Batam Island Trip

My friends and I spent three days and two nights in Batam Island last week. Batam is the largest city in the Indonesian province of Riau Islands. It is the closest part of Indonesia to Singapore, at a distance of 5.8km across the Singapore Strait. The Singapore Strait separates Singapore and Batam.

The ferry ride takes about forty to fifty minutes depending on which ferry terminal you arrive at. There are quite a few ferry terminals over in Batam.

Batam doesn’t have much to offer in terms of tourist attractions. Most tourists, a big number of them from Singapore and Malaysia go there for ‘rest and relaxation’. The Indonesian currency is low, so Batam is a hot-spot for tourists who want to shop, or go to a spa for massage, and to eat, and drink. Unfortunately, none of these are of interest to me. I went along for the company and to see first hand what the place was like because most of my friends have been to Batam.

So, I didn’t have any expectations, and therefore, I was not disappointed. However, something I ate on my first day didn’t agree with me and I had to put up with the discomfort in my belly, for the duration of my visit. That was not pleasant. It further put a dampener on the trip.

There are quite a few mega malls in Batam. One could literally ‘shop till you drop’. There are also plenty of restaurants, and eateries. Spas and massage parlours are prominently featured everywhere you turn your head.

Traffic is quite bad in Batam – many cars and motorcycles. They weave in and out of the traffic with nary a care. There are hardly any traffic lights. There is a pedestrian crossing, but no cars will slow down for you to cross the road. You just walk quickly across the road and hope that you make it to the other side before some vehicle knocks you down. Side streets are narrow, uneven and not too clean.

I saw many young people. Quite a difference from the aging population here. But surprisingly, they are not very proficient in English even at the shops and restaurants, where there are many tourists.

My take-away from the trip Batam is a nice place to get away to for the weekend or for a couple of days, when you want to pamper yourself with some shopping, spa treatment or dining. It’s affordable and convenient. And that is all Batam has to offer. Basically, you go there to eat, drink, shop, enjoy a spa treatment – these don’t have to be in that order – and then repeat until you are ready to go home.

All in all, this wasn’t the best of my trips, but it was something different for a couple of days. Some photos of the place: