HALO

(Hah-Low)

Hello from Indonesia. We took a weekend trip to Batam. One of the 17,000 islands in the Republic of Indonesia. The island is about 615 square miles. Here are some quick facts about Indonesia. Indonesia is an archipelagic state meaning it is composed of many islands, and it is the largest in the world. You may have heard of the ring of fire, a circle of volcanoes, and earthquake zones. Indonesia is on this ring and has many volcanoes. If you add up the area of the country, it is the 14th largest. Jakarta is the capital which is on the Island of Java. This was the unfortunate spot for an earthquake recently. Indonesia has an elected government, and they are a Muslim majority here. The official language is Indonesian, and their currency is the Indonesian Rupiah.

Large buildings behind the local area

Crazy themed hotel

Singapore is very close to Batam. You can see the island from downtown, and vice versa, if the weather is clear. We chose Sindo Ferry, one of many ferry boats that have a Batam route from Singapore. I realized after watching all the ferries, this is a busy island. The ferry was a small adventure of its own. We purchased tickets online and found out we must pick them up at the desk upon arrival. There was no QR scanning from a phone on this trip. We picked up the tickets and the man at the desk said we will pay for our visa upon arrival. He said if we do not get money here, we can use an ATM at the terminal in Batam. This was incorrect.

Batam Ferry Terminal

We went through the line to board which was a ticket scan and a passport check. We walked to the boat and thought we were early but quickly remembered how they do lines here. They love to be first in a line and even resort to cutting. I feel there are some of the most impatient people when it comes to waiting in this region. Singapore is better at it and respects a queue. The ride was nice and smooth and 45 minutes. We went to the line for customs, and this is when we learned the ATM advice was, mostly, incorrect.

We had to pay 500,000 Rupiah ($32 US) per person for our visas. I asked if I could use my phone or card and of course, it was cash only. I thought someone is getting a cut of this as we travel many places and rarely see cash only, especially for a government function. I told the agent we had no cash. He then came out of the room and locked his door. He walked me through the customs area to an ATM where I Withdrew money. This was the first time I got to enter two million into an ATM. We paid for our visas and then the line was very quick. And why is the money in other countries so beautiful?

Indonesian Rupiah

We used a taxi to get to the hotel and it cost us $2 US. They also have the Grab app here, which is like Uber. We used that for the return, and it was about the same price. We saw the city has both ends of the spectrum. There were new high-rise buildings and malls and then there were run-down buildings and small make-shift shacks selling food and goods. The traffic was not the craziest here, but they do zip in and out, and they will pull out when they feel ready, not when it is clear. There are also many scooters here that split traffic.

Scooters rule the road

We chose the Batam Marriott for this trip so we can get some of the last few points to maintain our status with them. I also look at the nicer hotels in some of the countries that have a lower exchange rate with US dollars. We stayed in five-star hotels for one hundred dollars a night. This hotel is two years old and very nice and modern. It sits on the waterfront and has 12 floors with a high pool and rooftop bar. The room and the hotel in general were wonderful. Everyone was nice and helpful. We talked to a few of them about local things and some food we saw in a market. They had no issues engaging with us. The area surrounding this hotel is a resort-type area and a harbor for all types of ships. There were many restaurants and stores and several other hotels in this area, and you had to go through a parking gate to enter and exit.

Batam Marriott

Lobby

We walked around the area and scouted places to eat. We checked some menus at the doors of several restaurants, and nothing piqued our interest. We then found a spot that had traditional Indonesian, and it was crowded. This is always a good sign to help you pick a place. I did a search, and the ratings were good for the place and there were several hundred. I have noticed in Singapore people do not rate things very much. We decided to try it out. This was definitely a local place. I will say that most do not speak English here and we started using Google Translate after this encounter.

High Tide vs Low Tide

We walked in and sat down and tried to see where to order. We have found you mostly order from a QR on the table in Singapore. If that is not the case, you order from the wait staff. No staff was walking around, and we saw people at a counter placing orders. We walked up to order and asked for a menu. They spoke no English here and had no idea what I was saying. I tried to point but nothing worked. I saw no menu so apparently; you just need to know what you want when you come to this place. We decided to try another spot since we saw menus at them.

Looking out from the Marriott lounge

We ended up in a shopping area with a local food place. They gave us a menu and we were able to use google and point to order. We were not disappointed. The food was delicious. We also learned the Indonesian word for water is air (eye-ear). We asked for water and understood how that completely failed. We had Laksa which is a soup with seafood and noodles. We have seen it in Singapore but never tried it. We also had some rice with chicken on top. The rice was flavored with traditional spices and like no rice, I have had. The other dish was chicken that was fried and covered in a sauce. This sauce was also like nothing we have had. All three dishes were very delicious, and I will eat them again right now.

Laksa

Rice with chicken

Chicken

We walked around the shopping area and bought some pineapple that was fried like potato chips. We have seen dried fruit but not a chip. It was also good, and we would buy it again. We went into a small grocery store to look around. I always like to visit a store like this as it gives me a very good idea of the exchange rate and how it applies to me directly. Tourist-associated things and sometimes hotels will keep a higher rate even though the economy is low in a country. I expect a beer in a hotel to always cost 8 to 12 dollars as it is in a hotel. If you go to a local grocery store and buy a bottle of water or a bag of chips, then you will see what the economy is. In this case, we learned the dollar goes very far here. A large bottle of water costs a US quarter. A can of pringles was ninety-five cents.

Mall

We were fortunate to have the Harbour Bay Expo 2022 in full swing in the lot across from the hotel. They had an Anime costume contest going on when we arrived, which was interesting to watch. The food smelled great, but we had just eaten. We grabbed some meatballs in a spicy sauce (I learned this from Google Translate). The flavor was delicious, but it was up towards the top of the hotter food we have tried. They had some kebab burgers and fries covered in different things and they had local dishes consisting of noodles and rice with various proteins. The funniest stall was a small food truck selling kebab burgers. They had a speaker playing on loop “promo promo, kebab burgers”. It was a fun environment, and we were the only foreign people there, so we had a lot of looks and smiles. Everyone here was friendly as well.

Expo

Fair Food on a stick!

Expo

We packed up to leave and went to the ferry terminal a bit early. We always like to be early if possible as we have seen some crazy lines. We looked around the shops as we always buy Christmas ornaments from every country we visit. We saw a sign for a mall, and it led to a bridge that crossed the street. The bridge led to a fairly large shopping mall just like you would see in the US. We found an ornament and some other things and then just walked through the stores experiencing the differences. It was time to go so we went through the gates and to our boarding area. The signs are not the best in this area for boarding. There is not a sign saying you are at gate B. Just people everywhere and the announcements are all Indonesian. At the last minute, the display sign changes for the boarding and shows the boat number. That, and asking people in line, is the only way we were sure we had the correct boat.

Boarding Line

This was a short overnight trip, so we spent some time at the pool and relaxing at the hotel. We usually find ourselves doing so many things every day when we travel to try and experience as much as we can. Since we will be in Singapore for a while, we decided to slow down a bit and even go places twice if we want to see more. Travel is relatively cheap, and fast here, to go to destinations throughout Asia. We decided Batam was fun and easy. The food and people were great. We have other islands to see but we will come back to Batam.