Above: Last glimpse of Natuna, near Ranai after take-off.
With a mid-morning departure from Natuna back to Batam I neither had plenty of time nor had to rush. I had a breakfast of soto next door before being taken to the airport by Yuli. It wasn’t a long drive but speed was restricted in the military area.
Check-in was slow in the tiny room that wasn’t really an airport terminal. I got to the counter shortly after the aircraft arrived. The system had conked out halfway so I had a handwritten boarding pass and a manual bagtag. Meng and Bey had turned up to say goodbye which was sweet. I boarded shortly after for the flight back to Batam. While scheduled for 1h25, the flight took 1h45 today (per the announcement and also actual). So even though we left on time, we arrived late.
I had Whatsapped Anton the taxi driver to pick me up. At the Mercure/Mercury Hotel, I was assigned an unrefurbished room. It was very worn and felt like a completely different hotel from my experience a few days ago. But it was only for the night and it meant I got in before official check-in time.
I took an angkot to Nagoya Hill for lunch and bought some fruit and spend some rupiahs before staying indoors to catch up after days without decent internet. I headed back to the same mall again for dinner using the hotel shuttle and treated myself to dessert at Es Teler. I tried their Es Teler and it was expensive and disappointing. There were small bits of nangka (or cempedak), avocado and coconut.
Going to bed, I noticed my sandfly bites from Natuna were getting very prominent, pointy and itchy. Time for some antihistamine cream when I get to Singapore to complement the anti-itch and hydrocortisone I had been rubbing on.