Bear is having his 10 days leave. Initially Bear wanted to go Bangkok, but after he had formulated his intention and because of school holiday week, airfare up by 50%, he developed a strong desire to stay at home instead.

First 2 days of his leave, Bear already was bored to death. I took one day leave to accompany him and so this is how the eight two Im-mortals cross the sea story came about.

We cross to Batam.

Cost $30 for return tickets, journey one hour and by 1pm we were at Batam centre. Both of us never been to Batam and we heard all the 'good' things over there. We came here see for ourselves what's so good about Batam. We changed $100 (altogether) at the money changer and get about half a million rupiah.

Half a MILLION. Whahaha

Cab to city costs 40,000 rupiah.
Bak ku teh costs another 50,000 rupiah.


(We had Bak Ku Teh for lunch)

We're left with 440,000 rupiah.....money sure deplete fast.

So after lunch we walked around their famous street and shopping centre I was told by the cab driver. Like the Robinson shopping centre below..


(Behind me was Robinson)

We came, we saw, and it was si bei jialut......shopping centres and streets are worst than Little India back home. After half hour of walking their famous street, I was told like I said.........still look like this.


(Pathetic street)

Wau lau eh. Nothing to buy, nothing to see. What's so good about Batam? I don't get it. I heard Batam is rapidly coming of age with a commercial and public building boom and new and up-graded facilities, shopping centres, hotels, bars and restaurants.

Do it look like rapidly coming of age from the picture taken?


(Cambodia look alike)


(One of the best building)


(1 pkg of cigarettes costs SG1.8)


(This is the best street in Batam, I was informed)

Obviously nothing to see.....so we went for spa with hot tub, sauna, steam bath with a 11/2 hrs of tradition java massage throw in. And this is the BEST moment of the day.

Damage: 260,000 rupiah for 2 persons. Really cheap, I tell you.

Oh yeah, generally I see men were from Singapore in their 50s and above all, they came alone. Met one Singaporean old man in his 50s, gave us a mini tour in Batam. Also he gave us some lesson on “how to hook up a gal.” and other related stuff about girls in Batam.

Bear and myself listened attentively as if we're attending a motivation talk. After his speech, he seemed very pleased with himself. He's a oldies and thinks he's a godly (sex wise). Hey, I'm may be a newbie (in Batam) but I'm a sex guru. hehehe

Batam is a paradise for those interested in the flesh trade. Other than that, nothing! Nothing to do here, nothing to see here. You get the pictures, right?

After part way with old chap, we have our dinner and this place mostly sells seafood.



We were left with over about 200,000 rupiah.


(One glance at Bear, you know he's bored)

Damage: 70,000 rupiah for dinner.

30,000 rupiah for cab back to ferry terminal and at the end of the day we still got 20,000 rupiah left.

Told Bear if we're going back to Batam, will be at least another year.
Boring place.
.