Take this opportunity to wish everyone in this thread and in Batam today, a happy and prosperous Chinese Lunar New Year.
Harbour front was so crowded like never before. I have never seen such enormous crowd over my past 5 years of CNY trips (5 consecutive year, i am in Batam during CNY time). Waiting in queue to scan my passport from the Singapore side took more than 40 mins reached and Horizon ferry delayed (other ferry companies as well),hehehe...1st time experience.
Once i reached Batam, all was back to norm. No queue from the Batam Harbour Bay side. Rejected taxi from Harbour Bay to hotel even tho signboard says 30k rupiah. Took the Zest Hotel taxi instead at 35k rupiah,hehehe...5k rupiah extra for peace of mind during CNY, its worth every bit.
(base on experience from last year CNY trip was that many taxis would start asking for 50k rupiah per trip)
Cheers!