3 July 2010
We meet up in Harbourfront Station at 8 am then directly went to the ferry ticket counter to buy return ticket to Batam. After a quick discussion, we decided to take 9.20 am ferry to Sekupang Ferry terminal and went back from Batam Centre Ferry Terminal. Our original plan was to do water sport in Waterfront city which is close to Sekupang Ferry Terminal. Return ticket cost SGD34 plus seaport tax of SGD6. There will be SGD7 Batam seaport tax later.
We reached Sekupang at around 9.20 am Batam time and gosh, it was raining heavily! We had no choice but to cancel the water sport plan and went to Nagoya Hill, the biggest shopping mall in Batam. So it was a waste for us to come via Sekupang Ferry Terminal, Batam Centre or Harbour Bay are nearer to Nagoya. The taxi counter offered us IDR60,000 for a ride from Sekupang to Nagoya Hill. When we tried to bargain, he told us to walk! What a rude guy! He thought it was raining and we had no choice. Luckily the rain is getting lighter, so we decided to walk out and flag a cab outside. After a bargain, we got a ride to Nagoya Hill for IDR35,000.
We finally had our lunch at the food street in Nagoya Hill, pempek Palembang (Palembang style fish cake) and teh botol (bottled tea), kind of signature dish in Indonesia. The price is ok, IDR10,000 for individual portion and IDR30,000 for mixed one.
After lunch we walked around to find a place for spa or massage. We finally decided to take Soothing Spa package from ESKA Wellness, which we regretted it so much. Initially they told us the package cost IDR350,000. We agreed and went to the spa room. The spa is not that great. They were running out of spa rooms, so they used their massage rooms to do all the stuff except for jacuzzi. When we were about to pay, they suddenly told us that there will be 10% government tax to make the price to IDR385,000. We were not happy and tried to argue that they never told us in the beginning, neither was it written somewhere in the page they showed us on the price list book. Apparently, it was written on the first page, that they NEVER showed us. What made us more unhappy, they never apologized at all. They assumed that all the guests coming there know that there will be this tax. One of the lady said something like "we didn't tell other customers as well, but they pay". Hey, it's not about paying or not, it's about what we agreed in the beginning. So we strongly not recommend people to go to ESKA Wellness. Never or you will regret it!
Enough with the anger, we were running out of time to go Golden Prawn for seafood. So we settled in the seafood restaurant in Nagoya Hill, called Lingga 933. The seafood was disappointing too. We ordered 3 crabs, sotong and kangkong, cost us IDR222,000 for 4 people. But gosh, the crabs are so small. Each of us bought two packets of Opak Belahcan, it is nice especially for those who like spicy food.
We quickly went to Batam Centre to confirm our return ticket. We wanted the last ferry at 8.40 pm. This time we got the ride for IDR20,000. The rest of the time, we spent on shopping at Mega Mall Batam Centre and drank root beer at A&W. We reached Singapore at around 10.40 pm. Overall, it was not really an enjoyable trip.
