It wasn't a good trip I'd say. If you're looking for a relaxing getaway, what they offer is at the opposite end of your requirements.
We had to check-in at 8am (my boyfriend did that admin while i arrived just on time to board the boat), get on at 9am and arrive in Batam at around 9.20am. According to tour guide, the ferry was kind of late, he managed to gather the entire group at 9.40am. Thereafter began our never-ending journey with the little bus around Batam. First to some Chocolate Shop, followed by some traditional dance (below) with glass and fire eating performances. Then to Ralph Lauren shop and to a buffet lunch.
The guide promoted the buffet as traditional indonesian fare, but he was very much lying through his teeth. We had msg filled chicken soup, bits of fish deep fried in layers of flour, chicken and fish deep fried till they were so tough you couldn't tell one from the other. And vege where you bite into scalding hot chili every other munch. It was generally an awful meal. So awful that i lost my appetite for a day.
And the pain doesn't end there, he continues to bring us to some imitation bag shop after which we went for the 60min massage @ Sawadika. He tried to sell us another 30mins for S$10 each, fortunately we didn't buy into his cheat. He claimed 'the rest' of the tour group also bought that additional, but we realised after our session 'the rest' was just 3 pax. Tour guide even claimed that the massage is how good. But to our horror, which we only discovered when boyfriend bathed, there was three dominant bruise lines at his back! For me, i could tell the masseuse was bad especially after my indulgent experience in Tanjong Puteri (JB). Her hand movements were not coordinated and all the acupoints were not in place. It was extremely painful in weird areas, her strokes in certain parts were also going the wrong way. Omg, cant believe there actually are ppl who find it good. Go get a life peeps!
After that tiring massage (what an oxymoron), we were driven yet again to another 'designer wear' shop -sian-. It was then where boyfriend convinced tour manager to send us back to our hotel instead of to the next shopping mall for a hour's torture. Fortunately, he agreed.
Our evening went peacefully at the hotel, ordered room service as I was really turned off by the lack of comfort in that country. The food in Pacific Palace is awesome though. Really yummy special toufu and crispy duck we had (below)! Its a high achieving three star hotel.
I guess, I like Indonesia in general, enjoyed my time at Turi and Bali in two previous trips. I guess, its just this Batam that really turns me off. (P.S. Tour guide shared that it had 60% chinese while Indo in general has only 10% chinese! wow...)
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