Re: Batam Info Thread
 

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

I think from Gideon Hotel, may need to take taxi to Sedona. Not reachable by foot easily. Suggest you take taxi to Batam Star Hotel and then walk to the back of Batam Star Hotel where Sedona is.

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

Any bros going to batam tommrrow? I'm going over in the morning.

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

Hey guys.. Im new to this forum and hope to learn more about you guys experience in batam with you all.
Quite new to going to batam but been there few times with my group of friends.

So cut it short, i'm travelling there on 4th july to 6th july, 3d 2n, purpose to chill and drink. Never did this before because usually book girls from fish tank straight with my group of friends. But this time ard im going alone.

So my plan to reach batam ard 3-4pm. Check in to either goodway,harmoni or pacific hotel.After that eat late lunch with my driver(I usually get this guy to drive me ard). Will head to kampong bule for happy hours till late. Than ard 11pm will head to pafific-ship disco to end my night there. Hoping to hook up with fl if not go back and sleep. My purpose is only go drinking.

Any comments cause it will be my first time going to batam disco.. Also welcome anybody to join drinking together. Im not very worried abt language barrier coz I can talk malay or indon.. for safety purpose, my frens have contacts of high ranking police there..so I feel preety safe gg to disco. .hope to hear from you all and get good kakis for drinking..cheers

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

Not a good time to go for entertainment during this time. Ramadan time. Entertainment is shorter hours.

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

hahaha. I never have problems with the street food. Usually, the thing to avoid is the ICE. Bottled water is ok. Unless you are used to food here.

Other wise, these are cheap and good, but at your own risk.

Barelang? never had problems also. maybe weather too hot for you... Stomach not able to cope.

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

Very interesting...and oh,i am surprise now that they even have roast pig? How on earth they can have that for sale in a Muslim country??I'm impressed! I think their culture is really not easy to understand.

I don't really find indo food cheap tho it isn't considered expensive,but their street food are mostly good. I dare rate their street food at 7/10 or higher on average,and shopping mall food at about 6/10 on an average scale. The worst Bak Kut teh in Batam i tried is in Nagoya Hill Mall 2nd floor.

At the food court behind Relax Massage,i was curious why their plain roti prata is selling at 9k rupiah (S$1.00) during my 4th trip,and on my 5th trip i went to tried it out of curiosity and it cost me 27k when the bill arrived. I ordered 2 plain roti prata and i didnt know they charge for sauce with some small portion chicken pieces in their curry. On average it is cheaper than in sillypore,but if i minus off the chicken pieces i didn't touch in that meal,it is more expensive. And i finally understand why the plain roti prata cost 9k...it is becos the prata size is BIG!! Almost twice the size of what i'd see in sillypore prata store.

Touch wood (in advance),i have never had diarrhoea in all my 5 trips to Batam before,hehehe...For my case i always take street food which has to go thru the process of boiling or 100 degree Celsius cooking. Take Bak Kut Teh as an example, I observe how they boil their Bak Kut teh too. And most Batam Bak Kut Teh store can beat most Sillypore's Bak kut teh store any time due to how they boil their Bak Kut teh.

I don't actually understand how come Batam Bak Kut Teh store can actually boil their Bak kut teh soup to be like the Bah Chok Mee store in Sillypore. You know those type when they serve you the soup that time,it isn't boiling in their soup appearance,but you will still be able to see the particles inside the soup moving as if it is boiling. And when you taste the soup,there seems to be 2 layer heat in that soup. 1st taste of the soup,it's not so hot,but after leaving the soup in my mouth of another 1 or 2 seconds,there is another layer heat in the soup which is hotter than the 1st taste...and that is the FINAL bak kut teh soup taste.

My little observation here.

Batam food although reasonable in price n taste can be recycle. Bak kut teh at mi lau su recycle their unfinish rice as well as returning the balance into the pot for next customer. Witness by me n two frieds.

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

may i know which kelong of barelang.. just the curiosity, bcoz i'm a regular at one of the kelong there..

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

Mickymouse Bak Kut Teh really?? Almost had my lunch there during the weekend if it is not full :eek:

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

It's a quite common for singaporean and malaysian to misunderstood the connection between being a muslim country and halal food. I also get this question a lot from friends.

although indonesian is the biggest muslim country in the world (from the number of the peoples), but indonesia is not a real muslim country. indonesia doesn't apply syariah law. (i don't know about aceh though). unlike malaysian, if a muslim was caught eating non-halal food, or eating at non-halal restaurant, or drinking, they will get caught by police. That doesn't applied in indonesia. any muslim can dine-in in chinese restaurant. police won't question.

Not all the non-chinese are muslim. unlike malaysian, many tribe of native indonesian are actually majority in christian or chatolic. for example, batak, balinese, flores, maluku or moluccas, etc. and there are also many javanese or other majority muslim tribe, whose are actually christians. especially in batam, the number of non-muslim is also quite big.. in other country, this may not allowed, i mean for muslim to converted to non-muslim, but in indonesia we have constitutional law that recognize the freedom of the right to choose any religion that they want.

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

I think the reason prata is not cheap in batam because it's not a commonly available food in batam. therefore the price also not 'common'. unlike singapore, we can find at least one prata stall at each hawker. and it's like common breakfast food here..

in batam, i think the only prata restaurant i ever saw is the one in opposite of nagoya hill or nagoya plaza hotel. but i'm not sure if the one that you had or not.

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

Looks like the rates are pretty good recently...

It has almost become a habit for me that every time i go Batam,i am bound to grab at least 4 big bottles of mineral water from either Harbour Mart or the provision behind Formosa and keep them in my room. Main purpose was for drinking and making coffee in hotel rooms,some time even for emergency if the hotel suddenly have no water running from the tap,which happen during my 3rd trip. At the very least ,i still have some water to wash up.

Hmm...learned something today....thank you for explaining. The reason why i am curious is becos long time ago,during Suharto time,even Chinese papers,video tape and books are strictly not allowed into Indo...and am quite surprise that one could actually cook the entire pig up for a meal. Perhaps after the collapse of Suharto's dynasty,their laws not as strict as before.

Yea,i was curious with the prata price during my 4th trip there hence i decide to try them out on my 5th trip.It's an indian man making the prata tho,then again I believe it's very likely that time will be my last i go there to eat...lol...i don't mean the prata is not good,but there are much better varieties of food to pick from that food court to fill myself.The food court opposite Relax Massage where they sells the prata sells Tonic soup as well,those black chicken soup,Herbal soup etc etc. Place was quite big with a big variety of food to choose from too. But i find most of their food are cater for a higher market and it is always crowded whenever i am there before their local lunch hours. Heard from friends that during lunch peak,even more people eats there.

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

That prata shop is called Mustafa Prata i think. I tried the black chicken soup yesterday, it's nice and the cost is 23k excluding rice. The Bak kut teh in that food court taste not bad too. :p

Re: Batam Info Thread
 

Never seen that before. Are you sure. I eat there once a while.


Never seen that before