Batam Trip ~ 9 Apr - 11 Apr 04

Monday, April 12, 2004

Batam - a place for relaxation. we went there millionaires. eat and live like kings and queens and came back to sgp paupers. haha. hmmm, where should i start from...

the night before
cancelled my gym plan, so matt went alone without me. went to buy some toiletries for the trip and bought some muncies. matt finished his gym at ard 9 and we had some sushi before meeting power and alvin. once in the car, power passed us the rupiah we asked her to change for us. we changed S$300 and that amounts to rupiah $1500 000. it was a huge stack of money. 75 pieces in all, all $20 000 in value. that was the first time i came into contact with such a huge stack of $$ sial. its so shiok to count the notes. haha. if only it was sgp $$.
we discussed abt the trip over liang cha (all of us tot it would b better to drink power liang cha before the trip) and economic bee hoon. we ended the night early as we will be catching the 11 am ferry to batam and we have to be there at 10.30 am to collect the tickets. once home, i began packing my luggage and went to sleep. couldnt really get to sleep though, cause i was pretty excited.
oh ya, and did i mention that wen i told momo i'll be going batam in the morning, her face turned black. then at night, she asked me abt the trip.
momo: when u going to batam?
me: tomorrow morning.
momo: when u coming back? at night??
me: no lah. if i coming back at night, i dun need to tell u alreaady. i coming back on sunday.

i was expecting her face to turn black, she didnt. instead she ask me to quickly go pack my bag. guess she was in a good mood that day.

Day 1 - 9 Apr 04
woke up by power's morning call at ard 8. and i gave matt his morning call in return. power came to fetch me in a cab and we went to pick alvin up before we head down to habour front. matt meeting us there. once at habour front, we quickly went to settle the tickets for the ferry before having some breakfast at the canteen. and 1 last round of toilet trip for everybody cause we dun wanna hav to use the toilet on the ferry. at ard 11.05, we boarded the ferry. there were lots of pple trying to cut Q and pushing here and there but we managed to out pushed them and emerged the first few to board the ferry. once the ferry started to move off, they guys fell asleep and power and i were bz taking photos, vedio clips and talking away. the whole ride was abt 1 hr + and we were chatty throughout. i guess we were too excited to sleep.
once we reached there, we were greeted by alvin's frienf, rubin. we settled the hotel bill and went for lunch. rubin asked us to wait at the lobby while he went to drive his car over and while waiting, matt was saying: scarly he drove mercedes or jaguar. we laughed at him but rubin really drove a merce sial. he bought us to an indonesian restaurant and we had:
fish lips soup - anybody know what's a fish lip??
chillie kang kong - not very nice
soft shell crab - yummy!! didnt kno bi bi can make yummy soft shell crabs.
pigeon - the meat is very stiff.
pandang chicken - not nice. the chicken got no taste.
calamari - taste diff from the calamari in sgp and jb. but its nice.
this meal costs only S$ 40.

we had thailand coke, which tastes different from the coke we drink in spg. for more details, please refer to power's blog. haha.
after lunch, we went jalan jalan at an ulu place. i dun think i can even call it a shopping centre. anyway, there was nothing to see there. power and i went to check put the swim wear there but its horrible. we couldnt find any bikinis. they are selling those swim suits with skirts!!?? those design which i remembered similar to my momo's swim suit when i was in PRI SCH. i saw LEA jeans there too and was excited. but i couldnt find the cut that i want sial. there was no hipster design, no flare cut. they only have straight cut. :s
anyway, after walking ard, we headed back to the hotel for a short rest and to unpack our stuff. the hotel room was quite nice, despite the so so appearance of the hotel. but there wasnt ant safe in the room. anyway, aft we settled down, we went to the spa centre. the guys had a full body scrub and power and i had a full body message and pedicure. so we were led into a room and the lady gave us a robe each to change. and being our first time doing message, we were quite blur as in what we have to do. and while changing the robe, we were thinking if we should wear our bra. we finally decided to go bare. and i told power scarly the person asks us: y u never wear bra?? haha. but the lady didnt. anyway, there was a language problem too. and thoughout the 1 hr of message, we were chatting and laughing away, esp when the message gets very ticklish. the ladies were laughing too. are they laughing at us 2 sua kus or what?? but we dun bother. aft the message was the pedicure. and we were still yakking away. matt and alvin came to the room to join us aft their body scrub. they had their scrub seperately and we were wondering: isnt it boring to be alone? anyway, we were amazed that we can actually talk non stop for 1 hour. wahaha. aft the message and pedicure session, we went back to our rooms and prepared for dinner.
we met rubin at (dunno wat time. i lost track of time in batam. batam time is 1 hr slower than sgp time. time seems to pass very slowly there. it like we did so many things but its still so early). he bought his gf along, who is a skb. she was bz sms-ing the whole night. cant b bothered with her. we had dinner at 933 seafood restaurant. we had:
drunkard prawns - yummy. the prawns are very fresh.
gong gong - a shell thingy
chilli crab - the chilli was abit too hot for me. but other than that, it was good.
fried fish
baby kai lan
sotong - the sosong damn huge sial
coconut juice - the coconuts there were huge. as big, or bigger than our heads.
this dinner for 6 costs only S$90.

after dinner, we were all so full. we went back to the hotel to rest before we went to the disco at the hotel. the disco there is not suitable for us.
1. it was very dark inside. the waiters need to shine their torches on the floor then u can see what;s ahead of you.
2. the techno they played was very fast. the beat is twice as fast as the beat played in sgp disco.
3. there were lots of bibis and from what we heard, majority of the women there are all prostitutes.
4. the people were all on drugs and they danced very funnily.
it wasnt really enjoyable, but it was a real eye opener. there was 1 malay who was dancing beside our table, and he got nearer and nearer to us. so matt stood infront of us so that he would not hit us and that bi bi got buay song. so later, he began to dance very close to matt, and even gathered his brothers behind our table. we were real uncomfortable sial. and i was a bit hum. aft a while, they were more disperse but we deicided to leave the place. rubin brought us to another pub with life band. this pub, he said, has more chinese. by the time we went there, the band was singing the last few songs. the last song was: god is a gal, and the singner, which is a lady in very sexy attire: bandeau with frills at the front, hot pants exposing the cheek butts and tight white boots was dancing and swaying away. damn sexy sial. she even climbed to the table top against the pillar to dance. aft the live band performance, they played very fast techno music again. we went back shortly aft we finished the drinks. everybody is tired and rubin has to work tml.

once in the hotel room, though i was tired, i cant sleep. so matt and i watched tv till 4am. we watched channel i, channel 8, HBO, MTV. and poor matt couldnt sleep cos i cant sleep. i kept toking to him, and even got him to accompany me to all my toilet trips.

Day 2 - 10 Apr 04
woken up by power's morning call again, for breakfast. i was so sleepy as i slept late the night before. so she and alvin went for breakfast and me and matt joined her later. actually matt has no intention of going for the breakfast but he was woken by Gary's call. so i asked him to join me for breakfast since he has already woken up. aft the heavy breakfast, we went back to our rooms to rest. matt fell asleep. no news from power and alvin. i guessed they were sleeping too. i cant sleep. so i had a bubbly bathtub bath. it was damn shiok sial. at 2 pm, we took the hotel merce to lucky plaza for rupiah 20 000. had lunch at a food court. though it is air coned, but the place is full of flies. and the pple there continue to eat their food despite of the flies flying ard. we were the only ones busy shoo-ing the flies away. aft the lunch, we walked around centre point and lucky plaza.
there was nothing much to see there. we went to some shops selling imitation but most of their imitation stuffs are lousy. and the price is quite ex, considering the quality. so in the end, we went back empty handed. rubin came to meet us at 6.30 and we went to a hill top restaurant to have dinner. the view there was fantastic. though we were all still full, but we still managed to finish the food. we had:
grilled prawns - yummy yummy yummy
fried fish - the fish was served very beautifully.
vegetable soup - so so
chicken - cant remember whether its grilled or fried
this dinner is the most expensive meal. it costs S$ 64.

after dinner, rubin took us supper market selling lots of crackers. i bought 3 packets of crackers and power bought 3 big plastic bags!! haha. aft dat, we went hotel on a hill top to view the night scenery of batam. aft dat, we went to the sky lounge in our hotel. there was life band there. we ordered some drinks. the cocktails tastes horrible. power's pink lady tasted like cough syrup while my long island tea taste damn bitter. in the end, i gave my long island tea to matt adn i had beer instead.
the live band was good and we decided to dedicate songs. but out of the so many songs we dedicated, the band only sang 2. i guess the songs we chose were either too new for them or too difficult cos they mostly sang oldies. and there was this bunch of aunties who will go to the dance floor to dance cha cha whenever the band is playing catchier songs. we talked, laughed and took some pictures at the lounge. the view there is good too as it is on the 21st floor. at ard 1am, we left the place and went for supper. only the guys ate. we ate at a hawker and there we spotted some strange sights.

there were 2 malays with guitars and they would stop at every table and sing. their singing is not really good. they came to our table and rubin gave them rupiah $1000. we thought that after giving them $$, they would sing a tune for us. but we were wrong. rubin saiod that once we give them $$, they will stop disturbing us and go to another table to disturb the pple there till they give them $$. then, came a little begger boy, who tugged power's t shirt. we were considering whether to give him $$ a not but rubin warned us that if we give one, the rest will all come. so its better not to give. aft the dinner, we went back to our hotel. at first i was so tired that i fell asleep without bathing. but later, i went to bathed and felt damn awake again. so poor matt again.

Day 3 - 11 Apr 04
woken up by power's morning call again, for breakfast. she and alvin went first, while i joined them later. aft the breakfast, we got together to settle all the bills and calculate the $$ we have left. we dun wanna bring any rupiah back to sgp. aft settling the accounts, we went for message again. this time, we had the combination message, which concentrates on the head and shoulders and foot reflexology. matt went to gym and the swimming pool instead. but we were too early, and the mausses were not there yet and so power and i went to try the sauna first. again, we were toking throughout the sauna and jus as we began sweating, the mausses were here so we proceeded to the tv hall for our message. this message is actually better than the full body message we had on the 1st day. power and 1 were less noisy. we were quiet when we felt pain. haha. aft the message, i went back to my room to change into my swim wear and joined matt at the pool. the jacuzzi pool was damn hot. but it damn shiok as well. aft the swim, we quickly got back to our room and started packing and got ready to check out. we went back to the restaurant we had lunch the first day. we werent really hungry, but we ate anyway. this time, we had:
grilled fish - must go with the sauce
soft shell crab - cos its so yummy
kai lan - way better than the kang kong
fish lips - power and alvin cant get enuff of it
rubin met us at the restaurant. aft our lunch we went to the port and that marks the end of our batam trip. fell asleep in the ferry on the way back to sgp. once we reached sgp, i felt so lost and sian. sigh.

but matt and i had a great time at batam. it was truely a relaxing trip. rubin was a great host. and he drove 3 different cars in the 3 days that we met him.

batam was way different from malaysia. you dun see any very nice buildings there. the buildings were scattered all over the place. its like there are no the roads were all very dimly litted. u can only see the incoming car's headlights. there were no road signs or any dividers and the pple there horn at any reason.

the people there mainly speak malay and so there was some language problem. even their english is un understandable. found that indonesians are all very softspoken. power and i were like 2 noisy gers compared to them.

the price range there was huge. all bills came in ten thousands. we were not really used to seeing such huge amounts. as all our notes are in $20 000, when the bills came, instead of asking hw much, we asked hw many pcs (of $20 000 notes) i need to pay??

today is back to reality again. lots of work to do. but must work even harder after the trip. and we will be back for more!!

Clatzz reflected on 4:25 PM