Quote:
Originally Posted by nono1973
My 1st impression of Batam before i reach there was...Batam is going to be a VERY VERY dangerous place to be in,hehehe...i read about taxi drivers bringing tourist to expensive places to get chop,or some remote countryside to call expensive "chicks",to threaten or blackmail them, lots of drug lord,drug addicts,rob and kill situation,anti-Chinese etc etc...hehehe...it turn out to me that going to Batam is like going to Sentosa. (think i scared myself too much back then)
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Same for me. The first time I went to Batam I was extra-cautious due to all the bad stories and warnings read on the Internet (mostly Singaporean travel blogs
).
After a while on site, I realized that it's much safer than most countries I visit worldwide. Batam is peaceful and enjoyable.
All those bad warnings are mostly exaggerations written to scare off people.
Said this, it would be misleading to say that going to Batam is like going to Sentosa, unless one limits his experience to go to hotel, then to joint to book a girl, then back to room for bonking till next morning, with just a short escapade for dinner.
In Sentosa, for example, there are no discos with 30% of people under the effect of extasy, no poor areas where it is better not to venture at night, and there is nobody ready to carrot-chop the tourist.
I would say there is no reason to refrain from enjoying nightlife in Batam, and overall Batam is much less dangerous than most countries in the world, but care must be always exercised especially if one is not used to travel out of safe borders of Singapore. (this is not a warning for you, but for newbies)