[nono1973]

Originally Posted by mark_07

I was there during the weekend, all same routine except this time hotel gives me a free bra inside the room.

I am just curious which hotel is it?

Originally Posted by Humlea

... I think you booked a 7 seater MPV with full day service. Meaning he only serve you alone. I see some bros here book normal car and the car don't wait for you at the hotel lobby.

If you still remembers,outside the hotel where we have a smoke together,i intro to you a hotel taxi driver who stationed at the hotel (sort of like working for the hotel but not exactly that). He drives a 6 seater MPV too and is charging 300k per whole day booking.

Taxi drivers need to head home to sleep too. I will be very worried if a taxi driver worked 24 hours a day and dont rest well enough yet still be driving me around. My usual coordination with taxi drivers were by phone. Example,i need a ride from point A to point B at whatever time,i called them in advance to come at that time.Upon reaching my destination,i will inform them to come back to point B later to fetch me after certain hours etc etc.

Far distance like Sekupang,the driver has nowhere to go to ,so they have to wait.

Originally Posted by MiG27

Your fears are valid.
I first step foot to Batam at about 15+ years ago. Went with 2 friends.
Alight at Batu Ampar.....immediately swarm with drivers.
Stay at a not so great hotel.....musky carpet.....n the window...appears to be facing a abandoned place....at night kind of looks like cemetery.
I didnt take any chicks.....and the chicks doesnt appeal to me.
Went to change money at a store....and the guard was armed w a shotgun!
Where we went, we got stares from locals.....like we are intruding their place....loads of children beggars.....my friend told me dun give any money....many beggars will appear and surround you.
We took lunch at the hotel itself because we dont dare go anywhere.....the food taste like crap!
I couldnt sleep at night, TV was all indo channels and was fuzzy.
I heaved a sigh of relief when on the ferry back to SG...Penguin....hehe.

Interesting sharing...didnt know Batam were like that more than 15 years ago. I think i visited Batam too late in life,hehehe...my 1st city to visit in Indonesia was Jakarta. Thats like maybe 30+ years ago. I grew to like indonesia becos my parent were working there during those time and often visit them during school holidays. Our means of communication were writing letters back then and i even had a big collection of stamps with ex president Suharto face on it,hehehe...

As a kid back then,the Indonesia impressed me a lot and gives me very memorable childhood memories. Everything legal in Sillypore seems to be illegal in Indonesia and everything illegal in Sillypore seems to be legal there. Believe it or not,we have to watch Chinese video tape (or even own it) with our headphones on becos it is illegal to watch them on TV,hehehe....we even have to smuggle Chinese Newspaper thru the custom of Jakarta air port (by the way,there was no air-con in Jakarta air port back then). It is actually "quite legal" to own guns at home and my parent has quite a collection of it in their hostels and factories and we are allow to fire the guns off in hotel playgrounds too (yes,as a kid and what we did attracted a lot of attention from the resort hotel staffs as many of them were watching us). Well,as a kid,i was kind of impress by all of these...hehehe...

Back then,my parent's colleagues who is indo Chinese taught me, "nothing is cheap" in Indonesia when living there,hehehe...whatever things w/o a price tag,ask for a discount and bargain off with AT LEAST 50% off,hehehe...thats 30+ years ago of course.

Originally Posted by MiG27

Fast forward today, Batam had changed alot....new malls, new hotels,....etc.

Anyway, it was also partly due to reading Nono's interesting FRs that made me decide Batam was safe to go alone.
Previously, I only go when my friend was with me....he had relocated n working in china now....hahaha.

Your friend so lucky....hehehe....China used to be a cheaper version of paradise too. But today the paradise were away from main city area now. My hope for China's paradise is that their price wont go up so fast,hehehe...

I go to Batam like in an RPG game,hehehehe...i move around within the hotel i stayed in a lot,talk to people,gather information...sometime access places that were out-of-bound to guest. Other places i go to,i tends to spend quite bit time in it,dwelling...talk to people even when language is a barrier to me,hehehe...sometime leaving an impression,sometime feeling stupid. And i moved around fast when i am alone (i mean when i run solo) and then i will dwell,after that move again...and dwell...move again.

Originally Posted by MiG27

I think many of them have unrealistic expectations of Batam.

Whatever i hear,whatever i read...one thing will always be engraved in my mind,Keep Expectation Low (in short).

I have seen with my own eyes many fails due to high expectation. Example,thai girls in Thailand got do this,do that,but Batam girls dont. Vietnam girls in Vietnam got do this and do that,but Batam girls dont. China girls in China got do this and do that but Batam girls dont...etc etc. Hehehe...Batam girls in fact do all the "this" and "that" that other countries do (pretty much common sense here),maybe even more...but they sometime choose not to do so. Batam is known to be unpredictable,i am only a simple guy trying to cheong Batam in a more predictable way.

After being in Batam for a while,i learned there are basically 2 ways to get things done,1st was to pay thru my nose at high price to get things done,or the other way is to simply pay low and have the exact same thing done. Thats why from day 1,i have the tendency to READ and collect information. Followed by trying to make my every Batam trip better and better everytime.

Originally Posted by MiG27

I even read some of them got food poisoning eating at coffeeshop stalls....that got me a bit worried.

I read in this thread that even flies can cause stomach upset too. So i try to keep the flies away from my food whenever i eat out. I avoid drinks with ice too. I kiasu ma,hehehe...