Batam weekend getaway

Been to Batam twice, earlier at end-July (with mum) and last weekend (mum and bro). Both times I joined a tour from StreetDeal but I’m thinking of going Free & Easy the next time, now that I’ve seen enough sights and know where I like shopping best.

Last time I posted a selfie on my blog was in December O_O so here you go. Pre-purple hair. Not a fan of selfies these days because I think I look better last time… hahaha.

Very early in the morning at 7am+ while waiting to board the ferry *yawn*. Not helped by the fact that I stayed up till very late to read fanfiction 😀

We were on the tour bus at Batam time 9am+ and I told my mum, “It’s 9am and I want lunch.”

From the first trip but both times we visited the same places (no idea how I missed the hair dye the first time!). This was at the Chocolate House. Also visited factory outlets for clothes, layer cake (kueh lapis) bakery, Batik shop, dry markets, dry goods stores (so much keropok :P) and more.

Seafood lunch at Golden Prawn 933 restaurant as part of the tour. Food wasn’t that great (probably because we came as a tour group and not regular guests) but I ate a lot to get my worth anyway. But okay la… you pay what you get.

Same menu both times:

– White rice (my favourite lol)
– Corn and egg soup (more starch than soup)
– Kang kong in sambal chilli (the only nice thing)
– Fish fried in sweet sauce (over-fried)
– Fried sotong (very hard and chewy)
– Baby lobster (like really baby… mostly shells and no meat)
– Crab in curry sauce with vermicelli (prefer SG’s chilli crab sauce)
– Gong-gong

Continued the tour by visiting the aforementioned shops and it was all pretty boring until the final stop. Which is also my favourite and what I’ve been waiting for – shopping at Batam City Square!

All the bags and shoes are from the same store (except the polka dot and purple thing at the top which are foldable bags at 3 for $10). I LOVE THAT STORE because everything is so dirt-cheap and nice (the first thing no longer applies to Singapore and it’s starting to be the same for the other)!!

Paid about S$70 for all of these I think 😀

Visited the Hypermart and bought many bottles of green tea (honey, melon, peach, lychee, etc) which cost only 40 cents each! Then went to takeaway dinner before making our way back to the hotel.

We stayed at Nagoya One Hotel previously and at Nagoya Mansion this time. Both are about the same, with hot water, wifi, TV and other basics. Clean, comfy too. The latter is pricier but you’ll see why later.

Best ayam penyet ever!!! From a stall inside Batam City Square Mall and the tour guide recommended it to us. Only at $1.60 and it comes with those cucumber, cabbage, tau gua, tempeh, fried chicken and rice. SO FREAKING YUM.

Bro when I opened my pack: Why your rice got tissue inside?
Me: That’s not tissue, it’s cabbage.
Mum when bro opened his pack: So gross, why you put tissue on your rice?

Best part was the chilli as it was really spicy (which is really saying something in my case). I love how chilli in Indonesia is legitimately spicy everywhere, even the ones at fast food restaurants.

Anyway this was like heaven and I kept saying I wish I’d bought an extra pack. We had also bought mee soto and fried mee goreng from BFC which we shared. So good.

Ayam penyet from our previous trip which was passable but nowhere as amazing.

Showered, watched TV, read and bed time. Woke up for breakfast the next day and it’s the reason why our stay at this hotel was pricier than the last.

Ok damn annoying forgot to further resize photos before collaging so they look blurred. But anyway –

What a luxurious spread!!! There was also a salad bar, egg station, drinks station and more that I didn’t photograph. I usually don’t opt for hotel breakfast when overseas because there’s so much local food outside so maybe this was why I got so excited… hahahaha.

Loaded up my plate like a pig 😀 my stay at the previous hotel only served eggs, sausages and bread for breakfast. Not sure if it’s always like that or because it was fasting month then.

More of a carbs and meat person so I didn’t really eat the pastries. Quite a variety though!

My brother’s salad… *pulling a face*

I only wanted to eat the butter actually. Butter is god.

Was so full that I simply went back upstairs for a lie-down right after. I guess this is what they mean by a food coma. I might have even napped but I can’t remember.

Walked to Nagoya One shopping mall afterwards. It was said to be a 10-minute walk but they just have meant Indonesia’s pace of life as we Singaporeans reached there in 5 minutes.

Loads of shops but didn’t buy much because BCS still has better prices. Checked out and left for the ferry terminal. There’s another mall just beside where we left our luggage and continued to shop.

Chilled at A&W and binged some more 😀

These three photos are all from my first trip.

This is from my second trip… one regular fried chicken and one Spicy Aroma chicken. Prefer the taste of the original but I liked how spicy it actually is (never found the ones in SG spicy, regardless of KFC or wherever and whichever recipe)!

Batam is really a good place for short getaways ^^

No idea my post would be this long even though it was an overnight stay… can you understand why I have yet to blog about Bangkok (2013), Taiwan and Phuket yet? Going to Bangkok and Hong Kong in November, can’t wait!!