Flying to Singapore
Today I fly to the tiny Republic of Singapore to transit to Batam in the other Republic … the big one, Republic of Indonesia. The head of the big republic once jokingly called the smaller one “Little Red Dot”.
A good friend Boo happened to book on the same flight to just Singapore and we arranged to sit together. Our flight left 20 mins late due to a toilet repair and we arrived late into the republic as well.
Continuing to Batam
I got my luggage and took a taxi to the Harbourfront Cruise Centre with a very nice chatty driver. The terminal was a bit crowded and messy by Singapore standard. I eventually found the Horizon Ferry ticket office one floor above the departure area, bought my ticket (cash only, unusually for Singapore) and went straight through to the security/immigration area.
It wasn’t a long wait till we boarded the ferry to Batam. We chugged very slowly for the first 20 mins past very beautiful high rises then low-rise luxurious homes (probably Sentosa). We sped up in the open sea and the journey took a total of an hour before arriving at Batam’s Harbour Bay ferry terminal (one of several).
Arriving at Batam ferry terminal.
In Batam
The area looked like an incomplete or failed ambitious development. Passport control was quick and once outside, the feel of a failed ambitious plan continued into the surrounding business area. It was a short ride to the Mercury Hotel. It was Mercure when I booked but has since become the Mercury; the signage just says “Mercur_ Hotel”, leaving it really ambiguous!
It was still a lovely hotel and good value at NZD44. I wish I had prebooked the non-cancellable rate at NZD35 but it was gone when I was confident enough of my plans.
I dropped my stuff, caught my breath before heading out again to get some food. I was told it was too far to walk to Nagoya Hill Mall (about 15 mins in the heat). A minivan came towards me and I hailed it. The driver spoke excellent English from working in many countries overseas; not that I needed him to speak English.
It was only a couple of minutes ride before I was at the mall enjoying a hot delicious dendeng washed down by a sirsak juice. After getting some fruit and bits of groceries, I took a van back to the hotel.
During my time in the mall, there were some lion dances, in conjunction with Chinese New Year. The din is supposed to ward off evil so that good luck can flow in. As in my part of Malaysia, the performers were native Indonesians (Malaysians in my area) as ethnic Chinese don’t want to work hard during training and get hot and sweaty during the biggest day of their calendar.
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- My lunch.
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- Lion dance for Chinese New Year.
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- Lion dance for Chinese New Year.
After the torrential rain which I had just missed, I paid the pool a visit. It was a little too shallow despite of decent length. As it was my last day with decent internet before heading to remote Natuna, I spent the evening doing admin on the computer and internet before having a light supper of cake, lots of fruit and muesli.
For me, Batam was just a transit point. It is quite a featureless place; largely business and industrial, leveraging on its position near to Singapore.