Batam Trip Day 2 巴淡岛旅游第2天

After a hectic first day in Batam, we were exhausted and woke up late the following morning. Our kinsmen had to hurry us to go for breakfast.

We were the last two hotel guests having breakfast at their coffee house. LOL ..... Batam time is one hour behind Singapore, their breakfast starts at Singapore time 6 am. They were going to close the breakfast counter and prepare for lunch buffet.

Fortunately we still have some time for a quick breakfast and there were chefs available to cook a bowl of steaming hot ayam mee soto (chicken noodle) or fry pancakes and omelettes. Our kinsmen kept us company while we ate.

After breakfast, a few of us spent some time taking pictures on the hotel terrace and lobby before our coach arrived to send us to the ferry terminal. It was a sunny and breezy morning, we could see the city in the distant. Nice to know there is an outdoor swimming pool below the hotel.

Our coach picked us up at 11 am. It was a short ride to the ferry terminal as there was no traffic jam. Our ferry would depart at 12.50 pm, we still had more than an hour to while away. Our kinsmen preferred to wait in the ferry terminal.

Hubby suggested going for A&W fast food as he misses the rootbeer float, waffle with ice cream and curly fries. So we crossed the connecting overhead bridge next to the Immigration Office at Batam Centre Ferry Terminal and arrived at Mega Mall Batam Center. The fast food restaurant is on the ground level.

Finally hubby has his fix of the fast food he was craving for. Since the closure of this fast food restaurant in Singapore, we could only taste their signature items when we are in Jakarta and Bangkok.

We went back to the ferry terminal after our meal as the shops in the mall were not tempting enough to make us shop. We checked in and needed to clear Immigration, but were horrified to see a loooong snaking queue with only 3 counters opened. Oops.... we had only 25 minutes before the ferry departs.

We were worried we might miss our ferry. Many people in the queue were fidgeting too. Nobody dared to complain nor make noise as there was a notice that says "Silent - no talking." We heard that visitors get fined for disobeying this rule.

Finally we cleared Immigration with only 5 minutes to board our ferry back to Singapore. We heaved a sigh of relief once we were on board the ferry. Our kinsmen were getting worried for us as they had to go through the long queue at Immigration too.

Farewell Batam! We will be back soon.

在巴淡岛度过忙碌的第一天 , 第二天睡到自然醒已经不早了。乡亲们开始担心, 打电话催我们去吃早餐。哈哈 。。。我们是团里的年轻人! 还好有点时间, 酒店餐厅要准备自助午餐了, 食物所剩不多, 快快拿了一些可以填饱肚子的。

吃过早餐, 就与两位乡亲们在酒店阳台欣赏风景, 还有拍照留作纪念。

上午11点，出发去码头, 酒店安排车送我们去。我们的船大概一点才开, 看看时间，还是很早。轮渡码头有一座连廊通向对面商场, 我先生提议去商场吃久违的A&W快餐。

乡亲们不去, 我们两通过高架天桥直达商场, 十分便利。在快餐店里吃完东西, 商场的店面都不能引发我的购物欲, 匆匆赶回轮渡码头。却没料到移民厅大排长龙, 只有三个人在工作。我们开始担心赶不上回家的轮渡。 幸好我们能顺利过关, 只剩五分钟就开船。

回家了！结束了两天一夜的巴淡岛之旅！

Weekend Getaway at Tanjung Balai - Day 2

We woke up very early for breakfast at the hotel's tiny cafe. There were fried noodles and savoury porridge cooked by the hotel owner's wife. We could also request for soft boiled eggs.

After breakfast, we hired a car to bring us to the largest local wet market. The 3-storey building houses two levels of stalls selling dried goods, spices, poultry, meat, seafood, fruits and vegetable, with a cooked food centre on the third level.

My friend wanted to buy some salted fish, petai, passionfruits and snake skin fruits (buah salak). We saw some interesting fruits and vegetables available only in Indonesia. We couldn't understand the names in Bahasa Indonesia. hehe....

My friend bought some small salak fruits which I find expensive. We then drove around the city looking for fruits but to no avail, many street stalls and shops were not opened for business yet.

We decided to go to a local Guanyin temple as it's the Bodhisattva's Leaving Home Day celebration. The guys paid S$2 for the incense offerings. After prayers, we were treated to a scrumptious vegetarian meal cooked by the abbot of the temple. The locals were hospitable and kept piling us with food and drinks. They probably felt honoured to have overseas visitors.

As we were leaving the temple, we noticed a swallow house opposite it. There are quite a number of swallow houses on the island, we found them in the city and in the villages.

Our driver lamented that there were much lesser swallows on the island. His family owns a swallow house and a few years ago, they could collect 10 kg of unprocessed bird's nest per month but now, they would be lucky to collect 1 kg every 6 months.

 
We proceeded to look for food stuff to buy. My friend finally found some big salaks. I am surprised to see that they grow in clusters.

I saw a shop selling Indonesian products and bought some cakes and fish crackers to bring back to Singapore.

The delicious fish crackers didn't make it to Singapore. They were devoured on Indonesia waters on our way home by ferry. hahaha....

Weekend Getaway to Tanjung Balai - Day 1

Took a 1.5 hour ferry ride to Pulau Tanjung Balai (37 km south-west of Singapore) for a short trip with a friend. We stayed at a local hotel near the ferry terminal. Our simple room comes with a double bed and a single bed, cost S$25 including breakfast.

Our first meal after checking in was pork rib soup (bak kut teh) with offals at a local coffee shop. I ordered a pork rib noodle soup which was quite yummy. The meal for four with drinks cost S$20.

We went on a tour of the neighbourhood where our hotel was located. Our friend who is a regular visitor to the island, introduced us to many of his local friends who welcomed us warmly.

Glad to discover that these new friends are Teochews and we could communicate in Teochew to the locals to get around the place.

Two hours later, we went back to the hotel's tiny cafe for chilled drinks and called for delivery of lunch which were stir fried wild boar with ginger and  fish lips cooked in a spicy, sour gravy. Oh my, the gelatinous fish lips was so tender.... tastes better than sea cucumber. That was a fabulous lunch. *burp*

After a short rest in our rooms, we set off to the mountains in a hired car to find the waterfall - Air Terjun Pongkar @ Gunung Jantan. It was a good 40 minutes car ride from our hotel and another 45 minutes hike up a steep and overgrown, neglected trail to the (disappointing) waterfall. No way we were taking a dip in the polluted pool.

There were steps leading to the peak of the mountain but we decided to forego the climb as the railings were rusty. We took some photos and descended.

Got into our car and ended at the quiet Pongkar beach. Several kampung chickens and a stray cat kept us company while we enjoyed the clear blue sky and windy breeze, snacking on kueh lapis and delicious fish crackers.

Three children came by on their motorcycles. The two cyclists looked no more than 12. Public transport is limited, the locals travel by motorcycles.

We returned to the hotel for a nap before dinner at a local Chinese restaurant, Fuji Seafood Restaurant.

The fried bee hoon by the elderly mother of the restaurant's boss was impressive. The locally manufactured bee hoon was smooth and springy. The three of us finished that basin of fried bee hoon!

The 1.5 kg crunchy shrimps were bought fresh off a fishing boat around three o'clock that afternoon. I could eat the shells as well. The hot plate deer meat is a rare dish. The meat of the Sumatran wild deer was imported.

The restaurant was not crowded, so the boss and his widowed mother kept us company as we ate. We listened to the stories of their struggles and hardship in Indonesia and how they built up their business. The boss introduced his family members to us. He spoke proudly of his eldest son who is studying in a university in Surabaya.    

He even showed us his private collection of bonsai which he created. He used to display them in his restaurant until people climbed over his fence in the middle of the night to steal his treasured creations. I was awed by two mango trees in his garden which have braided trunks..... his artwork. haha....  the burly, tough guy is so talented.

I don't know how much the dinner cost because my friend paid for it. It was a wonderful dinner.

We returned to the hotel and spent some time chit-chatting and drinking with the locals before retiring to our rooms.