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 Traveller's Tales: Getting around in Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore
Know the most popular landmarks in Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore. You may read about best transportation, recommended travel itinerary, suggested routes and directions. Also, you might want to read our
Singapore city guide.
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| M Sedam |
04 January 2005 |
Stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Batam Island is full of great nightlife and places to eat. Relaxed people and way of life. Bought many DVD movies for my collection at home. Shopping is good at Lucky and Centrepoint malls which are very close to downtown Nagoya. If you want real Indonesian experience go to the Pacifico Disco. It's open late and full of people, loud music and very dark. Lots of taxis and motorcycles to take you around town.
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| S Ruzidah |
08 August 2004 |
Stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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We took the hotel's Limo and the driver was a nice person. We went to Waterfront (40min drive) where there are a lot of water sport activities like water-ski, banana-boat ride, para sailing and also boat rides to surrounding islands. We can also look at the beautiful sunset while eating at the restaurant or simply by taking a ride on a boat. We can also fly a plane at the Flying Club. We also went to the newly opened DC Mall where a lot of discounts were provided. There are also other shopping malls that offer fantastic discounts. We went to the famous restaurant which provides sumptuous seafood dishes at a very low price.
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| M Hartley |
01 August 2003 |
Stayed at Novotel Batam - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Batam is pretty bleak during the day, fruit stalls are cheap but a bit hard to find (except the local 'farmer's market' that is almost across the street from the Melia Panorama hotel, but everything is sold out by 8:30 AM - but if you want good fresh fruit, go there about 6 AM and you can get anything, try the durian).
Best Western food/ambience/pool bar for expats is Lucy's Oar House (not misspelled - its motif is supposed to be like a British sailor's bar. Filled every night with expats (British and Australians working on contract for the oil/gas industry). Excellent Tex-Mex chili, split pea soup, cold beer, nice staff (pretty, young local ladies who do not hassle you like prostitutes, but just serve you beer and food with a smile). The fish and chips are great and servings of everything are almost always too much. Almost the only place I could find real smoked ham (being Islamic, pork is not served in many restaurants except in some Chinese noodle places).
On the second floor above Lucy's is a real get-down bar/club with bar top pole dancers and lap dancers featuring young micro-mini-skirted ladies who will offer many varied and delightful ways to remove any unneeded cash from your wallet. Not my cup of tea, but still it was interesting to go up and 'take a look'
(literally).
Taxis, a pain sometimes beacause they are always honking at you, are cheap & generally trustworthy. Just agree with the price before you get in, most are private autos with the owners trolling for extra money. I travelled about 20 kms every day (30 minutes) to work for 50,000 IDR, which only comes out to about US$6 or 3.50 British pounds - very reasonable. Almost any destination within Batam is less than US$2.
In my 2 weeks stay, I never had any problems with local people, all were very friendly and open.
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| E Quint |
03 March 2003 |
Stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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The hotel is not very far from the ferry terminal. Department stores (Robinson & Ramayana), only a couple minutes walking.
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| D Yap |
04 February 2003 |
Stayed at Harris Resort Batam - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Visited Nagoya Town and shopped at Ramayana and Robinson. Things are cheap, especially with the Indonesian Rupiah at 5200 to 1 Singapore Dollar. Harris Resort (as do most other hotels) provide shuttle service to major destinations within Batam at reasonable rates.
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| R Ripin |
03 February 2003 |
Stayed at Harris Resort Batam - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Best Nasi Padang with the green chili. Seafood is the best. Shopping is much cheaper. I hire a regular driver from Batam for shopping and Makan if I am there.
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| A Pery |
02 February 2003 |
Stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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We rent the hotel service and I am satisfied with the service.
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| T Chung |
29 December 2002 |
Stayed at Novotel Batam - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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It is located little off the city center, need to use taxi for shopping and enjoying entertainment.
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| F Galaura |
23 December 2002 |
Stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Arriving at the ferry terminal, I would recommend that you call the hotel beforehand and make arrangements for transport.
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| C Chionh |
03 November 2002 |
Stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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During my short stay of 2 days, I only managed to go to Robinsons and Ramayama for some shopping. The T-shirts there are quite nice, value for money. As for eating places, I would suggest The Batam Cafe at Nagoya Mall, right beside the hotel. There is another Chinese restaurant at Nagoya Mall, sells quite nice Tim Sum. The atmosphere's quite nice, with swinging seats. There is also KFC at Robinson, be prepared to eat with your bare hands there.
For scenery taking, go to the 17th floor of the hotel to catch a good view of the entire Batam island. Avoid taking taxi if you must, as most of them can't speak English. However, each time you get on the streets, try counting the number of horns you hear..from taxi drivers asking if you want a ride..there are just so many of them on the streets! The air there is very polluted too..
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