Well was just lamenting about going oversea.
My good friend, Charles, at work jio me to go Batam for R&R (rest and recreational).
Quite a last minute proposal... But still managed to pull it through.
Actually, Batam is just an hour of ferry away from Singapore. Been there a few times with my ship. But that was quite long ago. Not a perfect getaway but nonetheless, a good place to go since have nothing better to do. haha.
Met him around 7:30 am. Got the ferry tickets (30SGD per return ticket) for the 9:30am ferry - Penguin Ferry.
Reach Batam around 9:30am. haha no typo, coz our time is one hour later than their time.
Batam, a place with not much places of interests. But you can find cheap massages and shop for the infamous kuei lapis and Indon Mie Goreng (instant noodle, my favourite type so far) and great seafood (consider cheaper than here).
As our intention is to go there for R&R. Thus, after stepping down from the ferry terminal, we took a cab to Nagoya (town area). We managed to bargain the fare to 20,000 rup about 4 SGD ( exchange rate was 5,800 rup to 1 SGD).
After a drink, we head for our first massage. Damage is about 130,000 rup (S$25), 2hrs massage inclusive of body scrub (what they call lur lur). Ha... my skin is still peeling off from the sunburn from Navy Open house a week before. Thus, the scrub really comes in time. The massage was so so, thus I gave a 20,000 rup tips (S$4). Charles commented that I too stingy with my tipping as more effort was needed to scrub. But in my personal opinion, tips is how well you think that the service rendered as we already pay more for scrub than normal massage.
After the refreshing massage, we hunted around for a decent lunch. We walked everywhere but can't get some nice places that Charles knew. They were either closed or moved. So we ended up having lunch at a pub " The Red Cock". The lunch was too costly but is still consider cheaper compare with singapore. The ambience was so bad, nice waitress (wink wink). The only minus point is that the seats not so comfy - the pub style tall stool. We had steaks at ard 70,000 rup (S$12) each. I think the steak was quite good and comparable to Jack's place and if not better. But Charles says that he tried better steak in clementi hawker centre @ $8. So next time he brings me there, I will compare whether if it's that good.
After a good lunch, we went to do our shopping. Walking helps in digestion - that's what I was taught since young. I didn't plan to spend too much on shopping, my mind was set on one box of Kuei Lapis and two packs of Indo Mie Goreng. Ladies shop for the proccess of shopping, where guys shop with the purpose for shopping. Meaning, the gals shop for the joy of shopping, guys only shop when got things in mind need to buy. True or not up to individuals.
So after getting the cake and the noodles, we headed down for our second massage. This time we had the aroma therapy type. The damage is 100,000 rup (S$20), plus again a 20,000 rup tips. This time I was served by a dinosaur, lucky she never step on my back... if not I wouldn't be here typing away. Sighz, I hate dinosaur (they should be extinct right) when come to massage. As I have very low threshold for pain, I like it at moderate strength. I endured through that two hours. One thing about dinosaurs is that they can't control their strength. It's really a relieve when its comes to an end. But the aroma scent they used is really strong and good. Next time I will tell them that no more dinosaurs for me!!!
After the massage, we headed for dinner. We went to a hawker centre style, seafood. The food there is only so so. Then we called it a day and headed back to the ferry terminal.
To our amazement, when we reached the counter to redeem our return tickets. The staff says they were fully booked already. OMG... next day got to work lehz!!! No choice, have to try our luck at other ferry provider. Lucky we managed to get tickets at Batam Fast. We decided to buy the return trip ticket which is $23. Cheaper by $7 bought from singapore. So now we have a ticket to go back to batam from singapore (batam fast) and a ticket to come back to singapore (Penguin). The return ticket expires in one year time.
So if plan to go batam, buy the one way ticket from singapore. Then get a return ticket when you come back. This will be a economic choice.
Till the next time!!!
My good friend, Charles, at work jio me to go Batam for R&R (rest and recreational).
Quite a last minute proposal... But still managed to pull it through.
Actually, Batam is just an hour of ferry away from Singapore. Been there a few times with my ship. But that was quite long ago. Not a perfect getaway but nonetheless, a good place to go since have nothing better to do. haha.
Met him around 7:30 am. Got the ferry tickets (30SGD per return ticket) for the 9:30am ferry - Penguin Ferry.
Reach Batam around 9:30am. haha no typo, coz our time is one hour later than their time.
Batam, a place with not much places of interests. But you can find cheap massages and shop for the infamous kuei lapis and Indon Mie Goreng (instant noodle, my favourite type so far) and great seafood (consider cheaper than here).
As our intention is to go there for R&R. Thus, after stepping down from the ferry terminal, we took a cab to Nagoya (town area). We managed to bargain the fare to 20,000 rup about 4 SGD ( exchange rate was 5,800 rup to 1 SGD).
After a drink, we head for our first massage. Damage is about 130,000 rup (S$25), 2hrs massage inclusive of body scrub (what they call lur lur). Ha... my skin is still peeling off from the sunburn from Navy Open house a week before. Thus, the scrub really comes in time. The massage was so so, thus I gave a 20,000 rup tips (S$4). Charles commented that I too stingy with my tipping as more effort was needed to scrub. But in my personal opinion, tips is how well you think that the service rendered as we already pay more for scrub than normal massage.
After the refreshing massage, we hunted around for a decent lunch. We walked everywhere but can't get some nice places that Charles knew. They were either closed or moved. So we ended up having lunch at a pub " The Red Cock". The lunch was too costly but is still consider cheaper compare with singapore. The ambience was so bad, nice waitress (wink wink). The only minus point is that the seats not so comfy - the pub style tall stool. We had steaks at ard 70,000 rup (S$12) each. I think the steak was quite good and comparable to Jack's place and if not better. But Charles says that he tried better steak in clementi hawker centre @ $8. So next time he brings me there, I will compare whether if it's that good.
After a good lunch, we went to do our shopping. Walking helps in digestion - that's what I was taught since young. I didn't plan to spend too much on shopping, my mind was set on one box of Kuei Lapis and two packs of Indo Mie Goreng. Ladies shop for the proccess of shopping, where guys shop with the purpose for shopping. Meaning, the gals shop for the joy of shopping, guys only shop when got things in mind need to buy. True or not up to individuals.
So after getting the cake and the noodles, we headed down for our second massage. This time we had the aroma therapy type. The damage is 100,000 rup (S$20), plus again a 20,000 rup tips. This time I was served by a dinosaur, lucky she never step on my back... if not I wouldn't be here typing away. Sighz, I hate dinosaur (they should be extinct right) when come to massage. As I have very low threshold for pain, I like it at moderate strength. I endured through that two hours. One thing about dinosaurs is that they can't control their strength. It's really a relieve when its comes to an end. But the aroma scent they used is really strong and good. Next time I will tell them that no more dinosaurs for me!!!
After the massage, we headed for dinner. We went to a hawker centre style, seafood. The food there is only so so. Then we called it a day and headed back to the ferry terminal.
To our amazement, when we reached the counter to redeem our return tickets. The staff says they were fully booked already. OMG... next day got to work lehz!!! No choice, have to try our luck at other ferry provider. Lucky we managed to get tickets at Batam Fast. We decided to buy the return trip ticket which is $23. Cheaper by $7 bought from singapore. So now we have a ticket to go back to batam from singapore (batam fast) and a ticket to come back to singapore (Penguin). The return ticket expires in one year time.
So if plan to go batam, buy the one way ticket from singapore. Then get a return ticket when you come back. This will be a economic choice.
Till the next time!!!
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