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Batam 2012
Went for a short 2D1N getway trip to Batam in early October before my surgery.
Bought the deal from AllDealsAsia.com.
I love deals hehe, gonna try out the rest next time!

Our package ($59/pax) includes:
- 2D1N hotel stay at Harmoni One Hotel (Twin Sharing)
- Hotel buffet breakfast
- 2-way ferry
- 1 day guided city and shopping tour
- Indonesian buffet lunch or 7 course seafood lunch
- air-con coach
- SGD $10 shopping voucher
- 60 mins Balinese massage

Do note that this excludes:
- $20/pax fuel surcharge payable upon collecting boarding pass
- Batam $7/pax terminal fee payable upon reaching Batam
- Local guide and Driver tipping of $2/pax

So in total, the trip cost $59+$20+$7+$2 = SGD $88/pax
Super value for money hehe.
As it's our first time to Batam, we have no idea how much to bring over so we only changed $100 SGD to Rupiah. Also bought about $50 SGD just in case.

Our ferry terminal @ Sekupang



Sis and her boyfriend.


The streets in Batam








Once we reached Sekupang pier and clearing the custom, we met up with our tour guide and board the tour bus. We went during the weekend - Sat & Sun. According to the agency, weekend tour size is bigger compared to weekdays. Our group that day is approximately 15-20 people.
So here we are at our first destination - a temple. (not sure of the name)


There is a wedding ceremony taking place coincidentally hehe.




Our Indonesian Buffet Lunch. Indo dishes. Mild spicy only. Love the curry!

Didn't take much pictures during our city tour as we were busy shopping hehe. 
We also went to the:
- Polo outlet 
(There is this polo shop selling apparels. Price is only slightly cheaper than usual price. Not a big difference. If you are planning to shop here, you have to bring more $$$.)

- Dry market
(Junk food lovers will love this place! hehe bought alot of keropoks, crackers etc! They are also selling this honeycomb cake. The original one in yellow is yummy but sadly it's OOS when we wanted to buy, so end up we bought the pandan flavour in green.)

- Batik Factory Outlets
(This is a huge space selling alot of tops and bottoms. Not super cheap as expected like BKK. 
Can't really remember but cost of the tops range around $20-$50. hehe bought this fred perry couple tee with my boy at $20 each. Wanted to get more but we were tight on budget.)

- Batam shopping mall for free and easy
(The shopping mall is like bugis, far east plaza kind hahaa. Some shops are selling very cheap apparels. One thing for sure is the food is cheap! We ate alot here. Tried the crepes, potato donuts <- Super yummy and only at $0.40 each! the potato donuts at level one is a must try. It has frost/icing toping, made the hot potato so fluffy, soft and sweet at the same time. Gosh I wanna have it again.)

After all the shopping, we went for our massage at around 6pm. Our package includes 60min of traditional massage. However we decided to upgrade to aroma therapy with a top up of $12 which is highly recommended by the tour guide.
Since it's our first time, we thought okay, we'll try.
In the massage parlor, we have to strip and cover ourselves with the towel given.
The masseuses are mostly from Java.
We had our bones cracked a good time for 60mins hahahaaa.
Yes they "crack" each and every of your bones! From toes to fingers.
You have to relax. Although occasionally we shriek and giggle hahaa.
The boys said it's a little painful. But for me, I felt rather refreshed after the massage.
Would like to try again hahaa.
One thing to note is that, if you are thinking of tipping your masseuses, it's either you give a big tip or don't give any tip at all. We don't know how much to tip them and the boys gave like $8, the masseuses said stingy  or something, then in the end the boys took the tip back as they don't like their attitude. Now we learnt hahaa.
After the massage, our tour guide send us back to our hotels for check-in. As there was a jam due to a faulty traffic light, we reached the hotel late at around 7.30pm. We have actually planned to go to a nearby shopping mall for dinner but looks like we have to give it a miss because the malls close around 8.30-9pm.
It was then we have a problem with our dinner!! because there's no other places we can eat at. There's also no convenience stall at the hotel or near the hotel. We don't want to eat street food.
End up in the end we called for room service (the fried rice and potato croquette with cheese is heavenly :X) as we also want to go up the roof top pool for some jacuzzi chilling before it closes at 10pm. 

Our hotel corridor:


Our room: 
Comes with 2 single beds and LCD TV.
Hairdryer will be provided upon calling for room service.


My boy and I, before going up for Jacuzzi and gym at night after dinner. This hotel is great! They have a big swimming pool, a Jacuzzi and gym. At night, they blast music so it's like Club x Swimming LOL.




The next morning, we wanted to wake up super early and go down for breakfast at 7am because we read reviews that the food run out around 8-9am and they don't really refill regularly.
PIGS, we all overslept and woke up at 8am lolol zzz. 
In the end we went down at 9am, luckily there's still some food. Look at the yummy spread. The breakfast buffet is nice. We took alot, there's scramble egg, pancakes, waffles, fried rice, noodles, coco crunch, toast bread, cakes, you name it etc.
We ate so full and left around 10.30-11am as they have cleared the food for Dim Sum lunch.







After eating, we rested awhile before going up for a second round jacuzzi before check out at 12pm.
Check out the pretty pool area! Super love the place. 




















Going back to our rooms to rush for checkout.
The silly boy who ate the wrong medicine lol.


As we are waiting for the tour guide and bus to bring us back to ferry terminal with the hotel lobby as gathering point, we toured around the hotel as 1st day was too rush.
























In the ferry going back to Singapore. If you want good ferry seats and don't want to be separated from friends/family etc, you have to check in fast at the terminal, because the seats get FILLED UP SUPER FAST. 
The ferry has 2 levels. Bottom is air-conditioned. Top is open. 
Travel time takes approximately 1 hour only. 

Sis and her boyfriend in their couple tee bought from the factory outlets hehe

me and my boy's hahaa

Good bye Batam! we will be back again one day! hahaa. Anyway bringing $100 over there is kinda too little if you want to shop etc. Perhaps $150-$200 will be better hehe. Looking forward to next trip roar!


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My Name is Vera.

I love Food and Fashion.

You can contact me at fiorella.rain@gmail.com

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