Short Trip to Batam!
Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 1:01 AM
::31st Oct 09 - Day 1::
After much procrastination, I decided to blog about this... but then... I do not know how to start!
So many things to blog, so many pictures to edit :\
Ahem... The 7 of us were off to Batam for 2 days and 1 night. Audrey, Daphne, Lisa, Puikwan, Shalee, her mama and me! Just a short lil' trip for the girls only :) Guys? All serving their national service! *arm chio-ing*
All packed! Like finally~~ xD
We all met up at Harbour Front's McDonald's for breakfast at 7.30am, and I wasn't late!
Thanks to all the wake up calls I got :\
People are crazy over this monopoly thing :\
At approximately 8.30am when everyone has finished eating, we went up to level 3 to collect the ferry boarding pass and pay the sea port tax thingy. Well, I already have passed all my money for the trip and tax thingy to Audrey, so I don't have to worry a thing. And also~~ Puikwan has passed me my Indonesian rupiah money!! I changed SGD100 for 678,000rp! Wow, I'm a hundred-thousandaire~ It felt... good~
Shinjuku passport :)
Ooh~ xD
Shinjuku passport :)
Ooh~ xD
We hurried to the ferry boarding place and also to get our passport stamped. I didn't know that it will be that crowded :\ So many people taking the ferry in the morning! I tried not to get separated from the group xD Went to the toilet before boarding Asean Raider I.
Heh. I still stopped to take picture of the sign xD
Waiting for the rest to come out of the toilet!!
& this is the first people picture~ :D
ASEAN RAIDER I
sounds like some power ranger show :\
Heh. I still stopped to take picture of the sign xD
Waiting for the rest to come out of the toilet!!
& this is the first people picture~ :D
ASEAN RAIDER I
sounds like some power ranger show :\
So sad that we weren't able to sit together, because there were only 5 seats per row and the rows at the front and back of our row were already occupied. Shalee and her mama had to sit somewhere further from us :( Damn you, free seating!!! Took some pictures before the ferry set off at 9.30am.
Once the ferry started moving, I felt the sea sickness came upon me at full force :\ Damn you, sea sickness!!! Each waves kept adding on to my sea sickness. I was unable to read or even open my eyes. So I went to sleep immediately to avoid the chances of puking. So glad I've got the ability to fall asleep instantaneously. Like awesome~
Last view I saw, before falling asleep.
First view I saw, after waking up.
I'm on Batam waters~~ O_O
I sat at the lobby while the other girls went to the counter. Was really tired from the friggin' ferry ride. Seems like the check-in time is at 2pm, but the receptionist only managed to give us one room. & that room belongs to Lisa, Daphne and Audrey. Another mattress had to be brought in. The room was pretty small, cramped and only had a queen-sized bed!
Koko has a bar?! xD
Once the ferry started moving, I felt the sea sickness came upon me at full force :\ Damn you, sea sickness!!! Each waves kept adding on to my sea sickness. I was unable to read or even open my eyes. So I went to sleep immediately to avoid the chances of puking. So glad I've got the ability to fall asleep instantaneously. Like awesome~
Last view I saw, before falling asleep.
First view I saw, after waking up.
I'm on Batam waters~~ O_O
Reached Batam at approximately 10.40am (9.40am Batam Time). So troublesome with all the different timezones. Looks as though we only needed 10mins to get there. Like going backwards in time. We went through all the stamping of passports and checking of bags, and when we got outside, we saw a man holding a piece of paper with the words, "LIAN YUN LING" on it. Heh, Audrey's name.
We followed that man, Rocky, to the van where it will take us to the hotel :) The girls ordered from Rocky some kueh lapis. Puikwan and I didn't order any. And I do not want to speak to that man, because the man only speaks malay and chinese. So I looked out of the window to view the scenery passing by. And soon, we reached Formosa Hotel!
Off we go!~
They have like so much lands to build short buildings!
Formosa Hotel.
We followed that man, Rocky, to the van where it will take us to the hotel :) The girls ordered from Rocky some kueh lapis. Puikwan and I didn't order any. And I do not want to speak to that man, because the man only speaks malay and chinese. So I looked out of the window to view the scenery passing by. And soon, we reached Formosa Hotel!
Off we go!~
They have like so much lands to build short buildings!
Formosa Hotel.
I sat at the lobby while the other girls went to the counter. Was really tired from the friggin' ferry ride. Seems like the check-in time is at 2pm, but the receptionist only managed to give us one room. & that room belongs to Lisa, Daphne and Audrey. Another mattress had to be brought in. The room was pretty small, cramped and only had a queen-sized bed!
Koko has a bar?! xD
Put down our bags there first and... it's... SHOPPING TIME! Finally get to spend my 678,000rp~ We went to the nearest shopping centre, Nagoya Hill Shopping Centre, which is two roads away from the hotel. The road conditions there are very bad. No traffic lights and even with the supposing "zebra crossing". No one really give two hoots about you trying to cross the road.
Had lunch first at A&W!~ Too bad Singapore doesn't have that fast food restaurant anymore. Such a pity, really. Well, I bought the 2 pcs chicken set at 42,900rp (SGD6+). Not at all cheap. Just the same as Singapore's fast food restaurants' prices.
Broke my no-soft-drinks ban again :(
Broke my no-soft-drinks ban again :(
Ahem~ Now it's finally time to shop! We wandered around the shopping centre together, shop to shop. Walking in and out of the shops, asking for prices, using the handphone calculator to divide the prices by 6780 to see the estimated SGD prices for the items. And... most of the items weren't as cheap as we expected to be. Singapore's Bugis Street and China are definitely much cheaper than there. If I buy clothes that are above SGD10 from Batam, my mama will slapped me for sure :\
And my extremely unlucky hands struck again! Everything I touched, the stuff will either be spoilt or dropped onto the floor. For example, I took a pretty hat clip (you know those small hats attached to clips...) off the rack and when I want to hang it back... IT DROPPED ONTO THE FLOOR AND THE HAT DETACHED FROM THE CLIP! :\ I quickly picked up both of the pieces and pressed them together. Lucky for me, the two pieces managed to stick together so I hung it back on the rack and walked quickly out of the shop! Phew, Puikwan told me that the bloody pretty hat cost 55,000rp (SGD8+) Hell no, I'm not going to pay $8 for that thing :\
Cool shot of us, using the reflection from the perfume bottle ;)
Went for an express french manicure with Lisa for 90,000rp (SGD13+)
I don't like the removing of fingernail cuticles part :(
And also I regretted cutting my nails into squares and filing them.
I prefer my long pointed nails! :D Never cutting like that again!
Tata!~
And my extremely unlucky hands struck again! Everything I touched, the stuff will either be spoilt or dropped onto the floor. For example, I took a pretty hat clip (you know those small hats attached to clips...) off the rack and when I want to hang it back... IT DROPPED ONTO THE FLOOR AND THE HAT DETACHED FROM THE CLIP! :\ I quickly picked up both of the pieces and pressed them together. Lucky for me, the two pieces managed to stick together so I hung it back on the rack and walked quickly out of the shop! Phew, Puikwan told me that the bloody pretty hat cost 55,000rp (SGD8+) Hell no, I'm not going to pay $8 for that thing :\
Cool shot of us, using the reflection from the perfume bottle ;)
Went for an express french manicure with Lisa for 90,000rp (SGD13+)
I don't like the removing of fingernail cuticles part :(
And also I regretted cutting my nails into squares and filing them.
I prefer my long pointed nails! :D Never cutting like that again!
Tata!~
Anyway, at around 3pm+ (Batam time), we went back to the hotel to collect our other rooms. Actually by 2pm (Batam time), we could have collected the rooms but we got carried away by shopping :X Us Girls... *shakes head* And woah, our rooms (Shalee & mama = 1, Puikwan and me = 1) were bigger than the other room. Both rooms have 1 queen-sized bed and 1 single bed each! And also they are joined rooms xD
I bought our bags over and we rested and of course, took pictures!
Thanks to Shalee's mama for helping us take the pictures :)
I love the shots! :D
& looks like the other room also did the same xD
At 4pm, we gathered up and divided ourselves into two groups for the cabs. We were on our way to the next shopping centre, Batam City Square~ Had our dinner first at the Breeks there to charge up before shopping!! The food there was really cheap! Better here than Singapore xD
My Chicken Mozzi Pattie at 32,000rp (SGD4+)
Wow~ xD
Funny shot of me :\
So cool! For me, I wouldn't know how to paint like that!
I like the teddy bear I brought from Singapore xD
Dead.
I bought our bags over and we rested and of course, took pictures!
Thanks to Shalee's mama for helping us take the pictures :)
I love the shots! :D
& looks like the other room also did the same xD
At 4pm, we gathered up and divided ourselves into two groups for the cabs. We were on our way to the next shopping centre, Batam City Square~ Had our dinner first at the Breeks there to charge up before shopping!! The food there was really cheap! Better here than Singapore xD
My Chicken Mozzi Pattie at 32,000rp (SGD4+)
Wow~ xD
Funny shot of me :\
Then it's time to shop... again! I didn't really bought much stuff. I didn't buy anything for my family also. Because if I buy back anything, my mama will slap me and say, "I can buy 10 of the same thing in China than you buy at Batam." D: So nah, I would rather not take the risk. As for Puikwan, she spent most of her money on buying bags for her mama and brothers xD
So cool! For me, I wouldn't know how to paint like that!
Audrey and Puikwan went off secretly to buy a small cake for Shalee to celebrate her birthday later. & lastly, we went to the super mart, bought some food for the night and took cabs back to the hotel.
Cute milk packets xD
In the cab, under the rain, driving back.
Cute milk packets xD
In the cab, under the rain, driving back.
First thing we did was to bathe!! After bathing, Audrey, Lisa and Daphne sneaked over through our room to surprise Shalee with the cake! I distracted Shalee so that she won't know what's going on xD I think we did succeed in surprising her. It was so much fun :D
HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, SHALEE DEAREST!~
Everyone wants to take picture with the birthday girl!
Moge moge!~
After the birthday celebration, we quieted down, discussed about tomorrow's events and also counted our money, which includes the paying back of debts. O$$P$$!
The seriousness...
Due to Puikwan being in bankruptcy, we donated our coins to her :X
What I have left with...
The stuff I've bought!~
HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, SHALEE DEAREST!~
Everyone wants to take picture with the birthday girl!
Moge moge!~
After the birthday celebration, we quieted down, discussed about tomorrow's events and also counted our money, which includes the paying back of debts. O$$P$$!
The seriousness...
Due to Puikwan being in bankruptcy, we donated our coins to her :X
What I have left with...
The stuff I've bought!~
I like the teddy bear I brought from Singapore xD
Dead.
After the rest have returned to their rooms, Puikwan and I boiled water to cook our cup noodles. Little that we know, Puikwan's cup noodle container had a hole... So when I was pouring the water in, the table got flooded :X I quickly took a cup and placed the cup noodles container onto it, while Puikwan cleaned up the spilled water.
Yum. It tasted really good :P
And then before we sleep, we took more pictures!! :D
I used timer all the way, including in the bathroom
where I have to balance my camera on top of the tap!
Until Shalee's mama came and helped us take the last few shots :)
The end. We went to sleep around 2am or so. Puikwan let me sleep in the queen-sized bed, while she slept in single bed. So nice of her!! :D
I'm always the last one to wake up... And got disturbed until I woke up. Do you know that you shouldn't disturb a light sleeper's sleep? xD Went to shower and also the last one to get ready :( And went for breakfast at the hotel's restaurant ... Didn't have much of an appetite due to the horrible, suffocating, oily, greasy smoke from the egg cooker :\
People disturbing me and taking picture of me,
when I'm sleeping!! D:
Buffet spread.
What I took.
After that, we went back to our rooms to pack everything properly and met up again at 9.30am (Batam time). Made a final trip back to Nagoya Hill Shopping Centre to buy the stuff that we didn't buy when we were there the first time. We got there 15mins before the opening time of the shopping centre and had to wait outside.
What?! No ice cream allowed?!
Mob of people waiting to go in.
Pretty hats, I hate them :\
Meh, I went back to get the Rubik's cube shirt, but it was sold out!! :( Anyway, I bought some keychain souvenirs for people. I couldn't get for everyone because my money was running dry :\ Well, too bad then xD At 12noon, we went back to the hotel to check out and took the van to the ferry terminal.
Everyone suddenly appears to have extra baggage xD
At 4.15pm (Batam time), we were in the waiting area. We thought our ferry boarding time was at 4.30pm. But it was in fact, 5.30pm :\ We had to wait for an hour more :( We could have shopped more, you know~ xD
My boarding pass just waiting to be tapped! xD
Going back home to Singapore~
Yum. It tasted really good :P
And then before we sleep, we took more pictures!! :D
I used timer all the way, including in the bathroom
where I have to balance my camera on top of the tap!
Until Shalee's mama came and helped us take the last few shots :)
The end. We went to sleep around 2am or so. Puikwan let me sleep in the queen-sized bed, while she slept in single bed. So nice of her!! :D
::1st Nov 09 - Day 2::
I'm always the last one to wake up... And got disturbed until I woke up. Do you know that you shouldn't disturb a light sleeper's sleep? xD Went to shower and also the last one to get ready :( And went for breakfast at the hotel's restaurant ... Didn't have much of an appetite due to the horrible, suffocating, oily, greasy smoke from the egg cooker :\
People disturbing me and taking picture of me,
when I'm sleeping!! D:
Buffet spread.
What I took.
After that, we went back to our rooms to pack everything properly and met up again at 9.30am (Batam time). Made a final trip back to Nagoya Hill Shopping Centre to buy the stuff that we didn't buy when we were there the first time. We got there 15mins before the opening time of the shopping centre and had to wait outside.
What?! No ice cream allowed?!
Mob of people waiting to go in.
Pretty hats, I hate them :\
Meh, I went back to get the Rubik's cube shirt, but it was sold out!! :( Anyway, I bought some keychain souvenirs for people. I couldn't get for everyone because my money was running dry :\ Well, too bad then xD At 12noon, we went back to the hotel to check out and took the van to the ferry terminal.
Everyone suddenly appears to have extra baggage xD
At ferry terminal, Audrey and some others went off to settle some ferry stuff, probably the sea port tax again. And then we proceeded to our last shopping centre, Mega Mall. We placed our baggage at bag safety deposit place so we didn't have to drag our bags everywhere we go :D
Into the trolley they went!
Into the trolley they went!
Okay! The last time to spend all the Indonesia rupiahs! Because it's not worth it to change back to Singapore dollars. We wandered from shops to shops... well, anyway we go split up in groups. Shalee and her mama went off the eat first. Later, Puikwan and I went off to eat also. But... all the food places' queues were sooooooo long! Mega Mall was really crowded that day due to some children event... :\ There were some drawing and singing competitions for the kids.
So we decided on KFC. The queues were moving really really slow. And no one really seems to be minding it at all D: The KFC staffs, including the manager, were doing things so slowly! No sense of urgency at all! :\ If this was Singapore, all the patrons will be complaining like mad! xD So for one seemingly short queue in Singapore, we queued for 30mins there... And somemore, we had to wait for the food to be prepared after ordering :\ This ain't fast food anymore... THIS IS SLOW FOOD!
Drawing competition... Where all the kids have gone to?
I bought a chick'n fillet & a twister.
Puikwan bought a chick'n fillet & a fish fillet.
So we decided on KFC. The queues were moving really really slow. And no one really seems to be minding it at all D: The KFC staffs, including the manager, were doing things so slowly! No sense of urgency at all! :\ If this was Singapore, all the patrons will be complaining like mad! xD So for one seemingly short queue in Singapore, we queued for 30mins there... And somemore, we had to wait for the food to be prepared after ordering :\ This ain't fast food anymore... THIS IS SLOW FOOD!
Drawing competition... Where all the kids have gone to?
I bought a chick'n fillet & a twister.
Puikwan bought a chick'n fillet & a fish fillet.
Eventually, we managed to meet back with everyone again and continue shopping. I bought a pouch thingy for my mama and aunt. After going to few shops to ask for the prices, I managed to find the cheapest price at 30,000rp (SGD4+). Well, if I've gotten something for my aunt, means I have to get something for my mama, even though she can get it in China for a far more cheaper price. My mama loves to contradict herself! D:
Heh, I even when to change SGD4 to rupiahs because I do not have enough money to buy the scarf! Anyway, I'm left with few worthless hundreds rupiahs and I wanted to throw the money away. But they stopped me :X I pooled in some money to buy some keropok for them to eat on the ferry. And I'm left with 1,500rp... xD!
I like the words on the sign xD
Collected our bags from the deposit place and we returned back to the ferry terminal.
Heh, I even when to change SGD4 to rupiahs because I do not have enough money to buy the scarf! Anyway, I'm left with few worthless hundreds rupiahs and I wanted to throw the money away. But they stopped me :X I pooled in some money to buy some keropok for them to eat on the ferry. And I'm left with 1,500rp... xD!
I like the words on the sign xD
Collected our bags from the deposit place and we returned back to the ferry terminal.
My boarding pass just waiting to be tapped! xD
Finally, it's time to board our ferry, the Ocean Flyte. The sun was setting by then. So early! Earlier than our Singapore sunset.
Queuing up to board the ferry.
Beautiful sunset...
& clouds...
& moon...
Queuing up to board the ferry.
Beautiful sunset...
& clouds...
& moon...
Going back home to Singapore~
Anyway, I slept throughout the ferry journey again. And we arrived at Harbour Front at 7.45pm (Singapore time). Yay, back to using Singapore dollars! No more thousands and hundred thousands to count.
Yay! Singapore!
My bag scratched my arm!!
The rest of the stuffs I bought :)
Yay! Singapore!
My bag scratched my arm!!
The rest of the stuffs I bought :)
The 2 days 1 night trip to Batam was really awesome. I enjoyed myself thoroughly with my girlfriends :D No guys, just girls. & the part on spending hundreds and thousands of money like water was really fun xD Erm, if I'm not wrong, I have spent $211 for this trip, including accommodation and stuffs.
Next trip would be to Tioman Island! Maybe somewhere during April or so.
Time to save money for the trip :D
FINALLY I HAVE BLOGGED FINISH THIS POST! :D
& I have 3 more posts to blog about :\ DAMN IT!!! D:
Next trip would be to Tioman Island! Maybe somewhere during April or so.
Time to save money for the trip :D
-credits to Puikwan for letting me refer :)-
FINALLY I HAVE BLOGGED FINISH THIS POST! :D
& I have 3 more posts to blog about :\ DAMN IT!!! D:
Labels: birthday, celebrate, degreeians, overseas, trip
--xoxo,
Akira Star
Akira Star
nette
