I am back from Batam!!! Haha actually I've been back since sunday. But too lazy to post till now. Batam was fun!! It really was a super chillax holiday. We spent most of our time eating and lounging around soaking up the sun. That said, we didn't go to the beach once. Heh. Cos it was v far and transport is ex (prob jacked up for tourists) and we had nice pool(s) anyway. Do you know that batam is like many times the size of singapore? And the nice beach is at one end of it only. Before the trip I'd always imagined batam to be like a long stretch of beach. Which just goes to show how ignorant I am. Hmm.


Day 1: Got up at the crack of dawn, and took a $24 taxi ride to harbourfront. Mich and I saw the western stall ladies at the ferry waiting area!! With two little girls! Haha wonder what they were doing together. The ferry ride wasn't long but the waiting time was. When we got to Holiday Inn we couldn't check in immediately, so we went in search of lunch. The whole area was kind of deserted. There were rows of shops, but like 9/10 were closed, and the rest didn't look like that had much (if any) business. It was qt a nice change from the crowds in singapore actually. In the end we had zi char at this place by the sea. A v yummy lunch, and pretty cheap. After we checked in, we went swimming! (Floating around, actually.) They have qt a nice big pool with a slide and other smaller, adjoining pools. In the late afternoon we hired a minivan which would take us to wherever we wanted for four hours. We went first to the duty-free shop, which turned out to be v disappointing. It was a very tiny shop with hardly any alcohol. We bought 24 cans of beer (at abt 1.5/can!) and moved on to the city centre. The happiest thing there was A&W!!! Curly fries and root beer floats and waffles with icecream!! :):) Haha deprived s'poreans.





Day 2: Buffet breakfast!! Heee with lovely warm crepes with chocolate sauce and almonds. It was supposed to be our beach day, but we decided it was not worth the travelling. So we went to the sea sports centre, where we jetskiied. Heee. A bit scary at first. But fun!! We went round to the ships and other islands, and it was v exhilarating. Somehow the speed and the wind and the hot sun makes you damn happy. Heh. At the end I didn't brake in time though, so now I have a huge nasty bruise on my right leg. After that, we sneaked into the Harris pool. They have the coolest sunbeds! And the Harris ppl were so nice! They brought us wet towels and some snacks and after that we felt damn bad. So we grabbed lunch then went back to Holiday Inn, and spent the rest of the afternoon at the Holiday Inn pool. It was v nice. We just alternately swam and lounged on the deck chairs, and by abt 4 the weather was perfect - not too hot, with a slight breeze. Heee. And we all fell asleep. That night, we went back to the same place (that we went to for lunch on the first day) for seafood! Hee eat until damn shiok. Pepper crab, chilli crab, steamed crab, calamari, prawns, fried rice... feel like eating now. And after our meal one of the ladies there (I think the owner) offered to give us a ride back to our hotel (and mich v quickly and eagerly accepted). This is what I call service. :)

Day 3: Buffet breakfast again, and then we packed up and left. Went early to the duty free shop at the ferry terminal and we all bought kueh lapis. Haha. It's much cheaper in Batam (abt 1/3 the price) and as yummy!! Qt useful also; in the ferry we stacked up our kueh lapis to use as a table on which we played cards. Heee.

(Some of the above photos are from mich & chengying. More on facebook!)

I played mj at limin's house today and I finally broke my losing streak!!! Heee we only played 10-20 so I won $5. Qt insignificant BUT it means my bad luck in mj is over! :)

Lalala. I want a new wardrobe.

I'm beginning to tire of the holidays. Sad but true.

The activities are fun, but whenever I'm not out I'm bored, and when I'm bored the only thing I can muster interest in is Vogue. Lots of pretty pictures to accompany the words (which are of greater quantity, and in smaller print, than one would expect). There're books to read, but the good parts generally only come later, and frankly I don't have the energy to plough through the necessary but boring bits.

Sigh. Lost $25 in one short round of mj, and I resolved not to play again (at least for this hols), but my resolve lasted a mere three days, and I'm set to play again next week. -_- Goodbye, summer sales. :(:(