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 Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore travel tales
Our customers share their travelling experiences in Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation.
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| E Kek cheng |
26 December 2002 |
Stayed at Harris Resort Batam - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Still conevenient to town centre.
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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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| M Mahmud |
16 December 2002 |
Stayed at Goodway, Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Many shops to go to...quite convenient from where I am.
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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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| M Miron |
10 October 2002 |
Stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Batam is a convenient and cheap way to spend your Singapore transit time.
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| W De boois |
03 October 2002 |
Stayed at Harris Resort Batam - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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A nice, new destination. By fast-boat is 45 minutes from Singapore. A resort, so take your rest, use the nice pools or sport facilities.
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| E Lim |
11 August 2002 |
Stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Well, if you have to go to Batam for a trip, have a stay in Melia Panorama.
But always be on the watch in Batam. Lots of touts and little 'crooks' who are always ready to earn a fast buck from you, ESP if you don't speak their language. They may understand your English but they jolly well can pretend they can't answer!
A load of advice I got from various sites (including this one): Try to arrange for the hotel to get you transport. Else try taking the taxis outside the ferry terminal.
Be firm with the taxi drivers, demand for your destination, followed by "Charter" and the amount you wanna pay. Do not negotiate, walk away if he doesn't agree. "Charter" is important as it means he is NOT allowed to pick up any other passengers. If he does, GET OUT.
Melia Panorama isn't that far from Batu Ampar Ferry Terminal, I took a 30 minute walk.
In Nagoya, if you can, walk. Stay in the main roads, never walk the dark alleys. Be careful of the motorcycles and cars tho - traffic's a b*tch.
Beware of the touts in the ferry terminal when you are departing! Personally check-in your documents to the counter of your ferry company. NEVER EVER hand your paperwork to the fellas outside the counters! I made the mistake even tho I read about it... sigh... In the end, luckily I was only left with less than 5000 Rp (that's why I walked from Nagoya ;) ... so I guess it wasn't that big a loss to me. They originally demanded 20,000Rp!!!
Good luck and I'm sure you'll have more fun than I did! :D
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| R Rahman |
10 August 2002 |
Stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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we did not go to batam for places of interest. we went there for shopping spree. it is just a walking distance. there are 2 big departmental store. the ramayana and robinson (indonesia version). these buildings are next to each other. robinson is more well organised. there are 3 storeys with supermarket on the 2nd floor. very cheap too. there's mc donald and kfc around the area. other shop houses selling leather goods, dried food, pharmacies. found one of the tailor shops. extremely cheap. workmanship charge for only SGD16.00 compared to Singapore that charge for SGD30.00 from the house and SGD80.00 from the shops. worth if you send a few (after adding with the ferry charges).
went to one of the halal chinese restaurant in nagoya mall, just next to melia panorama. don't even have to cross the road. the only halal chinese restaurant in that mall located at 2nd floor. nice ambience. one section with swings that act as their seats. something different and unique. food is also nice and reasonable.
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| M Wood |
04 August 2002 |
Stayed at Panorama Regency Hotel - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Batam is NOT a tourist destination. That being said, it does have pubs, golf, an oily beach and duty-free shopping if you should somehow find yourself there. Taxis are cheaper on the street than arranged through the hotel doorman. Can take a taxi to Turi BEACH Resort for 50,000 Rp. & use their pool/ facilities/beach for S$10/day (Organize your return trip w/ the driver if you can). Nagoya City has decent shopping, but if you want more you can take a taxi to the BATAM CENTER for 15,000-20,000 Rp. NAGOYA has an interesting NIGHTLIFE (detailed information can be found on the web) Note that @ some pubs, beers can be relatively expensive (15,000-20,000 Rp). While in Batam; we visited Lucy's, The Ice Pub, & Wallabies.....
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| B Niedzwiecki |
21 July 2002 |
Stayed at Novotel Batam - Batam Island (Indonesia), Singapore.
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Batam is the worst tourist trap I've seen!
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