Weekend at Batam

(click to see more pix)

Selamat Dekang, which means Welcome in Bahasa.

Last week a friend invited me to join them on a weekend trip to Batam Indonesia. I readily agreed especially when she said that part of the package is a full body scrub and massage! We boarded the ferry (yes, it will only take a ferry boat to cross to another country) that will take us to Batam.

Indonesia housed more than 17,000 islands which will make the Philippines peninsula a speck compared to it. Batam is one of these islands. I couldn’t really call it a city cause Cebu is much more city-like compared to it. There wasn’t much to see except the Buddhist temple, which is the largest in terms of land area in southeast Asia. The tour van also took us to 2 (yes 2! not 1!) Ralph Lauren polo shops. I didn’t know R.L Polo shops are now part of tourist destinations. But it was still fun touring the province and seeing how the locals live. You can recognize some words they used which have some Tagalog influence to it.

When we exchange our Singapore dollars to Indonesian rupiah, we felt like millionaires! One SGD is equivalent to 6630 rupiah… so for my SG$50 I got more then 300,000 rupiah with me! Imagine paying for your single meal worth 20,000 hahahaha. It took me so long to count my money, so many denominations! It was crazy!

The accommodations we got was nice. We stayed at a 4-star hotel as part of the package we took. For about SG$100 you got transpo, hotel , guided tour and free lunch and breakfast buffet already. Not bad eh?

We went to the Buddha(s) temple and in there they have these BIG Buddha idols. You got the smiling Buddha, the angry Buddha and other little Buddhas which are like minions to the greater Buddhas. The tour guide said to go to a different Buddha for different petitions. I like the smiling Buddha with the bulging tummy. I rub and rub and rub his belly. They said that if you touch his belly it will bring you luck and much more if you touch his ears. But I wasn’t giving him a belly rub for that… I believe we create our own luck.

Before they took us to our hotel, they dropped us to one massage place where I had one great full body scrub and massage! Yum yum yum … Yum! bliss! heaven! ahhhhhhh! Zzzzzzzzzz (feeling nako wala nay tagiptip nahabilin sa akong lawas hahahaha)

Come evening we decided to walk around the area (cause that’s how you get to know the place, you walk around). First thing we noticed was there wasn’t that many women outside! We can only count with our fingers how many women we see on the street. There were men and men and more men eying you like your about to be his dinner! Waaah scary!

There was this big mosque right across our hotel and the Imam (Muslim high priest) was leading the prayer. There was a loud speaker so you could hear his chanting even if you hide in the mountains of Kintulimbo.

I had a great time with my roommate, Rachel, where we squealed like banshees in heat! Hahaha. Well that usually happens when you have unguarded conversations with good company, you usually end up having a great time. Later that night, while the other 2 of our companions were sound asleep in their beds, we sneaked down to the hotel lobby and enjoyed banana float and chocolate cake. Sugar overload baby!

Before we left for Singapore the following day, we enjoyed a dip in the pool after savoring a delicious breakfast buffet.

And oh yeah .. i was able to buy some souvenirs for my room… I am a professional haggler, from SG$40 to SG$10! Now how’s that for a hangyo

And that was how I spend my weekend.