Friday, May 07, 2010
3:09 PM
To celebrate our 5th yr anniversary, kian & I went for a 2D1N holiday getaway to Batam over e wkend. I guess everyone noe a little abt Batam, jus a brief intro, Batam is one of the 3,000 island which made up the Riau Archipelago, part of the Riau Islands Province of Indonesia (one of the 33 provinces in Indonesia). It is 45 min ferry ride from Harbourfront and according to my tour guide, Batam & Spore has the same founder - Sang Nila Utama.
Our hotel is centrally located in e city, just right next to one of the biggest shopping mall in Batam - Nagoya Hill. It's such a good choice dat i'm so pleased at my wise selection!
e rooftop swimming pool & jacuzzi~~ we went swimming at nite under e stars!!
View of Nagoya Hill from my hotel~~
ihotel - slide to open door~~ (kian's version of iphone slogan) lol!
upon arrival @ batam sekupang international ferry terminal, we proceeded to our city tour that we've booked. There are 2 other main terminals in Batam namely Waterfront (where e sea resorts like Harris & Holiday Inn as well as the sea sports activities like cable ski are located) & Batam city ferry terminal (which is jus nx to Megamall or Matahari - e name i noe it by when i was a child).
Our hotel is centrally located in e city, just right next to one of the biggest shopping mall in Batam - Nagoya Hill. It's such a good choice dat i'm so pleased at my wise selection!e rooftop swimming pool & jacuzzi~~ we went swimming at nite under e stars!!
View of Nagoya Hill from my hotel~~
ihotel - slide to open door~~ (kian's version of iphone slogan) lol!
upon arrival @ batam sekupang international ferry terminal, we proceeded to our city tour that we've booked. There are 2 other main terminals in Batam namely Waterfront (where e sea resorts like Harris & Holiday Inn as well as the sea sports activities like cable ski are located) & Batam city ferry terminal (which is jus nx to Megamall or Matahari - e name i noe it by when i was a child). First stop, we visited the iconic Kwan Im Statue, which is the biggest statue at Indonesia's Archipelogo and 23m high towering the skyline.
According to my tour guide, this Kwan Im Statue was built by the KTM brothers on their land which they thought they owned but the Indonesian government claimed that the land was the government's and hence ordered the statue to be demolised. During this period, it rained for 2 full weeks and it was believed that the Kwan Im Statue doesnt want to move.
We had our lunch @ golden prawn restaurant, one of the famous seafood places in Batam.
e kelong style design~~ 
maybe bcos it was from e package tour, e food wasnt as good as i've expected (from e forum reviews i've read).
After lunch, we proceeded to watch the Kuda Lumping invloving a cultural dance & a magic show where the local artistes show their special abilities of eating glass and fire balls, as well as peeling coconut skin with their bare teeth.
Next, we went to the Indonesia-Batam Miniature Park which is a synopsis of Indonesian culture, with Indonesia's 33 provinces encapsulated in separate pavilions. These are jus a few of e more interesting miniatures we took pics wif.
golden city~~ e area where all these r located~~
dat's e go-kart circuit, which was oni opened last june, but e cars look pathetic as compared to e one we went in JB.
Following dat we went to visit the Thoa Pek Kong Chinese Temple, e famous temple which was moved from Kusu Island to Batam during the 1980s.
Our last stop is shopping @ Batam City Square where i bought super cheap stuffs!! of course, in btw we were oso brought to factory outlets selling branded stuffs like polo, levi, etc as well as local 土产. from my research of forums, websites & blogs, i alr noe dat e polo is a muz buy while 土产 is much cheaper if u buy from e supermkt instead of e shops. i oso read abt this very good body scrub Maudi Lulur selling twice as cheap in Indonesia & i ended buying half a dozen back! haaaha...
we ended e day wif a nice massage @ Eska, located in Nagoya Hill, one of e recommended massage places dat i found in e forum. we did aromatheraphy massage, it was so relaxing dat i drifted off to sleep at some point.
We had our lunch @ golden prawn restaurant, one of the famous seafood places in Batam.
e kelong style design~~ 
maybe bcos it was from e package tour, e food wasnt as good as i've expected (from e forum reviews i've read).
After lunch, we proceeded to watch the Kuda Lumping invloving a cultural dance & a magic show where the local artistes show their special abilities of eating glass and fire balls, as well as peeling coconut skin with their bare teeth.
Next, we went to the Indonesia-Batam Miniature Park which is a synopsis of Indonesian culture, with Indonesia's 33 provinces encapsulated in separate pavilions. These are jus a few of e more interesting miniatures we took pics wif.
golden city~~ e area where all these r located~~
dat's e go-kart circuit, which was oni opened last june, but e cars look pathetic as compared to e one we went in JB.
Following dat we went to visit the Thoa Pek Kong Chinese Temple, e famous temple which was moved from Kusu Island to Batam during the 1980s.
Our last stop is shopping @ Batam City Square where i bought super cheap stuffs!! of course, in btw we were oso brought to factory outlets selling branded stuffs like polo, levi, etc as well as local 土产. from my research of forums, websites & blogs, i alr noe dat e polo is a muz buy while 土产 is much cheaper if u buy from e supermkt instead of e shops. i oso read abt this very good body scrub Maudi Lulur selling twice as cheap in Indonesia & i ended buying half a dozen back! haaaha...
we ended e day wif a nice massage @ Eska, located in Nagoya Hill, one of e recommended massage places dat i found in e forum. we did aromatheraphy massage, it was so relaxing dat i drifted off to sleep at some point.
k, as everyone noes, i calculate my $$ frequently while overseas. so there's this episode where after a trip to e supermkt i realised i'm short of 100,000 rupiahs. i immediately suspected dat e cashier had taken more $$ from me. of course i totally had no confidence of retrieving my $$ from e cashier as there was no proof. but given my character, i definitely wont rest until i've got back my $$. so i went to ask e supermarket security guard to help me communicate with the cashier (who is a malay & doesnt speak english) abt my prob. at first e cashier insisted dat she has given me e correct change but as i persisted, e security guard went to extract e security camera footage for dat particular cashier counter and so i got my $$ back! yeah~~