my world...

Sunday, April 16, 2006

batam trip tiring trip which lasted one whole day, i.e. 7plus meet up till 9plus reached sg.. didnt sleep much the nite b4 coz was too engrossed with reading dan brown's "angels and demons" (veri nice book, so "exciting" that i had to finish the final chapters b4 going to sleep ;p).. woke up at 6am n left at 6.40 to catch the train. had to meet the others at habourfront @ 7.35... by time we got to the ticketing counter, the whole area was packed, prob coz of gd fri holidays.. was so chaotic there and realised we didnt hv time for breakfast as planned as we had to start queueing up at 8.15 despite ferry scheduled at 8.45. so everyone rushed to get a tah bao b4 boarding. couldnt really get a seat coz pple b4 us had "chope" the good seats. luckily one of my colleagues, her hubby n friend managed to get a get seat with tables indoors. concluded that we must go xtremely early if we have to go next time...

me and rachel striking a pose on the ferry (background: irritating indian national who took yrs to take photos and refuse to move away even after ;p)

the ferry took nearly 2hrs due to unknown reasons and queueing up to get thru the customs took very long too as they didnt have a systematic queueing system and not much queueing space at all so by the time we met up with our guide, it was already 10.45!! the weather was horrid coz raining all the time so couldnt take more photos. lotsa rushing ard so had little time to take photos with the group.

our group on board of the mini bus :)

me n rachel

1st stop was the handicraft indonesian emporium, nothing much there coz they were only selling overpriced wooded sourvenirs... luckily they only gave us 15min there so off to our next stop, POLO shop, as in the branded brand shop. dunno how authentic it was but those who at 1st skeptic abt the visit started their shopping spree. almost everyone got something except the few of us. the rest got on the minibus 1st while waiting for the rest, this is when the peddlars brought along sourvenirs or fruits/food to try to sell to us through the bus window. tried our best to ignore them but one came along with these really cute foldable bags and naturally being gals, we were suckers for these kind of things so eventually most of us got one each. although it was onli $2, could see that the guy was making a profit and think he gave our guide one as gift ;p
next stop was the Tua Pek Kong temple. except one of our malay members, the rest of us got off to pray. the whole temple ground was really quite big, they also had a confucius temple for those who are studying or having examinations. there is also a row of shops selling kuehs kuehs, fruits and keropok alongside but didnt hv time to check it out as i was busy taking pics of the statues ard the temple alone ;p

indonesia emporium

tua pek kong temple

confucius temple

next lunch at 933 golden prawn seafood restaurant. while waiting for our tables and food to be ready, we bought keropoks and coffee at the shop situated at the restaurant itself. prob were too bored that we started comparing who spent the most at the shop and eventually, our colleague who came with the family spent the most and annouced to everyone ;p... finally table was ready, luckily they spilt us up into 3 tables instead of 2. we had 23 pple so if they spilt us up into 2 tables, it wld be too squeezy.. spread was ok, had fish, crab, prawn, kangkong, soup, squid, gong gong and 1 drink each. small portions though. when we were abt to leave, it was still pouring so the restaurant actually had 2 guys juz to open umbrella for guest who were leaving, my friend and i were quite surprised as they opened the brolly at the same time when we approached ;p
next stop, a small dried food shop selling dried ikan billis, prawns, crackers, coffee, tidbits etc...

table a ( fr left: eva, jun, angelia n bf, carine. missing: carine's hubby and friend who refused to take any pics during the trip)

table b (cindy n family)

table c (seated fr left: cindy's colleague, kim, lilian, fong ying. standing fr left: me, rachel, cherine and friend)

the spread

finally proceeded to the shopping centres. 1st stop was diamond city shopping centre which was quite disappointing, felt that m'sia shopping malls were better. abit run down, lotsas malay shops but did manage to get a pair of shoes, n rachel 2 pairs. gave up aft a while and settled down at the surprising new a&w (which are prob extinct in sg) for huge rootbeer float and fries.

the group's damage which was temporarily dumped at the empty seat beside driver

the guide

next stop, mega mall shopping centre juz beside the terminal. it was really new but noticed not all shops were opened yet even though itz been nearly a yr plus since it opened. nice shopping mall but realised prices werent that cheap so spent most time window shopping and finding mum's avocados. ended up at a malay restuarant for dinner. as usual didnt leave enough $$ so rachel n i shared a plate of mee goreng (which looked nice but was actually fried maggi noodles) and a really great dessert call es teller 77. its a combi of coconut, jackfruit and avocado, tasted really unique :))

malay restuarant @ mege mall

great dessert "es teller 77" must try!

finally gathered the group ard 7.15 to cross over to the terminal for check in. were abit early and waited till 8plus to board. boarding was as choatic as arrival, no systematic queues as usual. didnt manage to get nice tabl seats this time but got seats indoor. h/r as we were sitting rite inside and a stupid batam malay girl actually put her luggage in front of empty seat beside her thereby depriving others of a seat and blocking our passage ways. decided to get out and sit outside at the decks of the ferry instead since it was at nite and both of us had the intention to enjoy the nite breeze and scenery. luckily we did coz it werent as crowded as it was during the day and it was really cooling and rachel n i had a nice time chatting (actually shouting at one another coz kinda noisy with the sea breeze and engine ;p)...
reached sg ard 9plus, didnt wait for the others since everyone was tired and making their way back. luckily i managed to get a seat at outram and slept all the way back to pasir ris. wa so tired that fell asleep almost immediately that nite...zzzZZZZZZ

my "damage"

the cute foldable bag

opened up ;p

not a great trip overall but at least get to see batam finally. felt that it was still very much undeveloped and shopping cant even really beat m'sia.

1:45 PM star light star bright... Y