My first 3 days trip to Batam with my family and friends [Part 2]

Inside the Majestic Ferry!

Welcome back, readers! Now, I continue with Part 2 of the trip to Batam with my family and friends. At 9am, it was time for us to board the ferry by a company named Majestic. Some of the Goodwheelz Bikerz members could not join us on the trip because they would be working on Monday as this trip was from Saturday to Monday. The two of them, Rizal and Firdaus could only join us at night.

I was smiling all the way carrying my orange backpack and lugging the red mini luggage walking through the checkpoint. Ruzaini, my former National Service friend and the member of the Bikerz, was astonished of why I was smiling like a madman while walking to the ferry. This is because this was my first overnight overseas trip to Batam and I was quite ecstatic about it. I was a tad frustrated when I had to unload my oversized backpack and the luggage onto the conveyor belt to be checked on the XRAY scanner but I understand security is of utmost importance.

Once cleared of the checking of the passport and other stuff, I made a blunder of going in the wrong direction to the ferry. Luckily, Ruzaini pointed that out just in time. Once inside the ferry, I sat in the middle with Ruzaini and my younger brother on both sides. My younger sister and mother sat behind. Ruzaini is quite a comedian making jokes with the entourage in the initial journey to Batam. Mind you, the journey took 45 minutes. I was asking an obvious question as to why the scene outside the ferry started moving and Ruzaini said it was all an "illusion". My younger brother started dozing off and I was looking outside the window admiring the scenery before me.

It felt like an eternity going to our destination while the ferry swayed to and fro beating the waves. Finally, we reached Batam. I glanced at my smartphone and saw that there were two digital clocks. I soon realized that Batam is one hour earlier than Singapore. We unloaded all our baggage onto a big trolley and a person helped us ferry the heavy-laden trolley while we walked empty-handed.

I confidently handed the health declaration form to the immigration officer and he said to me that it was not completed. I was annoyed by this fact and quickly write the particulars only to find myself writing in the wrong area. By now, I was panicking and sweating profusely and handed the officer a somewhat complete form.

Inside the arrival area, I must stand on a box to take the temperature in an awkward gesture after what had happened. The leader of the Batam tour guide group took all our passports to be chopped. My mother went to the toilet and I just stood at the arrival hall awaiting further instructions from the President of the Goodwheelz Bikerz, Saini.

After all of us had gotten ready to go, the President gathered all of us to explain what would happen today. We got back our passports and were asked to check for the chop by the immigration officer. My family loaded our bags behind the car and get inside it. The other members got inside the other cars.

We were chauffeured by a friendly, Indonesian guy who drove us to one of the villages in Batam. At this point, I don't know what was going on and just follow with their plans. It was during the journey that I observed a stark difference in the road culture between Singapore and Batam. There are no lines on the road indicating the lanes despite the fact that there are lines on the big roads. Some of the motorcyclists do not wear any helmets and some of them had babies carried on the back and front of the rider. In Singapore, this is a violation of the law and you will be punished according to it. I saw teenagers riding a motorcycle while in Batam and me older than them does not know how to ride one. When I actually think back, it is a necessity for them as I did not see any public transport or trains present on the island. Wow! This is one long blog post and I will continue my trip in the next part! Signing off! Sejuk!