batam, indonesia revisited (2 days 1 night)

11.27am

recently, my husband and i decided to just have a quick and fast getaway so i suggested batam, as its relatively cheap and very near to singapore. within an hour, voila! you're in a totally different environment and atmosphere. i call it extreme! hahahaha go figure

you know what, i've realized after my second trip to batam, there's actually not much to do there, i mean besides going for the usual spa and massage (which was just great, no doubt about that!), stop by factory outlets for some quick shopping or even to browse and finally to have relatively cheap seafood. 

oh just so you know, singapore is an hour ahead of indonesia, so if unsure just set your watch back an hour upon arrival into batam and when you are leaving indonesia, set your watch back to an hour ahead. easy peasy. by the way, there's a few ferry terminals in batam, so choose the correct one that you are supposed to be heading to and board the correct ferry. hehehe

ok, here's a rough itinerary of our 2 days 1 night stay in batam. but frankly speaking, i think a day trip will be sufficient unless you go in a group or with some close family or friends and just to chill out, then yes, do stay the night otherwise go early and come back later in the evening. that's my take.

journey start from harbourfront, singapore to batam ferry centre terminal, batam, indonesia

day 1(singapore time)

630am get up
715am leave home
725am bus arrives
805am arrive at harbourfront and purchased 2 ferry tickets (by sindo ferry/penguin operator) at the sindo ferry counter on level 2
855am waiting at boarding gate
905am journey begins
10am arrive at batam centre ferry terminal 
1030am hotel pickup from ferry terminal
1055am arrive at our hotel but not ready for check in until noon (i booked nagoya hill mansion and residences that cost around S$70 per room per night inclusive of breakfast for 2 pax)
1130am decided to start our day with foot reflexology at the hotel (they have a spa) a bit pricey though compared to going to the spas/massage places in town (138,000 idr per pax)
1245pm after the foot reflexology, walked to nagoya hill shopping mall (was about 10-15 minutes walk from our hotel). did some browsing
145pm had lunch at grand duck restaurant at nagoya hill shopping mall
3-5pm found a pretty decent massage/spa outlet called everyday spa and we took the package for aromatherapy massage for 2 hours (140,000 idr per pax)
515pm walked back to hotel to check in
645pm went to another mall called bcs. took inhouse service/private car that cost 55,000 idr per way to take us to the mall (it all depends on which location you are heading to and so the price varies from there). it only took us less than 15 minutes to get to bcs mall from our hotel
720pm wanted to do a creambath (some sort of like a hairspa) so we walked into this hair salon called christopher hairsalon. we chose option 1 (there's 2 options to choose from and its based on what kind of hair product you wanted to use). i had to pay 98,000 idr coz my of my long hair and my husband paid only 52,500 idr for his hair coz its short). fyi, you pay according to the length of your hair and if you wanted to blow a certain kind of style, you had to pay for that too. they only do a simple blow dry. oh yes, besides having your head/scalp massaged with the salon's products, you'll also get a good neck rub and both arm massaged as well! this all took roughly about an hour or so. it was great! actually i wanted to go to johnny andrean (as they are pretty popular in indonesia but unfortunately, they didnt have enough staff at that time when i went in to check when we were still at nagoya hill shopping mall.) 
830pm dinner and walk around a bit more
930pm rung for the hotel driver to come get us (paid another 55,000 idr)
945pm back at hotel. what a day!

day 2 (still on singapore time)

830am breakfast at hotel
1030am decided to checkout early since we did all the things we wanted to do the day before (told you there wasnt much to do in batam except for massages and spas)
1050am arrived at the batam centre ferry terminal that cost us 85,000 idr per way from hotel to the ferry terminal
1115am at boarding gate
1143am departure
1250pm arrived at harbourfront, singapore

and that was that. all in all we didnt spend that much. just for your information -

a return fare from harbourfront singapore to batam centre ferry terminal per pax is S$34 (excluding singapore departure tax which is only S$6)
and you must set aside some rupiah (idr) which you must pay for the batam terminal tax of idr65,000.


so basically that was our super quick and fast getaway. in and out of batam within 24 hours. of course as i did mention earlier, going in a big group would be more fun and staying the night, coz there's stuff that the group can do for example go karting (which is out of the city centre) or a visit to see how the famous layered cake is made etc...but more often than not, for all you first timers i reckon that buying the day package is the way to go (its much cheaper and there's a guide that would show you around and land transfer provided to kart you around) and thats my advice. 

here's the latest ferry schedule for sindo ferry for your information.

boarding area in singapore at harbourfront and our ferry awaits.

departing from harbourfront ferry terminal in singapore.

inside the ferry. lots of people going to batam for meetings and as you probably know, batam is an industrial area and lots of factories therefore people normally go into batam for a few hours and then head back to singapore. 

cable cars in the background from mount faber to sentosa. 

i took a very short video as we were on our way. 

upon arrival into batam centre ferry terminal. was a good day thankfully as it didnt rain at all. otherwise i would have to get ready my "puke" bag. hahahaha but i do get motion sickness especially if sea is rough and choppy or when im sitting in a car (in the backseat) and going thru winding roads. oh boy! i so hate that! oddly enough, once upon a time, when i first started flying, i remembered i did throw up due to some air turbulence/bad weather but subsequently, as time went by, i was fine, even during a turbulence. i used to describe it like, riding on a mechanical bull at a rodeo. hehehehehe

after exiting the ferry and going into immigration and customs. it was pretty quick as there weren't that many people travelling on a monday morning.

after clearing customs and immigration, you'll come out to this is the main entrance of batam centre ferry terminal. and directly across the street as you can see (there's a bridge connecting both buildings) there's a mall called megamall batam. 

this is the entrance/exit of the ferry terminal. you can grab a taxi from here. i heard that they dont use the taxi meters so please try to bargain/negotiate the fares and do read up or google on how to negotiate with these drivers. thankfully for us, i had arranged for pick up by the hotel (one way was free for us).

as we pulled up at the traffic lights, there was this dude selling newspapers. amazingly enough, no vehicles would knock them. when i was living in jakarta, along the highway especially when there was a bad traffic jam, (my god, everyday there's massive traffic jams and worst when it rains and people get stuck in it for hours! im not playing with you, its bloody true!) there will be men/women weaving in and out of traffic selling newspapers, mineral water and even snacks so that you dont get hungry/thirsty whilst in the jam, hahahaha...or hey, read a paper even, since cars aint moving. once in a while you'd get a mother carrying a baby/toddler and begging for money, by knocking on your car window. sad but true!

ok so here we are at the poolside of our hotel. its called nagoya mansion hotel and residence. average sized pool, nothing super fancy. 

the reception area of the hotel.

i told you we started our day off with an hour of foot reflexology and this was the in house spa, wangsa spa. we were the only customers coz it was still early around 11ish in the morning (singapore time).

this is the view of the hotel. 

main entrance of the hotel.

right so this is our room, i booked a double or a superior (cant remember) but it was indeed spacious. big bed, relatively comfy. basic amenities provided like coffee, tea, kettle and 2 complimentary bottled water. please dont drink water from their tap or if you are out and about, please buy bottled mineral water. and if must, make sure you boil the water before drinking.  this applies throut indonesia. their water isnt very clean and filtered properly. dont say i didnt warn you folks!

the bathroom was kinda small. lets put it this way, for us asians generally we arent that big in size, so this was good enough for us. but if you were any bigger and need room to move about freely, then i think this bathroom is a tad bit small unless you dont mind (hey afterall, how long will you be using the loo right!) then by all means. 

so this was our breakfast area at the coffee house. its pretty basic. had breads, some local delights, fried noodles, rice, baked beans, potatoes, waffle and eggs station, fresh fruits, buns etc. not too bad, its just to fill the stomach. 

about 10 minutes walk from our hotel, was nagoya hill shopping mall. there's an older wing and a newer wing. its the usual type of mall selling knick knacks, food, clothes, dvds, electronic items, snacks/sweets, pastries etc. spent a couple of hours there. didnt buy much only my favourite peanuts from bali (somehow i managed to find it at one of the little shops) and some instant noodles. folks, if you like eating instant noodles, one brand that i like(and hard to find in singapore or malaysia, and if its sold, it has limited choices) is none other than INDOMIE. and i usually buy the dry noodles coz to me (and to my hubby as well as my brother) they are the best! 

look at that. as far as the eye can see, its all instant noodles! i grabbed several packets (each different flavors) to try. spoilt for choices here innit!

more instant noodles to choose from! did you know that lots of singaporeans when they come to batam, they would carry back a carton (or 2) of these instant noodles? yup. its true ok!

these are the shoplots that's facing the nagoya hill shopping mall. let me tell you there's tons of spas and massage parlours to choose from. so what i did was i  googled before the trip on the best places to have a good massage/spa but when we were at nagoya hill, i didnt expect to see this (as per the picture) so we decided to walk into a few of these spa outlets and ask for the price list and also to check out the place whether its clean or small etc. alas we settled for one which was called Everyday (you can see it in the picture with the red letterings). price was right and quite clean. it was done deal. 

this was the view from the shopping mall of the shoplots down below (where the spas/massage parlours were). 

you must be wondering why the hell am i taking a photo of this fast food joint. well from what i've heard, this place/joint is one of the reasons why singaporeans like to come to batam (coz its one of the nearest places to pop by and eat A&W till their hearts content not to mention cheap). famously known for their rootbeers, rootbeer floats and even their waffles with ice cream! i have no idea why there's no A&W chain in singapore at all  but we do have it in malaysia (i think one of the first A&Ws opened in petaling jaya and it was a drive in!). anyways, that is the story and that's why i had to take a picture of it. hehehehe  but please if any singaporeans reading this, think that im wrong, kindly correct me. 

finally for all the smokers out there, if you dont already know, you can smoke indoors when you are in indonesia but of course at the designated smoking areas. like if you're at a restaurant that's airconditioned, you can still smoke inside. get what i mean? 

night scene of batam city that i took from our hotel room. pretty colorful huh. 


so wnywho, i've come to the end of my blog. hope you've enjoyed my story and pictures. thinking that next time i will have to try out bintan island, indonesia. right, im outta here and have a great week! 


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1.21pm

pasarbella at the grandstand, singapore

11.05am


if you guys are in singapore and if you have some time to spare, why dont you pop by this place called pasarbella over at turf city, also known as the grandstand. over the weekend recently, my husband and i decided to check this place out. my cousin mentioned to me a bit about this place - like there's lots of food to eat plus its a kid friendly place. 

they've got painting classes, ballet, enrichment programs etc all catered to kids! so for all you parents who want to catch up with your friends and have a chat or two, just plonk your kids in one of those activities for a couple of hours and then get your friends to meet you there. good idea right? hey, its like killing 2 birds with 1 stone!

well basically what i can tell you is this. the area/location of this place is at turf city. the grandstand is like a family lifestyle destination. and inside the grandstand at turf city is pasarbella. inside this pasarbella (which is a pretty huge area) there different types of unique stalls selling stuff from around the world from various types of coffee, gifts, fresh produce/flowers, seafood, desserts, cakes, cheeses, wines, beers, breads, etc. 

and outside of pasarbella which is the grandstand, there's other types of food joints like omakase burger, curry gardenn, a seafood restaurant, some japanese restaurants, jack's place etc .. trust me you guys will be spoilt for choices! oh and if you're planning to grab some groceries, you can do that too as there's giant hypermarket! 

there's this new concept store which is called chillax market that recently moved into the grandstand and inside the store, they've got clothes, shoes, flowers, home deco pieces...just to name a few. oh yes, and a small cafe too. 

anyways, we got there early so not all of the shops/stalls were not opened yet. however, there's places to sit and have your morning fix ie coffee/tea etc and different types of breads like gastromania da paolo which is some sort of gourmet boutique selling an array of breads, desserts, sandwiches, pastas etc and thats where we had our coffee and shared a crodo, a combination of a croissant and a donut and was indeed yummy! sorry i forgot to take a picture of the crodo as my greedy husband dived into it before i could whip out my iphone! haiz!

see just as i told you, fresh produce! from fresh seafood to rustic looking potatoes! ooh i love these baby potatoes being sold in little tiny punnets/baskets. reminds me of the farmers market( or victoria market) in australia or even portobello market in london. i just love looking at stuff like these, being a housewife and all...ah...am i turning into a domestic goddess? nah...i seriously doubt it! 

found this keep calm signage. it says - "keep calm and carry food". hmmm...fruit for a thought there..things that makes you go hmmmm...

look at those beautiful cakes!! so inviting innit?? well its russian cakes! yep! i told you they sold stuff from around the world at pasarbella! dont you think that that raduga cake looks so pretty, with its rainbow colors? i wonder if it tastes just as good. nope, we didnt buy to try unfortunately. 

as we were strolling around, i spotted this brightly lit (not to mention super colorful) shop called lemon zest (also within pasarbella) selling all sorts of baking and cooking stuff! oh my gosh. i wanted everything! so cuteeeeee! quite hard to resist the urge of buying. i was in utensils heaven (if there's such a place/thing! hahahaha) i was oohing and aahing at almost everything until my husband (who hardly has any interest in cooking or baking) called out to me to get a move on. sigh...nevermind i told myself, there's always a next time! always a next time! 

now this picture i took was at the chillax market, the concept store i was telling you guys about earlier. its not inside pasarbella but at the grandstand. anyway, i had to show you guys this shot because let me tell you for all you ladies who love shoes, especially wedges or espradrilles, these shoes are handmade from spain and it only cost S$150.00!! to die for! and definately affordable right?? yeah well go get yourself a pair and you wont regret it. you know, i did try on the white pair of the sling back wedges (shoe is in the forefront of the pic) and it fitted me perfectly plus it was super soft and comfy too! (pssttt..i also like the gold ones too). 

lastly photos of the entrance into pasarbella.oh before i forget, just to let you know, there's free shuttle service provided at different locations. you can read all about it in the links i've provided down below. so dear friends, now you know where to hang out when you're in singapore next and if you're living here, go have a look see, you've nothing to lose except a couple of hours. 



http://www.pasarbella.com/

 http://thegrandstand.com.sg/about-us.aspx



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12.33pm

hong kong (around central and tsim sha tsui) (part 4)

10.54am

i just want to finish this super duper long blog (imagine 4 parts! haiz) about my hong kong trip and this is the final one that i want to share with you guys. bear with me please! and once again, there'll be more photos which i'll just explain along the way. sorry guys for the "draggy feet" syndrome. i've been a tad bit busy coz i was back and kuala lumpur, visiting my family and i only got back over the weekend. and this week, some of my husband's relatives are in town (from the island of penang) so i reckon i'll be kinda tied up therefore before anything else has been planned, i thought i'd better get down to business and finish up this final blog of mine. no no, im not stopping my blogs, what i meant was finishing up my final blog on this topic. without further ado,let us get on.

this is one of the main streets over at causeway bay area. lots of "char chan tengs" (eateries), malls, small shops selling all kinds of stuff from food to clothes, you name it they've got it. busy area too! you can also hop on the trams that's going around the city area at a very cheap price! but unfortunately when we wanted to do that, it was not running in that part of town coz of the street protest. as you can also see in the pictures, there were not many cars around as the police had already closed up some parts of the roads because of the protest that was about to take place. 

here's what i meant. hundreds of people took part in this street protest and i shot this photo from the overhead bridge for pedestrians. 

after all that commotion (there were tons of people in the streets on that day!), my husband and i need some food as it was around lunch time. so we spotted a small hole in the wall "char chan teng" (also at causeway bay) and decided to give it a try. ordered the steamed pork dumplings, tau foo fah (soy beancurd with sugar syrup) and "yau char kway" (deep fried dough fritters). oooh it was lovely! the soy beancurd was super soft and silky and just melts in your mouth. just so you know, im a huge fan of this chinese dessert.

once we've had our lunch, it was off to times square. gotta cut through small lanes in order to get there. just follow the crowd (as per the pictures) and you'll get there in no time. we spent a couple of hours at times square (where lane crawford is located) as it was a pretty huge mall (oh and there's a few malls located around that area as well). 

this was another day out at central. its so easy to get around the whole of hong kong (and kowloon) thanks to their mtr (subway trains) and its not complicated at all, quite straightforward if you asked me (unlike in korea, where there's so many different lines with different train operators, it was a bit of a headache but we managed somehow, thanks to my "street smart" thinking *winks* hahahaha). once in central, we did some window shopping and then headed to mid levels. 

when you are in hong kong you cannot miss  the famous central-mid levels escalator, world's longest outdoor covered escalator/walkalator. if you started at the beginning right up to the end of the escalator, it would probably take you just under 30 minutes.  but most people would just stroll(especially if they are tourists) to enjoy the view along the way (shops, eateries, bars, beauty parlours etc both flanking left and right of the escalator). oh ya, fyi there's a series of 20 escalators and 3 inclined moving walkways, connected in places by footbridges and with 14 entrances and exits. therefore people can "get off" or "get on" at any time from anywhere along this route. how convenient is that?! 

due to lack of space (as you know hong kong is densely populated) they couldnt put 2 escalators (up and down) and could only manage a single escalator therefore it was decided that the escalator travel downwards from Mid-Levels from 6am - 10am daily during the peak period for people going to work and after 10am the flow is  then reversed so that the escalator travel uphill until 12am.

 
here's what you can see along the way when you are riding on the escalator. it was a friday evening and alot of locals and foreigners are having their "fix", catching up with their friends/colleagues at the watering holes. mind you there's heaps there and you're definately spoilt for choices. and did you know that the popular south korean variety show called Running Man was even filmed here for one of their races/challenges when they came to hong kong? 

since it was almost time for dinner, my husband and i decided to have our meal at this hole in the wall called taco-loco. its a tex-mex restaurant in soho. you can see this as you "travel" along the escalator. just get off the nearest exit and go there. food is good and pretty reasonable. luckily we got there a little earlier coz there was a queue growing by the time we left. (as i did mention it was a friday night and everyone was out and about).

our hotel recommended this dim sum place at nathan road in kowloon called very good seafood restaurant. hehehe despite its funny name, the food i mean the dim sum that we ordered was pretty good, place was clean, neat and tidy. thankfully we got there before 9am and it wasnt packed at all. well if you are ever in that part of town, do give it a try. even their local movie stars have dined in this restaurant. so, whatcha waiting for?

after our lovely dim sum breakfast, we roamed about nathan road. nathan road is the main street in kowloon, that goes in a south-north direction from  tsim sha tsui to sham shui po district. It is lined with shops, malls and restaurants with throngs with tourists. the length of the street i reckon is around under 4km. 

anyways, along the way while we were strolling, i kept seeing some people carrying plastic bags with a teddybear like design on the tin container. hmmm must be something going on i thought to myself. i was very curious but shrugged it off. but yet i couldnt help wondering what the heck was inside those tins that these people were carrying. its not just one tin inside these plastic bags, i could see 2-3! so curious!! alas i found out. aahh..jenny bakery! what is this jenny bakery?  i've never heard of it before. but apparently its very famous for its butter cookies. (as well as other types of cookies/desserts). as jenny bakery is located inside mirador mansion, whoever wanted to buy these cookies had to line up at the back of the building. pretty organized. i was so tempted to go and line up but decided against it because it was just too bloody hot out! perhaps next time when im in hong kong. 

after dinner one night as we were strolling around near our hotel in tsim sha tsui, we came across this japanese ramen restaurant where one of my favourite actors keanu reeves had visited when he came to hong kong. wow. unfortunately we didnt try it out to see how good the ramen was. i'll say this again, perhaps on my next visit. another thing for me to keep in mind on my to do list.

on our last day, we stopped by this at this quaint patisserie and boulangerie (at mody road, tsim sha tsui) called passion opened by gerard dubois, a swiss born chef and businessman. ( http://passionbygd.com/ ) what a vast variety of scrumptious food to choose from. honestly, we were spoilt for choices, from salads to desserts to sandwiches! since we didnt want to be greedy, my husband and i decided to share a dessert which was milles feuilles. omg it was to die for! so heavenly so decadent so sinful! the super crusty crispy puff pastry just melts in your mouth. it was baked to perfection! and not to mention the 2 different types of crème pâtissière which is the salted caramel and vanilla! oooh i can just taste it now! *salivating* oh la la 
 

 last but not least my favourite korean beauty shop, too cool for school that i accidentally came across while roaming the streets of tsim sha tsui(it was nearby to our hotel, just a couple of streets down). had to buy something. it was calling out to me! one for the road before we left for the airport. 

well there we go. the end of my hong kong trip broken down in to 4 parts! hope you enjoyed it all. please go and try out these places that i've mentioned. hong kong is definately a place to come and eat till your hearts content (we, chinese love to eat, dont ask why), shop (until late at nite) and sight see.there's tons of things that you can do like visiting themeparks, going on shopping sprees to island hopping, omfg there's so much to do and see! its catered for the old and young and good for families too!

ok folks thats about it i guess. until my next adventure...

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1.47pm