Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Its been awhile since the last time I travel out of the country. I quite had a hard time deciding where to go as there are many things I was considering to ensure maximum enjoyment of the trip.
Finally decided to come to this island somewhere down south out of Singapore called Batam. Batam is actually part of Indonesia and most Singaporeans or atleast people who is in Singapore normally goes here as a quick getaway. Normally on weekends, family or small groups of friends packs their bags and take the ferry bound to Nongsa Pura ferry terminal. Travel time is normally about 45minutes to an hour the max.
I have been hearing Batam for quite some time and its only now that I had finally decided to give it a try exploring the island. I know a couple of friends of mine who has been there, and when I ask them how was their experience, I dont get a satisfactory feedback from them. Its either that the comment was really bad or that they were disappointed and felt that they were ripped off. I'd say thats how powerful multimedia marketing is, been a victim of it a few times.
Personally, my experience wasnt that good either. Being a beach lover myself, I always look forward to the quality of the beach, I make sure that the sands are really white and the waters are crystal clean if not pristine, but none of these qualities come close with where we have stayed. Batam earned its reputation of poor beach quality and I would say yes to that with what I have witnessed. Although, rumor has it that they have this one beach that goes by the name Turi Beach and it offers a white sandy beach. I didnt get the chance to see though as it is four hours drive from where we are staying.
Instead of sulking that Batam didnt meet my expectation, I just enjoyed with what is available from the resort. We stayed at Batam Beach View Resort. Its a good hotel considering that its quite old. They have a huge property and offers a lot of activities. I didnt pay much attention to the activities, all I cared for is their spa services.
Our journey started by taking a ferry ride from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to Nongsapura terminal. I always find the waters of Tana Merah ferry terminal to be clean considering that there are a lot of ferries bound to either Batam or Bintan. A hotel staff picked us up from the terminal and took us for 15 minute drive to reach our hotel.
On our first day, we just took our time to roam around the place, we checked out the beach just to be disappointed, although I already knew what the beach quality was. We just then went back to our hotel room and had a quick change and headed to hit the pool. Atleast there is the pool where we can swim, and it was nice as there was this part of the pool that is really deep and Im so excited to go there. After swimming, we headed to our spa appointment, now this is the part that Im really excited about! The massage was good and I almost doze off, I really like the feeling that my whole body is rubbed with oil and all you have to do is to relax. I feel so royal hahaha!
We decided to take on a city tour on our second day. This city tour turned out to be a shopping tour. Our itinerary includes visiting the city and some local shops and a buffet lunch. Id say this city tour turned out to be a shopping tour. Most of the places weve visited included local shops, chocolate shops and fabric shops, and every stopped we make, you cant help but buy some items because its tempting. Buying a few local items to take it back home I guess is not a bad idea. I was expecting more of this tour, instead of just bringing us to shops. I would like to know more about history and culture of Batam but that didnt happen. Our tour guide didnt bother telling us any helpful information about this place, oh well maybe there was but not really that interests me. Again, I just really tried to enjoy what the moment has presented us. We were dropped off to this mall called Batam Square, and I decided to buy a book. I have this idea wherein for every country I go to, I will buy a book and keep the price tag because I want to see the currency of that country, in which will remind me of my time when I was there. Sadly, that didnt happen, they have a bookstore, yes, but they are all in Bahasa. Fail again hahaha!
Last day, I just really dont care anymore honestly, I just really want to get out of here and go back to Singapore. I dont think that Batam is something that I would recommend. I know that I sounded very negative but dont take it personally, I must admit that there are still positive things that has happened to me on my stay here. My overall experience, I will give it two stars, on my list, probably Batam is the last.
Thank you Batam for the experience.
- comments