Day trip to Batam

Friday 10:30 pm
"Don't forget to keep Employment Pass". I reminded Venu once again.
Just a few minutes back we had finalized a day trip to Batam, Indonesia. We had finally planned something to avoid boredom on weekends while our families were away in India.

Saturday morning 7:55 am
Venu woke me up.
& I was in MRT by 8:45 am, on my way to Little India, for foreign exchange & also to have my breakfast. I had to settle for a Chhola Bhatura plate at Ananda Bhawan, a place I decided not to visit again.

Venu joined me & we went to Mustafa for Indonesian Rupees. I freaked out on getting 7 Lacs of Indonesian Rupees for 98 Sing dollars !!!

Off we go to the Harbourfront Ferry Terminal.
Reached @ 10am & bought the tickets for ferry leaving at 10:40am.
We rushed towards the entry gates, security clearance, & then the immigration counter.
I presented my passport & tickets & started checking out other queues. Then the lady asked me for my EP (Employment Pass).
“Yeah, sure”. It’s always there in my wallet. & I started checking it out. It wasn't there. WHAT???? I was talking to myself. I considered myself the standard for organising & managing things, & here I was, trying to leave Singapore, without the Employment pass!!!

The female was typical Singaporean, so I could not make it out if she was feeling bad, sorry or anything for me. In fact, she had probably stopped feeling many years back. Oh, how I wish they could do better...
Anyways, I was directed to a control-center-kinda-room where another elderly gentleman was seated with typical Singaporean expression. My wish remains...
He finally showed some feeling, bit furious though, & was irritated for having to work because an Indian forgot to bring along his EP for a day-trip to Batam.

"Mister, next time you don't bring your pass, we won't let you go", he growled.
"Yea I understand. Am really sorry". I really was.

Finally, he approved my immigration. I thanked him & left.
Tense Venu felt relieved when I emerged out of the immigration area. We then rushed towards the ferry & I grabbed a window seat :)

Soon, the ferry started moving & we enjoyed some Indo-rock, an Indonesian uncle was playing on his cell phone.

We planned a bit for the day ahead & had a nap within the 50 minute ride. It was a sunny day & the Sun was probably, fully charged :(

On reaching the Sekupang terminal, we approached the "Visa-On-Arrival" counter. Surprisingly, the visa costs 10USD. How on earth, would a ferry traveller have USD? They don't have ferries coming in from US :(
Anyhow, the guy agreed for payment in SGD, not Indo Rupees. & asked for 18SGD!!! I was in no mood to indulge into any argument for the conversion rate (that too with an immigration official of another country).

We simply paid & came out of the airport-look-alike ferry terminal. & did I mention that I lost my pre-filled immigration form I got from Ferry ticket counter!!! So I had to take a new one & fill it all over myself.
Ah, not my day :(

Out we came into the lobby area of the terminal & Venu had to pay a visit to the loo....
It seems he just feels like checking out loos, wherever he goes.

Anyways, we looked around for some tourist information & finally got a map & few hotel pamphlets from Info desk.

Negotiated in vain for a taxi to Batam centre, coz we figured it out as the city centre.
The driver was an innocent fellow, & didn't know much English. The query for tourist places turned out to be hilarious, painful & disgusting.

Finally we reached Batam Centre Mega Mall, had lunch at New York cafe, & I got wireless access to play with my new Smartphone.

After roaming around a bit, we headed to Nagoya hill. This time we negotiated successfully, but had to tackle many taxi drivers for the process.
& luckily we got a smart driver this time. The conversation was easy, but not-so-fruitful. We simply ignored his suggestions to visit some place on the other side of the island. He was also interested in earning commission for referring us to some girls, or massage centres. Few minutes later he dropped us at Lucky plaza.

Lucky Plaza looked like the Chinatown of Batam. Everywhere there were shops selling cell phones, SIM connections & God knows what. I had to make a call, so thought of buying a SIM card since my Singapore connection wasn't working. The girl selling SIM cards had a hard time telling us how to register a SIM & make calls. Well, it was hard for us too.
Feeling unconvinced with scrupulous SIM cards, I asked for Public Pay phones/booths, which she had never heard of :(
We moved ahead, & explored the plaza further. The 2nd floor of the plaza appeared to be all set for a Jet Li's movie's climax shoot.
It had a deserted old look, with closed shops & vacant kiosks.

We decided to go to Nagoya Hill, as suggested by the front-desk girl of a big hotel. & there was another series of attempts to pull us into taxis...
We ended up walking to Nagoya shopping centre which was just 500m from there. The place was marvellous. We roamed about, checked out different stuff & handicraft products on sale.

I bought cheap sunglasses, as I had forgot to carry that too :( . The guy shook hands with me, while handing over the sunglasses. He was probably very happy for the deal had cut.

One thing worth mentioning is that Batam people are very nice & happy. The salesgirls would welcome you, & smile throughout your visit. This was very much unlike Singapore, where it’s hard to find happy people.

Everywhere in Batam, we were chased by taxi drivers. Thankfully they spared us when we were already sitting in one. Venu blamed it on me, as I was carrying a camera in hand. Little did he realise that with our faces, we'd anyway be figured out as tourists :)

The prices are high for tourists, & it kinda gets funny when a small taxi ride is costing you many thousand bucks. Life in Batam is not as advanced & fast as in Singapore, but the Indonesians appear much happier than Singaporeans do.

The language though appeared to be a problem. Not many people can speak English. Sometimes they found it funny & laughed over when we asked them for directions, or tourist places. I can bet, it wasn't about our English though.

Anyways, from Nagoya hill, we took a taxi for Nongsa beach, for 50 Thousand Rupees. The route was wonderful with a long drive on highway.

Just before reaching there, Venu discussed something with the driver (with none of them understanding what the other person is saying) & decided to go to Sekilak Adventure Park which has its own beach. I was a mere spectator :(

It turned out to be some deserted resort, which had a small rocky beach. A small enclosed area had some rock music playing.
We had to figure out the way to the beach & it took us a while to make up our mind for a dip.

There were couples everywhere, enjoying moments, away from public. Venu went off looking for showers, & came back soon. We relaxed for about 45 minutes in water. After some snacks & coconut at shanty shops, we were back in the taxi. The fully charged Sun got me some headache. The long drive back on the highway felt relieving though. The taxi driver dropped us back at Batam Centre & charged 150k!!!
I wasn't willing to pay so much, but Venu convinced me :)

We then roamed around in the mall, also did some shopping for families.
Soon I felt that we must register for the ferry ride back to Singapore, & we crossed the bridge to the Ferry terminal.
We registered for the last Ferry of the day, at 8:40 pm. The girl at counter asked us to check-in by 7:45 pm, while my watch ticked 7:30pm. Then I realised, I had not corrected it to Local time, which was 1 hr after Singapore. It was 6:30pm local time.

With 2 hrs to go, we decided to have some snacks & watch the live music performances going on in the mall.

Soon, it was time for check-in & we reported on time.
It was dark by now, & we opted for seats on upper deck, hoping it will be better than being in cramped lower deck seats. I was also preparing myself for any issues in Immigration without EP :(

On reaching Immigration counter, I described the situation, & as expected, was directed towards the control-center-kinda-room. I was asked to sit in a small room which had 6 chairs & 4 were already occupied by some Russians.
& the door was shut!!!

I started conversing with those Russians & found that they were actually Afghanis. They had also gone to Batam, but could not get the On-Arrival Visa as its not applicable to Afghanis & Pakis. So they were made to wait for 3 hrs there & then deported back to Singapore. Here also they had been waiting for more than 2 hrs. I somehow felt better for being an Indian, & I could see the jealousy in their eyes too.

Further on knowing about my job in Singapore, they were apparently, more jealous & hurt.
"You know why you got a job in Singapore?" one of them asked me.
"Why?" I questioned back, thinking he'd reply: Because we didn't get it.
"Because of EDUCATION" he said in a quite emoting manner. He got me thinking on this. It reminded me of the situation they face in their country & how it pushes education to lower priority. It also reminded me of a book I had recently finished, in which the author, who has travelled to Afghanistan, describes it as the country of the dust, with no signs of development, whatsoever.

He (Afghani) probably wanted to elaborate further, but was called upon by the Immigration officer.
One of them asked me if I knew Urdu, & I told him yes, I could understand Urdu. Later he described their ordeal, speaking in Urdu, which was more of a Hindi dialect.

Since they were 5-6 guys, my case would take long, I thought. I felt sorry for Venu, who was waiting for me outside.

Finally after 20-25 minutes they were cleared & told to leave.
"Achha... Allah Hafiz" he said while picking his bag.
"Allah Hafiz" I replied.

I was also let go few minutes later. It was 11:25pm by now & we rushed to see if we could still catch the last train from Harbourfront to Punggol. We could. But Venu got down at Outram Park. He wanted to go home & have some sleep.
I got down at Farrer Park & went straight to SagarRatna for a light meal.
Grabbed a taxi & longed for a bed to sleep.
It had been a long, a very long day.