Batam Info / Interest / Help Thread

[Black Page]

Originally Posted by newyorker88

Heavy rain for many days ahead. Becareful if u drive

I miss Batam so much, that I am even nostalgic of the streets between Formosa and Nagoya Hill flooded by water.

[BFOMF5]

$4 dinner for 2 @DCM
Fried rice
Fried mee
Gado Gado

[BFOMF5]

Originally Posted by Black Page

OJET = special kind of very fast ojek with turbo fan engine at rear (recommended to visit all joints before Nono if you know he has disembarked to Batam)

555
BP are you a retired a language teacher?

[Black Page]

Originally Posted by BFOMF5

555
BP are you a retired a language teacher?

1) I am not so old to be retired
2) I am not a language teacher, but I LOVE to tease people

-----
555? I did not understand it, but I made a search. Today, I learned something.

According to Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_(number) 555 may mean, among many things:

- A musical piece by Frank Zappa (Five-Five-FIVE). It refers to the time signature of the composition (5/8 - 5/8 - 5/4).
- The Thai version of lol in a text conversation. "5" in Thai is pronounced "ha", so three of them would be "hahaha."
- "5" in Mandarin Chinese is pronounced "wu" so three together would be "wuwuwu", which sounds somewhat like sobbing.

Are you Chinese or Thai? That is: were you sobbing or laughing??

PS: My nickname is the title of one of the best tracks of Frank Zappa. I like to think that you were not laughing, neither sobbing, but rather honouring my name...

[BFOMF5]

Aiyo so complicated
555=Hahaha

[ReCoKiA]

Any bros in batam now? Solo trip here just arrived

[nono1973]

My 39th Batam Trip Summary
(from 7th May to 10th May 2017)

Reference link : 38th Batam Trip Summary

It's May 2017,closing in to Ramadan,time to prepare for it. Beside my last trip's summary cross referencing,i am also studying my last year's 28th trip summary and the 29th trip summary. It's my diary,i kept a record and now I am going to help myself with it.

Last month's April trip,i forget to post something...so I think I will just add in the photos here. Found this AED thingy at the Harbour Bay ferry terminal while on my way back to Singapore.

Its a good idea,but I still think its the wrong place to put this. I think the 1 star and 2 star hotel should have one instead,well..i think there are more people with "situations" dying in these hotels rather than in a ferry terminal,hehehe...and by the way,it's not written in English.

Another thing I notice in the ferry terminal while on my way back to Singapore ,is this sign board :

I don't exactly understand bahasa Indonesia,but I do understand 2 words from the signboard that says...No Drugs. Hmm...I am guessing the Batam authorities are trying to tell their locals going to Singapore not to play with drugs,hehehe...

Ok, this is the cutest part... (don't know who's idea was it from)

Batam Harbour Bay departure terminal actually have a Singapore Consular sign board for Singaporean tourist/s going back to Singapore,hehehe...got the joke?

Ok,enough talks about my April Trip on a May's summary. This May trip,i have the honour to meet up with 2 old friends who reached Batam a day earlier than me. While waiting for my girls,i met up with them and we go for our little walk,hehehe...

Seems like there are some activities going on at Nagoya City Walk for the families.

...continue to page 2...

[nono1973]

This reminds me of the China's 广场舞 (when i was in GZ & GX) aka group of aunties and children dancing at the Square. Didn't know Batam also fashion this,hehehe...its good exercise tho.

No,i didn't join them,hehehe...above picture were just to allow me to get a better feel of a situation.

Lunch was at Bento Tei Japanese restaurant,and I don't know why. This time round it seems to be more expensive compared to my last time there on April. Is it becos the restaurant notice all 3 of us were all Singaporean men? Hehehe...I doubt so.

My scanner couldn't catch a clear image of the receipt from Bento Tei,but its 272844 rupiah. This is just for my later reference. Its also this day that I learned that Telkomsel points can actually use to redeem 20% to 30% off the restaurant bill with a certain redeem code.

Come to think of it,i think I also need to record down the Telkomsel promo for phone calls from Batam via Singapore and vice versa (even tho the promo is only up to Dec 2017).

Basically there are few promos packages for myself who already have a Indonesia Telkomsel sim card.

1. The Talk Mania package which give its user 100 mins talk time for 7 days from Singapore/Malaysia to Indonesia at 50k rupiah.

2. And there is other 2 packages for internet and SMS access in Singapore/Malaysia with the Telkomsel sim card :

And there is how to activate it? Hehehe...read below :

I am too lazy to type everything all out,so I just cut and paste the message from the telkomsel website here.

Oh,one more thing to add, that is even when I am in Singapore,i can also activate the packages using the SSD code of *266# and there wont be any extra charges. Just make sure I have enough money in my sim card.

To check my sim card value anytime w/o charge,i dial *888#.

Every 5k rupiah top up in Batam,i get one telkomsel point. And these points can be use to redeem vouchers, eg Restaurant,Shops,malls discount, free movie tickets etc etc...also, if I have local Batam friends,and if I ask them to help me top up my sim card via their ATM card,there will not be any of those 2k rupiah administration charges or commissions (I saved 2k rupiah per top).

...continue to page 3...

[nono1973]

Night time at Nagoya City Walk feels a bit like some open air clean pub places like those outskirt of Clark Quay Singapore...

I think I posted those photos above before,whereby the café or push-cart shops selling cheap beers and less than or about S$2 burgers but they were mostly during the day time. This time round,it is by night. And its of a different ambience....not so crowded and yet with a fresher open air,less pollution becos I am the few smokers around there,hehehe...

How cheap is the food there? This cheap...

...and how cheap is the beer there? This cheap...

(60k per litre,buy 3 litre free 1 litre)

Do check the banner beside the buy 3 litre get 1 litre free banner for even cheaper food too.

These shops were just side by side each other taking less than 10 secs to reach once you found them.

...continue to page 4...

[nono1973]

As a non-beer drinker, beer offers don't impress me....and what caught my attention were those beer that were home brewed. Ever drink a green colour beer before?

If you haven't, then you must really try...I heard they made those green colored beer from algae called Spirulina. Healthy stuffs that should contain something not much often heard of....Vitamin K ,hehehe...

Formosa Hotel getting ready for Ramadan 2017...

Now make a guess what is the machine thingy at the right hand side beside the signage on the photo below....hehehe...

Its actually a air-purifier. I think there are people complaining of the smoke scent in the hotel, I notice the hotel has a couple of such machine at their lobby area within the different floors of the hotel.

Another of my friend arrive to the same hotel the next following day,i help him grab a room from the hotel and arrange for him to be picked up (and to be send off the next day) by the hotel too...and this is the part where the receptionist failed to understand me well enough. The new guy (receptionist) actually reserved a room for my friend side by side my room. I noticed the given room number and ask my friend if he is OK with staying a room where there was someone who passed on somewhere last year 2016. My friend was surprise and tells me NO,so I have the receptionist change him to another room.

They even locked my friend's room mini bar fridge,hehehe...and i have to call the receptionist up by phone to have it opened up. I also notice this new room my friend stayed in has a bath tub AND MY PRIVATE SAFE BOX,hehehe....well...guys who knew me will know what I meant by private safe-box.

* the reason why the mini bar fridge was locked becos my friend didn't deposit his passport with the receptionist and he already paid the hotel in full for his room,i think they were afraid my friend may eat away the stuffs from fridge and not pay for it.

...continue to page 5...

[nono1973]

Our dinner at Nagoya Hill Mall...

Dinner was free for me,hehehe...costing around 300k for 4 person. (friend wants to eat,so i just follow...and i didnt expect him to pay for my dinner for 2,hehehe...).

During a walk at the mall,i notice something...

Yes,a job advertisement from a certain retail shop...I think most of us here reading in this thread MAY BE NOT qualify to earn 2.5 juta a month with the requirement stated,hehehe....

Notice how difficult it is for Indonesian above 35 years old to get a proper job that pays well enough now? But one thing for sure,i have never once think that Indonesian are poor people. They just don't earn as much. In fact,their poverty level were way lower than China,base on statistic (less than 10% of Indonesia live below poverty level).

My calculation is base on, (example) while "i" may earn 30 juta a month,but my living expenses in Sillypore took up more than 80% of my total monthly income but in Indonesia, some Indonesian may earns about 3 juta a month but their cost to live is only maybe 50% of their total earning. So,who is richer at the end of the day?

Anyway, this is just my own thought during this trip. There isn't as many poor people in Indonesia than what I think there should be. Their quality of life may be lower, but definitely most Indonesia aren't POOR.

It's just a viewpoint of my own. Another reference below :

...continue to page 6...

[nono1973]

Now,to the girls...this trip manage to bring 2 girls to an amusement park called Fun World.

...and burnt 300k rupiah there,hehehe...

Looks like they both have a good time....and so do I,hehehe...

and we all head for lunch.

This is also the 1st time I know what Basok Mie Ayam means...not bad,a well cooked instant noodles with some chicken cubes and chicken legs only cost around 12k or 13k rupiah (if I didn't remember wrong).


...continue to page 7...

[nono1973]

The next following day,also the day I should be leaving for Singapore,there was a very heavy downpour. So we decide to grab a quick lunch at Tea Story.

Nothing special about Tea Story,but still there are some honorable mentions like the menus below (good healthy stuffs that taste terrible!):

I went ordered the Japanese Roasted Green Tea with 25% sugar level,hehehe...and I soon paid a dear "price". Oh,and by the way,the pizza taste pretty good in Tea Story.

Look at the glass of reddish water,believe it or not, thats the Japanese Roasted Green tea. And the taste was 101% bitter!! Hehehe....anyway, pinched my nose and swallowed everything in before heading to take the hotel's mini-van to the hotel (and later harbor bay). A 16 seaters that cost me 110k rupiah fetching me from the hotel to airport and then to harbor bay ferrt terminal (on and off ,must still pay them a bit or they later make a lot of noise,hehehe...my trip to hotel was free).

The rain around our hotel area wasn't that bad,but I have to send my girls to the airport 1st before heading back to Harbour Bay ferry terminal. What happen was, there was massive traffic jam on the road as vehicles were moving slower than usual. The trip to the airport took longer than usual (a little more than an hour), so my whole time-table was juggle up...

There seems to be some small flood and ponding everywhere on the road to and back from the airport.

...continue to page 8...

[nono1973]

Thanks to the heavy downpour,i was nearly late for the ferry ride,but nonetheless, i still go to Horizon ferry counter to push back my ferry timing becos there's also another friend who was also planning to take similar ferry timing as me. He's taking Batamfast and I am on Horizon,and while we still have a few hour to burnt,we decide to check out :

Yes,its Alamanda Spa mins walk from Harbour Bay Ferry terminal. As there are time constraint, and we were just testing water,both of us took up an hour foot reflexology cost us about 130k rupiah each. Notice that photo above that says 25% to 30% off? This is where the "not-so-good" impression comes to play.

We only got 20% off. The counter staffs even have to dial the hotel boss when we mentioned the 25% to 30% on their banners. They tell us the 25% to 30% off were for customers staying in the hotel. I do not know how true that is, BUT I did remember which category of staying guest gets 25% and which category gets the 30%. They cannot tell me.

End of the day,the boss over the phone sounds to the counter staff relatively in a reluctant gesture and gave us a 20% off. And my guess is,if I didn't ask...most likely I wont be getting any discount. Its not exactly the utmost importance for us to save that little amount since our total tips for both the massage ladies and the counter staffs already exceed the amount saved. But that's enough to put us off that day.

As I have often mention in a thread, there will never be all good and no bad OR will there be all bad and no good. The good part was,over my time in the shop, I notice there were SYTs in this place,hehehe...,the foot reflexology was however good and proper done by auntie-level type of ladies. The girls can also be called to the room if we were to be staying there. More importantly, they were all very friendly too,hehehe...and i manage to collect informations that i need.

Below is the cashier counter where we pay....

...and this is the place where we have our foot reflexology.

They do not have individual room for the girls to go massage and the place where the girls will do a massage for walk in customers were those open space shared area divided by a some curtain type. Its also dark,hence my lousy handphone camera couldn't get a clear shot out of it.

In case no one notice, there is also a Telkomel point redemption advert at the cashier counter on the photos. I didnt look at it clearly.

...continue to page 9...

[nono1973]

This place is really cute! Look at their display pieces on the below photos...

On those display shelf,there were signs that says that the display pieces can be for sale,hehehe....I think they were trying to hook up with some "normal" tourists.

There's another thing worth mentioning. This massage spa place do not allow smoking...but they do have a smoking area near a balcony-look-alike place and from there,i can see part of Harbour Bay Mall...

The pictures above also show the road were wet. And the rain has stopped.

After our time at this massage spa,we have to practically run to catch our ferry becos we chatted with quite a handful of staffs there ;and thereafter,we part our separate ways to face our own "heaven and hell" in real life.

This is also one of those rare time that I have to leave batam when the sunset. It is also a good trip for myself becos I met up with quite a handful good bros who used to joined me in my past Batam trips. Good meet up,nice chatting over a meal/drink and a good time with our own girls.

~~~~~~~~~~End of Summary~~~~~~~~~~

I was enjoying the below music video while writing this summary,hehehe...

The Penis for my thought time :

1. A friend was asking me in this trip. Why am I still so persistently writing summaries after summaries after 3.5 years in Batam. I gave it a little thought and here's my reply :

a. I enjoys it,even if one day there's ultimately no one reading it. I will be my own audience. The objective is mainly for myself. Cross-referencing can be fun,if i am seeking something.

b. How many here in this thread can remember their 1st 10 Batam trips. Hehehe....i do. And how did I do that? You are also reading it now. People come,people go...people stay. How many persevere?

c. On a personal note, Batam is not far from home,yet away from home. So it gives me a break from whatever I have been doing.

2. In this summary,i need to remember *266*20# ,hehehe....its the Telkomsel SSSD code to get their roaming package.

3. Surprising, I wasn't charged to and fro (2 way) from ferry terminal to hotel,but my friend was. Looks like it is likely to be fixed for me. Yet nothing is really permanent tho,hence I cannot tell my own future too.

4. Looks like my transportation concern will start to move from Taxi fare to Air-ticket fare when i am in Batam,hehehe...

5. I actually wrote this summary twice. Thanks to all the dying pictures just before i could have it up. But i did some back up,so about 90% of the photos in my past summaries are still safely kept, tho some most are already dead. It will take me some time to repair them all. (nothing really last forever anyway)

Not much thoughts in this trip. Its more of a preparation trip for the upcoming Ramadan trip on June,where Batam will become slower than ever.

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