Thứ Sáu, 6 tháng 4, 2012

One Day Package Tour In Batam (Indonesia)

This is one day trip from Singapore to Batam Island (Indonesia). Although I didn’t have much time to visit all the wonderful places in this island, there are still some interesting things that I have experienced. If you have an eager want to visit Batam Island, I’ll share for you all the information in short.

Total cost: 100S$/person (1S$=7000Rup=17.000VND)

Starting place: HarbourtFront Centre (Singapore). You just follow the guiding sign in HarbourFront MRT to the harbourt.

Ticket counter: Sindo Ferry (Penguin) #03-43. There’re many ticket counters, so it’s up to you to choose one. Two way tickets almost cost 50S$. Remember that you need to confirm aleast 1 hour in advance before your ship depart.
 

 The journey will take estimate 1 hour by sea from Singapore to Batam Island. However, if you depart at 8.00am, you will reach to Batam at the same time (8.00am) because of the different time zones.

Money Exchange: You can exchange in Singapore then bring to Batam. However, in my experience, you should go to Batam then exchange in Magamall 
for the better price – opposite Batam Terminal.

Transportation: There are two main vehicles that you can choose: bus or taxi. I don’t know much about bus in Batam, but taxi is quite convenient here. You should notice that there’s no taxi meter, so the cost usually depends on the driver’s...mood. There are plenty of taxis in Batam, but there are no standard color schemes. However, licensed taxis have yellow license plates, while unlicensed ones do not. It looks like there’s no different between them. You will need to bargain with the drivers ask for price before get on Taxi. Sample fares for reference:

+ Batam Center to Nagoya Hill: 40.000-50.000Rup/1 way. Moreover, there are some taxi drivers surprizingly offer with the price 25.000Rup/1 way. However, I didn’t try it yet.

+ Nagoya Hill to Barelang Bridge, Vietnam Village and come back to Batam Center: 300.000Rup. Luckily, the driver is very nice to us.

Place to go:

+ Megamall: this is a shopping mall opposite Batam Terminal. You can shopping, eating or exchange your money. It’s quite cheap in comparison with Singapore. We ordered one combo (KFC) for 2 persons with the total cost is 63.000Rup.

+ Harris Hotel: with the good view, you can see the sea and listen the wind from window.

+ Nagoya Hill: It is one of the famous shopping mall in Batam. You can find almost Muslim food here. Beside, the spa service is attractive too. I bought 1 T-shrit “I love Batam” for 20.000Rup - not so expensive.

+ Barelang Bridge: a chain of six bridges connect Batam, Rempang island Galang together. With the beautiful landscape, worth for taking picture.



Besides, I suddenly discovered one small, pure and beautiful beach under the bridge. The water is so clear that you see through into it. So sad that I didn't bring my swimming suit.


+ Vietnam Village: it is quite far from the bridge to Vietnam Village about 30’ from Barelang Bridge. Vietnam Village looks like an old museam of Vietnamese who came across the sea to find a new life. The ticket costs 10.000Rup/pax. If you have plenty of time, you should walk because the landscape is so wonderful with the old building, farm and grass field... Sometimes, you will catch some monkeys playing in the middle of the street.
 


Foods: Without sea food, there’s no meaning of visiting Batam island. We found one great restaurant near the Barelang bridge. With 200.000Rup, you can order for 4 to 5 persons.

Movie: If you’re a movie fan, I suggest that you should try once in Megamall. The cinema is very great with big screen, good sound quality and service. You can buy one ticket for 20.000Rup.


 You can view my picture from my trip on my Facebook.

Have a nice day ^^

(http://forum.travelcoffeeshop.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=105)
 
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