This trip is more like memory walking lane for me,especially when most of my links,the photos in them and a small portion of the info I collect had went missing in a matter of weeks. So right now as I write this summary,i am also reading backward what I have wrote over the last 3 years, re-tracing my steps,at the same time repairing anything that were broken as I go along. 'Rome' is not build in one day,and when my 'Rome' is partially broken, I need to rebuild it all over again. I will need time and a lot of repeat info will need to be re-modified and re-post at a later time.
Now for the things I wish to take note on so that I can remember in my next CNY trip :
1. Over the last 2 CNY,Batam has been flooded by Foreign workers from Sillypore,i look into the reason and learned one little thing. Citizens from Bangladesh has been granted entry without the need for Visa-On-Arrival on 2nd March 2016. (India citizen was granted Visa Free on 7th Oct 2015)
2. Most money changer were closed in Batam leaving the smaller number who opens during CNY a chance dominate the market. Exchange rate was surprising better in Sillypore than in Batam during CNY period. And Ferry Terminal money changer was surprisingly giving better rate than those individual moneychanger shops due to a more intense competition when more shops open for business on the 2nd and 3rd day of CNY within the ferry terminal area. (a lot of money changer outside ferry terminal wasn't open hence the lack of competition)
(above taught me something about Batam in general, competition do keep the price down in some way)
3. Competition for girls mainly come from those foreign workers from Sillypore and not from cheongsters from Sillypore and Malaysia over the last 2 CNYs.
4. Due to a more intense competition ,Gold bird no longer doubles up their booking price. Has it got to do with addickson and ah peng not being around anymore,hehehe...I don't know. A friend of mine booked an ex. New berry girl from Gold bird at 900k during CNY whom I knew, she was priced at ex New Berry for 1 million rupiah in non-CNY period. Interesting....
5. As usual,got the chance to sit down at coffee shop to tcss with friends from this forum as well as some taxi drivers. Many stories were heard but one of the most prominent story was a bro who visited Links at night time to see the "performance" got drunk and created a scene due to some jealousy issue over a dancer who butterfly around. Almost started a fight. Direct words from the taxi drivers in Links, "Why? Only Singaporean got money to come out to play?" ,..."Indonesian cannot have money to come to play...",hehehe...all parties involved were high on alcohol.
A bro here burnt more than S$200 a night in Links, booking girls taking more than 3 overnight booking is a norm,so I shall share those in the future.Many stories,but I need to finish this summary as soon as I could and shall leave those till next time.
6. Baby step a time,i learn something in every trip. This trip I learned Not To Book girls from Batam ,hehehe...is my 1st step and my 1st time. I will keep practicing until i know better and more.
7. I will rate this CNY trip of my a 9/10,but in every Batam trip there is no such thing as an all good and no bad. Here's my setback in this trip at Harbour Bay ferry terminal when i am about to return back to Sillypore...
All i can share here is i will NEVER buy anything from this place even if it means FREE,hehehe...i paid for the drink yet i have chose not to collect it becos they took nearly half an hour to make my drink when there wasn't even a single customer who order anything from them over the mentioned time period.
When i met with a setback in a foreign country like this one,there are several ways to deal with it. For such a small one like this, i have chosen not to patronize their business in my life time. By the way,a small bottle of mineral water there cost more than 10k rupiah if i don't remember wrong (one of their customer told me,i think it's 15k).
8. King Massage has an increase in price. The massage for in-room and in-house is the same now. Been with Kings for slightly over 3 years, seems like its their 1st price increase. Its expected tho,since last year May 2016,when they 1st came out with the free membership thingy.
9. This year CNY 2017 seems to be quieter for me. The streets and malls i went to has lesser people,even temples was not as crowded as my last 2 CNY trips. Food places has many empty seats,even the ferry terminals in Batam was quiet too,hehehe...i think i must have done something right to have escaped from the main crowd from Singapore this year (most of my friends tell me Batam was flooded by people). I still visit BCS,Nagoya Hill Mall and some other major places like everyone else.
10. ...there seems to be something i wish to note down while i was writing no.9 above which i couldn't quite remember as yet. Think i shall leave this part blank until i can remember them later. Who knows, i may not remember at all.
On hand still got quite a handful of videos and photo not up in this summary,so i think i shall leave it till next time as it already reach 12 posts.
This trip generally was pretty much quite informative for me. I had finished this summary now,so that i can plan for next Batam trip. Pulau Galang and Coastarina,i am going for them next. If possible...i hope to visit the Dragon Fruit plantation along the Barelang bridge one day too.
Thank you for reading.