Batam Trip

--Sg Cruise Centre @ HarbourFront Centre--
Reached the mall at 10am and rushed to BatamFast's counter to purchase our ferry tickets to Batam. We were very lucky as we were the last few who bought the 10.50am tickets. After we got our tickets, we quickly check-in at the Ferry departure gate and waited for boarding. Everything just happened in 30 mins or so. Damn fast~!
There were many people at the Cruise Centre, mostly Indonesians returning to Batam, and next was of course our folks. Haha! I was quite amused with the luggage people brought to Batam. I thought that was good enough for a week's vacation! Lolz~
My BatamFast travel voucher & boarding pass.
This is our ferry, "Sea Flyte".
Our ferry moved slowly and we saw the gigantic Superstar Virgo (Star Cruise) & Legends of the Sea (Royal Caribbean).
We passed by Sentosa's Siloso beach.
Rasa Sentosa Resort.
This shld be the location for Song of the Sea @ Siloso beach.
This is Sentosa Cove area.
APL container ship.
After 45 mins, we reached our destination, Batam Center. Mega Mall is just beside the ferry terminal.
Another ferry you can take besides BatamFast, and that's Penguin.
--Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall--
We got a cab for 60,000 rupiah and 5 of us gotta squeeze into the cab! Crazy sia! The journey from Batam Center to Nagoya Hill was about 15 mins. Along the way, the Indonesia driver tried to talk to us in Bahasa Indonesia. We cld not understand him most of the time, but I guessed he mentioned that shopping was better in SG. Lolz!
Honestly, I have no plans of where I want to go. I just thought of walking around the downtown area. So, I cld only visit malls la.
Nagoya Hill is Batam's largest mall, but for Sgporeans, I don't think it's on par with any of our local malls. The only place worth shopping is Hypermart. Hahaha!
The mall's central area.
Food Street. Basically just two rows of restaurants & small eateries.
We decided to check out Godiva Coffee, and we regretted our choice. Shld have chose A&W la! The restaurant was hot (w/o air-con), svc was average, and the food portion was pathetic.
KH's fish & chips simply "shocked" us. Hahaha! I've nv seen such a small piece of fish before!
SC's chicken fingers looked slightly better, but the meat was fried for too long.
Aunt Jo & my grilled chicken wings set with fries & coke. As usual, my chicken wings were mini as well.
Most of the shops were local, and they sold many fake branded goods. The shops which caught our attention were those selling Hello Kitty products. Haha!
Went to see their cinema and found that there were only 4 films showing, 1 Hollywood & 3 Indonesian. That's utterly boring!
We spent most of our time shopping at their largest Hypermart, and bought some food back.
E.W said we cld return to SG earlier than expected and we decided to check out Mega Mall before we leave.
--Mega Mall--
Mega Mall was smaller than Nagoya Hill, but their shops were slightly better in terms of variety. I saw a Breadtalk & Levi's shop. There was a small stall selling cheap crepes, but only Aunt Jo bought one to try.
Saw this small train moving around the mall.
We decided to have snacks at A&W and I ordered their Ice-cream waffle & root beer. Their waffles were not nice. KH & SC did not finish their waffles while I managed to clear my plate. Based on my experiences at Surabaya's A&W last yr, only their 2 piece chicken meal is worth trying.
--Batam Ferry Terminal--
We crossed the bridge and went to BatamFast's counter at 4pm plus, Batam time. We did not buy our return tickets in advance & cld only settle with the ferry departing at 6.40pm! Damn! We missed the 5.30pm ferry!
So, we gotta wait for a good 2 hrs plus, and we decided to rot at a coffee shop. This is my super sweet teh tarik.
Finally, we checked in and queued for at least 30 mins for boarding. (Have to be kiasu or else we can't find seats together). Our ferry was slightly delayed and we only managed to board it at 7pm. Luckily, the ferry "Jet Raider" was big and the seats were much better than "Sea Flyte". All of us took a nap in the ferry and we finally reached home at 9pm plus SG time.
That's the end of my random Batam trip. Haha!
I guessed the island is only suitable for people who wants to stay in resorts or do massage. Other than that, Batam is qutie a boring place.

Rainy Vietnam Trip Report - Day 6

Date: 18/11/2010
Route: Hue-Da Nang-Ho Chi Minh City
--1st Stop: Da Nang International Airport--
We spent half a day travelling from Hue to HCMC. Luckily the transportation throughout the journey was quite comfortable.
8.30am, we met the funny driver of Orchid and departed for Da Nang airport. The journey from Hue to Da Nang is about 3 hrs.
This time round, we drove through Hai Van Tunnel, which is the longest tunnel in South East Asia.
We were quite early for check-in, so have to grab a bite before we board the plane. There was only 1 small eatery at the airport. I had instant noodles and coffee for lunch. This meal costed a "bomb" ok? I can have far better meals with the amount I paid for these! But no choice...I had to feed myself :(
We did not realised that we cld check-in our luggage and actually waited at the departure hall for quite sometime. The good thing was our luggage wld be the first few to come out when we reached HCMC. Haha!
1.40pm, we departed for HCMC on VN329, which was an Airbus 330 plane. They have perosnal screens on the seat, but no IFE. Well, it's alright for an hr journey...I got my mp4 :)
View from the plane. HCMC, the city of rivers....
We reached HCMC at 2.55pm. Decided to change some VND, but the money changer at the domestic airport got svc charge. So, we walked over to the international airport to change money, and we decided to book a taxi from Mai Linh counter. It costed 8USD for a taxi, but safety was guaranteed.
--2nd Stop: Beautiful Saigon Hotel--
Beautiful Saigon 2 was a small hotel, but the location was quite good. There are lots of restaurants nearby, and it's not too far from Ben Thanh Market.
Toilet.
Our beds. Not as spacious as compared to the previous hotels we stayed in Central Vietnam.
There are LCD TV, PC etc. Quite well equipped, but not enough space for our luggage.
View from our room. HCMC is a city of cables.
--3rd Stop: Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre--
Water puppet is a traditional performance in Vietnam, and we decided to go to the theatre to watch the performance. The maps provided by the hotel & Lonely Planet guidebook were not adequate for us as there were roads which were not shown. So, we thought it was near Ben Thanh mkt, but we were so wrong. Shld have took a taxi.
I've not met with such heavy traffic in Central Vietnam, but this scene is nothing surprising for a big city of 7 million people. The motorbike population is huge as well, and it was difficult to cross their roads. So basically, once u start crossing, don't look back. Ha!
I bet there wld be more high-rise buildings in the future.
We walked to the end of Ben Thanh mkt, and realised that we have not reach Golden Dragon. After walking 2 streets further down, we reached the Unification Palace, and realised the theatre is behind it! (U know how big the palace ground is...)
The suay thing happened next. We heard thunder & lightning and within minutes, rain just fell like cats & dogs. We were drenched even with umbrellas, and HCMC streets started to flood. My shoes, jeans and bag were all wet again!!!
So we have to abort our plan and return to hotel. But, how to flag for a taxi? We were at the wrong side of the road, and many taxis were occupied.
We finally flagged a taxi, but there's no meter, which means we wld have to negotiate with the driver. Heaven was not on our side as it's raining heavily! Going back to hotel was more impt, so we decided to get in and pay the money unwillingly. The 5 mins ride costed 100,000VND, which was nearly the cost from HCMC airport to downtown! I really felt like cursing, but it's inevitable. Haiz~~~
We returned to hotel, and began our drying routine. Haha! It was quite late in the evening, we were tired, wet, and hungry! Changed into my old clothings and we went out to have our dinner. Luckily the rain has stopped....
--4th Stop: Lotteria Fast Food Restaurant--
We did not dine at our hotel area, but walked to the main road and saw this Korean fast food restaurant. I remembered how slow their svc was when I was at Jeju Island airport in 2009. Anyway, Lotteria's menu offered burgers, fried and grilled chicken.
All of us decided to have 2 piece grilled chicken meal with some garlic flavour. Well, I thought the grilled chicken was alright, and it was a little bloody at the bones area. I shld have chose their prawn burger instead.
There goes our Day 6 :(

Overseas Trip

Date: 02/01/11
Transport: Ferry from Harbourfront to Batam Center
Type of tour: F&E

You must be laughing when I list my upcoming Batam trip as "overseas trip" right? Haha!
It's Indonesia what? Not overseas meh?
I need to stamp on my passport leh! Lolz!

Well, it's my first trip to the island. Wld only have time to shop at the malls as I did not plan to stay overnight. Let's see why so many people like to go there.