Travelling Batam Indonesia

AS1

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If I remember correctly, around 80% or more of Batam shops will shut down during cny period as they are majority chinese owned. But that was years ago. Maybe now more challenging times, should have more shops open.
 

invisible999

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If I remember correctly, around 80% or more of Batam shops will shut down during cny period as they are majority chinese owned. But that was years ago. Maybe now more challenging times, should have more shops open.

I would assume that shops will be open on 15th and spas on 16th...
 

testerjp

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If I remember correctly, around 80% or more of Batam shops will shut down during cny period as they are majority chinese owned. But that was years ago. Maybe now more challenging times, should have more shops open.
of course open, you can go to shopping mall, barelang bridge, massage, seafood hunting.
its better you can on CNY, than Idul fitri, because many shops will open. if idul fitri, many shops will close, and many people go to "mudik" (back to their home town)

One say open, the other say not open. :o

Anyway, anybody knows sports massage open on CNY or not?
Their email, facebook, all not working.

What's their operating hour?
One page says Mon to Friday, another page says open everyday. :o
 

buns57

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Hi everyone, need some help. have never been to Batam before, planning a trip with my aunt this weekend. Have done some research, would like to stay near the BCC hotel and explore the food stalls and wet market in its vicinity.
1. is this a safe area for just my aunt and i to walk on foot?
2. are there recommendations for trustworthy batam drivers?
3. Is the BCC hotel an acceptable place to stay or there are better choices in the area?

All advise will be greatly appreciated. Thx v m.
 

testerjp

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The food stalls between bcc and bcs mall is not cheap and not nice. I saw alot of tour guides bringing Sinkies there to tio chop. And it's very messy, hard to order. I suggest spending 3 hrs at bcs mall at most, eat ayam penyet at the mall.

Download my blue bird app take the blue bird metered taxi if possible. The street side taxi work s a cartel and overcharge but you will hv to take them from harbour and shopping malls. You can take bluebird if you walk to those hotel lobby that is at least 1 Street away.
 

Delsamor

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Hi everyone, need some help. have never been to Batam before, planning a trip with my aunt this weekend. Have done some research, would like to stay near the BCC hotel and explore the food stalls and wet market in its vicinity.
1. is this a safe area for just my aunt and i to walk on foot?
2. are there recommendations for trustworthy batam drivers?
3. Is the BCC hotel an acceptable place to stay or there are better choices in the area?

All advise will be greatly appreciated. Thx v m.

Batam is safe, walked alone in the middle of the night from road side to back alley. Just many motorbike driver will ask if u want girl. BCC area boring, stay near Nagoya hills better, got shopping, food,massage,spa,ktv,night club,farm all around that area. U don’t even need to get out of Nagoya if this is your first time.
 

nicwong7

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sounds reli risky to take grab w/o knowing the terrains there...

any advice or tip in getting one safely? :s11:

Just came back from batam and i just want to share some experience. If u have read advices from forums you will know that you can only grab *a distance away outside of malls and popular areas. I tried this method and i still had difficulties grabbing due to the red zones where grab taxis cannot reach. On all grabs, i have to walk about 5 mins out of the red zone to meet the grab driver, he will either call u or message u to move to a certain location or simply tell u to cancel booking.

*the trick to get grab is for you to walk to the grab car first before u BOOK instead of booking first and letting the grab driver come to u. This will ensure a smooth pick up.


My advice(5 min before u want to move off)
1. Open grab app
2. Look at the grab cars nearest to u that are not moving(they are waiting for business) they are alot of grab cars not moving
3. U can either manually put ur pick up location just beside the grab car and press book and start walking there. Or. u can walk to the grab car and press book.
4. If ur hotel is Not near a popular area.example allium hotel. Just grab from ur hotel. If u stay at nagoya hill hotel i think u better off doing step 1 to 3.
5. I tried to grab from a hotel once which failed because its still in the red zone where its near a seafood area. So still do step 1 to 3.

Why u want to to do this is because we will never know where is their so called red zones. But the location where the grab cars are located on the grab app, should be free from the zones already.

Good luck and i hope u can grab smoothly like i did as grabing saves alot of money as it is only 90cents sgd everytime within nagogo hill area to seafood areas(choose grab car) . If its much further i think max is about 3 dollars.

Also i suggest NOT to grab when u just arrived at ferry. Just spend that 5 to 8 dollar to reach ur hotel safely as the local taxis are aggressive at the ferry and may even follow u behind because they know u are gonna find a grab.

Cheers
 

nicwong7

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i tot the "cars" in grab app only for show niah... alw got many at ur pickup pt but when u book they assign driver far far away from u....

Yes that might happen haha, v hard to say ehich driver is assigned to u. But the main idea is to walk away from the red zones first which is the main and only problem for grabbing in batam. When u see no grab car at ur position(mall/seafoodplace/ferry) .. Its a huge probability u are stepping on red zone already, booking from ur location will eventually fail.

Where the grab cars park their cars, are usually the green zones. Green zones could be just opposite the mall, or could be sloghtly further.*green zone are locations that do not have local taxis around.*red zone is where got local taxis around and they can call police to chase away grab cars.
(u might be suprized alot of the cars u see on the app is not driving.. Waiting/rejecting us Because we always fail to be in green zones)

Doesnt matter which driver is assign to u eventually as they will be able to pick u up if u walked into their green zones.
 

rrr2015

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anything interesting around batam center? (tried nagoya & BCS liao) interested in local food or any other stuffs i can't find in SG ... thanks! :)
 

AS1

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I just use blue bird there. very safe as the drivers are protected by their own union. As long pick up point is hotel lobby and places where got security guard in vicinity. They can drop off anywhere.
 

finalforce

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Hello

Would like to ask for some clarifications. I have booked using Qoo10, tickets to Batam in March. It tells me to collect boarding pass 1-hr before departure time.

Does that mean that I can collect from now until then, and then just be at the terminal 30mins before departure?

Thanks!

Edit: Also, can bring >100ml alcohol across? I bought some duty free last time that I want to bring over to drink
 

Bagaz31

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I think you can go to legenda malaka food court, there angkringan food, sea food and some indo traditional food.
The place is around 20 minute from batam centre port.

anything interesting around batam center? (tried nagoya & BCS liao) interested in local food or any other stuffs i can't find in SG ... thanks! :)
 

ltrista2001

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May I know wat is the rate from batam centre terminal to Nagoya hill mall ? Where to grab car for BC terminal ? Thanks
 

curo

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Staying at radisson now. Book blue bird cab via apps at the nearby kepri mall. End up like grab they also cannot go in and pick us up. And when alight at Bcs, they cannot go in too.

So the conclusion is stay near Nagoya or Bcs. Don’t stay too far out.

All Malls have to take their own cab unless you willing to walk out or to their “green zone”
 

rrr2015

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thanks ... angkringan food sounds new to me!
I think you can go to legenda malaka food court, there angkringan food, sea food and some indo traditional food.
The place is around 20 minute from batam centre port.
 
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