BATAM & HOW TO GET THERE

There're as much as 6 or 7 ferry terminals in Batam but the 2 that will lead you to the action is Batu Ampar and Sekupang. Ferries depart daily from World Trade Centre and journey takes about 45-60min for both. Most prefer B.Ampar because of shorter traveling time ( 5-8min ) to Nagoya town where all the action are compare to Sekupang ( 20-25min to town ). But if you just miss the ferry & don't want to wait another hour or want a less
crowded ferry & terminal, you can take the one leaving for Sekupang about 20-30min later.

At WTC u can purchase a 2 ways ticket inclusive of seaport tax btw $20 - $26 just half an hour before departure, give yourself an hour if you're looking for a hotel/ferry package provided by the many tour agency here. Dino & Penguin are the prefer ferry operator here, we each bought a Penguin ticket($26) for the 11:15am ferry, later found there is another counter selling at $23, don’t know why.

Schedule of Penguin Ferry
SG to B.Ampar ( sg time )
0735/0850/0930/1015/1115/1250/1350/1450/1555/1655/1745/1825/1850/1925/ 2000/2045/2130

B.Ampar to SG ( Batam time ; sg:11:15am = btm:10:15am )
0650/0740/0910/1045/1140/1240/1345/1420/1545/1615/1710/1750/1840/1910/ 2010/2050/2130

HOTEL

here're some reasonable ferry/hotel package provide by Penguin:
Novotel / Harmoni - $98
Melia / Mandarin - $95
Royal / Oasis - $85
extension nite : $50-$65
Ask for a few dollars discount if you don't intend to use their bus for pier to hotel transportation.

These are usually available even at last min on a busy Sat, becus most people will not opt for 4-5 stars hotel. I've tried melia, cool! But 1 plate of nasi goreng cost Rp35K !!!

Here're some 3 stars hotel info provided on courtesy of Bionic :

Singa : 0778 - 451919 ( $35 - $40 )
2000 : 0778 - 428483 ( $36 - $48 )
Rashinta : 0778-455888 ( $40 - $50 )

hotel rates are usually cheaper in weekday.

I choose Singa for this trip to cut some cost since we're letting the driver get some commission off our gals, but it surprise me as a pretty decent hotel, swimming pool, bathtub, fridge, big room with a blockbuster movie channel round the clock and a Jap AV channel. I rate it slightly better than our usual Hotel Pelangi at TP. It's better to
book a hotel in advance for weekend if you don't want to pay for a 4-5 stars hotel otherwise in weekday u can always walk in, lots of hotels & rooms, no problem at all.

DRIVER

I choose to use a driver this time because there're 3 of us plus gals total 6, so don't think we want be taking those 4 seater taxis that stink! furthermore we intend to check out a few places, so wanting to skip the usual "taxi ride to nearby hotel, go in take a pee & wait for taxi driver to disappear" stuff. Bionic recommend Osman (hp: 08127005498 ), a Malay chap that speak good English ! Overall we find his service good, his hand-phone always on to standby for us to call him should we run into any trouble, and he is very punctual! We arrive at B.Ampar around 11:15am Indo time and spotted him rite away, how smart for him to put on a bright red shirt holding a banner with my name written clearly on it.

For first timer or people who are not familiar with Batam, I strongly suggest u took one recommend by a friend, not just anyone from the arrival hall. If you're in a group, better still since you're giving him more commission to earn, just gave him anything and he will also accept. For my practice, how much you tip him depends on how much we use him & how much commission we let him earn. If just pier-gal-hotel, hotel-pier, he will also accept nothing for a group of 4 will already earn him 200K in gals' commission. But if you had him stay with you late into the night for disco/pubbing, be a bit generous lah. Be warned that some driver will also get commission from the money changer, restaurant, pub etc he bring you too.

I find most people choose not to use one, I respect their decision. Everyone spend their time there differently, so long you know how to get around safely, do what pleases you most. We're glad to have one this time as it rain heavily while we hop from joint to joint looking for our gals.

TRANSPORT & GETTING AROUND

Those 4-5 stars hotel cum ferry package usually provide free pick-up from pier with bus. If you don't like to share a vehicle with others, ask them to send a driver to pick u up. They are usually in uniform and can be easily recognized, they will also not pester you to pick a gal or go anywhere u don't want to. But the hotel will charge you about Rp20K
for pick-up at B.Ampar & Rp30K for Sekupang. There will be a lot of driver trying to pick you up outside the arrival hall, advice is don't choose from these, chances are you'll be press to choose a gal from joint that pay them higher commission or get rob. Walk outside & took a taxi to your hotel if you must. Be warn that some 3 stars or below hotel
do not have their vehicle & so might just ask a taxi off the street to pick you up.

The lau-jiao will usually book a hotel close to their favorite joint, so that after checking into the hotel, they can just walk to the joint to pick up a gal at Rp50K price lower. Or take a taxi to a nearby hotel close to the joint then walk in after the taxi disappear. I've done these too but if you're in the mood to go hunting from joint to joint, I'll either take a personal driver or one provided by the hotel.

Getting around is pretty easy if u don't have a personal driver. Taxis are available everywhere, walk out of the hotel & you can flag down one anytime. Travel anywhere within the town & to B.Ampar pier should cost you no more than Rp10K, ask the price first. You can also try bargaining hard to pay 5K if this is your cup of tea.

GALS

We check into the hotel first then went for lunch since most joint only open after 11/12noon indo time. We also do some shopping for necessities like condom/drinks/ciggi before we start our hunt at around 1pm. Here's the joint we checked out:

1) Sensasi ( I picked my gal #63 for Rp270K, saw a few chio one around but were all reserve, also saw a young pretty Chinese look-a-like that I might want to try on next trip, #20 and same price, mamasan said only arrive 4 days ago so dunno service good anot )
2) Legenda ( very dark , difficult to choose gal )
3 ) Crown ( horny-man pick his gal here at Rp260K )
4 ) Bovo ( classy place but ave gal is only so-so looking, the price here all **** up, good looker goin for Rp360, one PR going for 800K, **** gold better )
5 ) Titanic ( GreyK finally picked his gal #169 for Rp250K here )

we actually took 2 hours for gals sight-seeing, no real stunner encounter, maybe next trip we should start like this : Orkid, Queen, Dynasty, Alisan . Most joint are equip with KTV facility so u can actually ask a gal to sit with ya, tok cock, sing a song before u decide
to book her but drinks are not cheap. Typical price for a gal's booking range from Rp250K - Rp280K (with commission).

MISC INFO

The Nagoya downtown area is very compact, if I stay in an hotel there, usually I'll walk out of the hotel to get cheap food/drinks/snacks etc. Lots of local eating place around, just avoid side alley & be streetwise. A few eating place popular with Singaporean are:

A1 , Oki , Oke : like our newton circle hawker centre, I like it here. A meal of fish,prawn,veggi and tahu for 7 person cost only Rp145K plus another Rp50K for drinks.
Golden Prawn : a live seafood restaurant by the river, Kelong style.
Batam Kuring : Indonesian restaurant, cheap!

Over dinner at A1, we discuss what to do next, the gal as usual suggest going to disco like Planet / Ozone to pop some pills. But we're all thinking of arranging for a short time for tomorrow morning before we went back, later give up the idea as most gals will only be back quite late so too rush. Finally we went to Sensasi KTV as recommend by my gal,
there’re some singer there to kept you entertain until later at night where a fat guy & a sexy gal put up a dance show, stuff 10K into an Ang-Pao & flash it, the gal will come & lap you up before you slide it into her crotch. Total bill for the KTV session come up to Rp270K.

GETTIN BACK

There're ticket counters inside B. Ampar & Sekupang ferry terminals so you can always confirm at last min, just be there 30min before departure, there's a ferry leaving almost every hour. Your return ticket should be able to last 30 days and is usable at both B.Ampar & Sekupang (some said Waterfront city also can). I prefer to go to Sekupang if I'm coming back on Sunday to avoid the weekend crowd at B. Ampar, Rp15K is
enough for you to take a taxi from town to Sekupang.

SPENDING

There’re many variable cost here, it all depends on how you want to spend your money, like other Riau islands, $200 should be enough for most. The cheaper (nearer) ferry ticket will offset the more expensive gals, other spending is the same, you want comfort, u pay more. Batam is not more expensive than other Riau islands, but got more places to spend your money.

here's my spending for this trip with exchange rate at $1 = Rp5K :

ferry : $26 ( penguin )
hotel : $35 ( weekday rate at singa )
gal : $54 + $20 ( Rp270K + Rp100K tips with driver commission )
lunch : $ 4 ( Rp20K - bah kue teh at coffee shop )
snack : $10 ( Rp50K - room service in hotel )
dinner: $14 ( Rp70K - seafood at A1 )
KTV : $20 ( Rp90K + Rp10K tips )
super : $ 5 ( Rp25K - room service in hotel )
driver: $14 ( Rp70K - tips )
ciggi : $ 4 ( Rp20K for 4 packs of luckies )
condom: $ 4 ( Rp20K for a pack of 12s )
drinks: $ 4 ( Rp20K - bought in supermarket )

TOTAL : $214