We did something a bit crazy in May and took a quick trip to Singapore and Batam Island, Indonesia. Why? Well, I had not spent anytime in Singapore outside of the airport, which is hands down the best airport in the world and no wonder it’s had that ranking for years, but also a new direct flight was launched making it “easier” to get there. Now, the flight was 16 hours and a red eye, not my favourite flying time, but this flight was quite pleasant with a 2 seat configuration in Premium Economy. With my comfy neck pillow I was able to get some reasonable sleep and the time went by quickly. The time difference does throw you off somewhat even if you feel reasonably rested but we got through contactless immigration fairly quickly and grabbed a Grab (Singapore’s version of Uber) and made our way to the ferry terminal. Our first stop was actually Batam, Indonesia, a just over an hour ferry ride away. Our hotel was right by the ferry terminal in Batam so that was very convenient. What we didn’t realize was we needed a tourist entry card to get through immigration and so thankfully we had some cash on us so we could buy the entry card because they didn’t take credit cards at the little kiosk. Lesson learned, check entry requirements for any country you plan on visiting and always have cash. I think we had even debated whether to take cash out when we landed.
While our overall trip was short at a week, we decided to split the time between Batam and Singapore because truthfully Singapore is expensive, it’s a city island country, and to get a good sense of it you only really need a few days. So this made sense to explore somewhere else nearby, even if nearby was in an entirely different country. Batam is known for outdoor and water activities, shopping, food, and spas. Unfortunately for us, we hit a bad weather system time and it did limit our ability to take better advantage of the outdoor activities. Not that it was all bad, we did make the most of it and explored quite a bit.
We stayed at the Batam Marriott. We had a beautiful, spacious room with a lovely view of the harbour and of a fishing village across the harbour with houses built on stilts due to the tides. Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim country with 87% of the population identifying as Muslim and unbeknownst to us there were was a mosque across the water that broadcast their call to prayer over loud speaker and in the wee hours of the morning made sleeping very challenging. We never did find a way to block out the sound entirely, even earplugs didn’t really work. For us, we found everything in Batam to be quite inexpensive, particularly compared to Singapore. But while this was true for us, you could also see as you explored around that so many of the residents are impoverished and basic infrastructure is in disrepair or lacking. Yet, everyone we encountered was kind, helpful and seemed content.
We hired a private driver one day to take us on a tour of Batam to see the main sites. We opted this route again because it was inexpensive and gave us the luxury of not being stuck on a bus with who knows how many other people. Jacky, our driver picked us up right from our hotel, and off we went. Jacky spoke pretty good English and he provided a good commentary and explanation of things along the way. Our driving tour took us to the Welcome to Batam sign where conveniently a photographer was standing by to take pictures which he then printed and gave to us. We then were off to a Buddhist temple where Jacky took great pride in showing us around while also taking a moment to say a blessing as we looked around. From there we were off to the miniature house park which displays various replicas of traditional houses of different ethnicities of Indonesia. While the mini houses were cute and a cool way of seeing what traditional houses looked like, the park itself was a bit in disarray and not well kept. From here we went to 70 Fahrenheit Koffee where Jacky arranged a private tour for us even though the factory was closed to the public. We learned about various types of coffee beans and also got a private tasting. It is here where we fell in love the peaberry coffee bean. The bean is fully round in shape unlike other coffee beans and is technically a mutation of the coffee bean as the peaberry is a singular bean in its cherry and only occurs in about 5% of a harvest. Peaberry coffee is more flavourable than other beans we've tried and carries a higher amount of caffeine requiring less beans to brew a perfect cup of coffee. This was a perfect stop for this coffee lover and we bought several boxes to bring back home. After getting re-caffeinated, we drove about an hour to Barelang Bridge 1. This bridge is the first in a chain of six bridges that connect the Barelang island group of Riau Archipelago. Bridge 1 is the most popular stop and again conveniently had photographers situated there available to take and immediately print your photos. Jacky told us there wasn't much to see or any facilities after the first bridge so we didn't venture the remaining 50 kms to the end. Not sure if this was entirely true, or he didn't want to drive it, but we believed him and instead enjoyed some barbecued corn on the cob as a snack before heading off to lunch at a restaurant built on stilts over the water where Z got to literally pick his seafood lunch fresh from the day's catch. This driving tour gave us a good view of the island and opportunity to see the main sites. Other popular activities on Batam are shopping and spa treatments. While we didn't do much in the way of shopping, we did indulge in a couple inexpensive massages. Z also determined that he needed a haircut and found a local barber who gave him a great cut, despite a bit of a language barrier. The cut cost him around $10.
Indonesian cuisine is influenced by Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese and European cuisine and we immensely enjoyed a variety of delicious food full of complex flavour. The fish options were abundant for Z and the non-fish options equally abundant for me. After our four days exploring and eating far too much, we took the ferry back to explore Singapore.
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