay. We did not want to visit any of these so we simply stay in the coach and waited for the others to return.
Our next destination is massage (own expense). Those who do not wish to go for massage will go shopping instead.
I have gone for several massages at Thailand before but this is by far the most embarrasing one. Those massages which I did at Thailand (eg. full body massage) are fully clothed but this one required customers to strip down to their underwear and change into the shorts they provided.
What caught me by surprise was that my masseause rolled down my shorts to massage my buns. Even after she went on to massage the other areas, my buns were left to chill in the cold for a while before she remembered to unroll my shorts back.
You know what's weird here is that this is happening with Dad by my side going through the same thing. We were sharing the same cubicle and there is a curtain between us but because of our relationship, our masseause did not draw the curtains.
I was burying my reddened face in the pillow the entire time and I thought that I could hide my embarrasement off like that till the end of the session... until she told me to turn over. I did not know that full body massage included the front; the ones I did in Thailand only involved the back.
That was when I managed to take a proper look at my masseause under the dim lights.
Quite chio leh.
All I'm worried about at that moment is did she see the holes in my underwear? ROFL!
He bought eight pieces for each of us which we ate happily on the coach.
"It tastes so much better than Old Chang Kee!", someone exclaimed and the rest nod in unison.
Indeed, the curry potato tastes like nothing I have ever tasted before. There is something very appealing about it which I cannot put into words.
There isn't any international brands here except maybe for Starbucks and KFC. They even have a BFC (pictured above, left) which really stands for "Best Fried Chicken".
And that, was our last itinerary of the day. The guide sent us back to the ferry terminal and left.
Waiting for the coach to come send us back to the ferry terminal
There were still some time left before boarding time and we decided to go shopping at the connected Megamall.
Megamall is so much better than the previous mall. Not only is it bigger, newer and livelier, the retailers inside are more well-known and familiar to us.
But most important of all, it is because of...
this!
A&W!
The chicken and curly fries are a little salty but all is forgiven as it still taste good!
We spent so much time reminiscing at A&W that we totally forgot about boarding time! We ran all the way to the ferry terminal but thankfully, we still made it in time.
Similar to the ferry terminal at Habourfront, Batam's custom was located on the second floor of the ferry terminal. After having our exits stamped on our passports, we went down the stairs to the first floor where the holding area is to board the ferry.
I am taken aback by the sight in front of me. The tiny holding area was packed with hundreds of people all eager to go home.
There was alot of confusion as we do not know where the queue starts or end nor even know which ferry we are queuing up for. The people coming down from the second floor would just cut into any queue they could get into.
(I think you would understand what I am saying if you have ever queued for a bus from Woodlands custom going to Johor, Malaysia)
It is very disorganized with no clear instructions or even barricades to distinguish the different queues (if any at all).
It took us quite a while to figure out that a immigration personnel would shout the name of your ferry when it arrives and everybody would just swarm towards the door in a stampede manner.
As our ferry have yet to arrive, we sat on the rows of chairs and waited while the crowd who came before us disperse by the shiploads.
At this point, my brother took out the half-eaten waffle ice cream which he had hastily wrapped up earlier when we were rushing over from A&W.
I took a bite of the waffle which is still warm, fluffy and moist. It tastes salty on it's own but when paired up with the vanilla ice cream, the combustion of flavor in my mouth is h e a v e n l y !
Our ferry came eventually and after boarding, was yet another round of catching up on precious sleep. The trip back to Habourfront took close to an hour since it was night time.
Batam is kind of boring especially with an itinerary like the one we had. In fact, I think all packaged tours to Batam had a similar itinerary like ours perhaps in different order: Polo Ralph factory outlet > Chocolate House > Temple > Kueh Lapis factory > 933 Seafood > factory outlet again > massage > Yong Heng, etc
We were herded around like cattle from point to point and with only twenty minutes allocated at each location, there was hardly any time to go explore or even to take much photos.
Despite that, I do not mind coming for a day or two of F&E staycation at Harris just for the A&W and maybe squeeze in a massage as well.
We were herded around like cattle from point to point and with only twenty minutes allocated at each location, there was hardly any time to go explore or even to take much photos.
Despite that, I do not mind coming for a day or two of F&E staycation at Harris just for the A&W and maybe squeeze in a massage as well.