a labour day trip to Batam, organised by the Family Court. i was psyco-ed by the people to go, and since i am free, why not? it's a one day trip, with seafood lunch plus city tour for $60 only.

i exchanged SGD$50 to Rupiah 327,000 just one day before the trip. haha. and so, we're supposed to meet 7am at Harbourfront. it's a weekend + public holiday and so our boss wanted us to be there 1.5 hour before departure to avoid the crowd.

but we're still stuck in the crowd anyway =/ the queue was much more scary than last year i went. haha. scanned through our passport and went through the gate...

and suddenly i heard someone called my name!! i turned and it was Sangeetha!! haha. she was working as the immigration officer. and she looked so cool with the uniform. awww, i love uniform xD

while waiting for our ferry gate to be opened...

Fiona, Hui Ting and me & Lisa, Fiona and me.

me and Fiona vs me and Hui Shan.

oh Hui Shan was the ex-staff in my Finance Department. she quitted and i replaced her position. haha. we hit it off quite well, and together we were complaining on her ex-supervisor who are my current supervisor!! one of the main reason she quitted was because of HER!!!!! oh my, i hope i can survive for at least a year!!

the Family Courts colleagues!!

we waited for super long for the gate to open. and once it was opened, those kiasu people just chiong for it. haha. and it's a free seating, everybody will be fighting for seats.

and we were the group of silly one who chose to sit on top, the open area. we thought of enjoying the sea breeze. but who knows it turned out to be so hot. we waited for like 30 minutes for the ferry to start moving, everyone was perspiring and complaining why wasn't there any wind?!

and when the ferry finally started, the side of the boat blocked our wind, we have to move further out to feel the wind.

playing paparazzi!!!~

wind + sun combination!

and yay! finally we reached Batam Ferry Terminal. i'm back at Batam again!!!! we queued the super long queue to get our passport stamped, and out to meet our tour guide for the day.

there's no such shops at the ferry terminal the previous time i came

the first station, they brought us to buy Keropok! lol. the salesperson there were all hardsell their fish/prawn/sotong crackers. they sold all kind of crackers. so i 意思意思 buy some back too. don't wanna leave the place empty-handed =/

next, the tour guide brought us to have masssage at Batam very famous Reflexology Therapy Massage & Family Relaxing Centre. i did not go for it as it costed S$22, and i only exchanged S$50 =X so majority did not go, the whole bus only 5 people went for it =D

so while waiting for them to finish the whole entire massage session for 1.5 hours, the driver drove us to 1st Factory Outlet and Batam City Square for shopping

this place sold the clothes all so expensive. not worth buying!~

after that, we finally went to Batam City Square. we have 1 hour to shop there. actually there's nothing much to buy there, we just did some random shopping. i bough a small bottle of nail polish back xD

left the shopping mall and went to fetch the massaging people. haha. after that we were brought to some dried grocery store. most people chose to stay inside the bus for the air-con. Fiona and me went down too see see. we went around sampling food. haha. sample food no need money xD

all the preserved and dried food.

we went Golden Prawn 555 for our seafood lunch. the place looked like a cottage hut, so villlage feel. and they have all sort of seafood.

i think the best food was the fried squid. haha. i didn't eat the prawn, it was so mini small. don't wanna waste time removing the shell, later removed the shell, the prawn became shrimp. haha. no point eating that.

the flower crab wasn't that bad. just that the crab don't have super huge pincers. the flower crab pincer so skinny. haha. i stopped eating crab when my crab flew away from my plate =X haha. so pai seh!~

and and and... the drinks! their coconut was very huge! got some was even bigger than my head. haha. i don't really like coconut water, so i drank coke! for those who drank coconut, they were complaining that they looked as if they were drinking soup! haha. tooooo big already!

coconut vs coke!

and next, it was shopping time! they brought us to 2 shopping mall before we left for home. the first one, we went Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall. most of them went for manicure and pedicure, i went shopping with Hui Ting instead. haha. i bought a shirt at Rp95,000.

and so when most of them were done with their nails, it was almost time for our next shopping centre.

our last shopping trip at Batam Centre. i realised the time they gave for the last shopping mall was too short. by the time we settled our dinner, there's no time for us to shop already.

walked for awhile before deciding to settle our dinner at Gadeno. haha. their pan pizza was extremely cheap. it was only Rp5,000 (S$0.70) for a normal pan pizza?! haha.

in the end, Lisa, Hui Ting and me decided to share on Double Set B with 2 pan pizza, 1 Spaghetti, Garlic bread and 2 Coke for Rp60,000 (S$9.20). while Fiona, Hui Ping and Xue Li on the other table ordered separate things.

our dinner.

anyway, their service wasn't very good. they had difficulty understanding what we were talking about. our food came pretty fast. but Xue Li's spaghetti came very slow. by the time we finished our food, her spaghetti was not served yet. and we were running out of time.

and so, the 3 of us decided to settle our bill and do our last minute shopping. i still have alot Rupiahs left, and i don't want to bring them back to Singapore. we called for bill for like 3 times, but still no one came. in the end, we fed up and walked towards the counter to pay the bill. so irritated.

yay, so the 3 of us went off and running like mad to find for anything to buy. the other 3 still inside the restaurant settling their food and bill. Xue Li in the end cancelled her order. poor girl!~ and she chiong to supermarket to buy chicken essense. lol.

i have no idea what to buy, so i just randomly picked a hat for Rp90,000. it was pretty pretty hat okay!

back to our bus and off we go to the Ferry Terminal. i don't know why but everyone was running like mad. running round and round the zig-zag queue when there's only 2 people in the queue?! we were all carrying big bag small bag and run. looked pretty lame when the gate wasn't opened at all!! HAHA.

the hat that i bought at the very last minute!

me, Lisa, Huiping, Xue Li and Fiona.

so tiring, and we slept throughout the journey back to HarbourFront. and i wanted to salute to Fiona.. okay, when we reached Harbourfront and people were pushing their way out, there's this auntie who were pushing Xue Li at the back. Fiona just turned back and said, 后面的auntie, 你可以不要一直推我的朋友吗？(the auntie behind, can you stopped pushing my friend?) wow, Fiona is my idol now!!~ power

anyway, Lisa and me got quite some money left, so we tried to change it back to Singapore dollars. i managed to get back $10.60 (just a loss of $0.20 nia) and Lisa got back like $24. haha. so happy~ i only spent $40 in Batam. LOL

and took bus back.... HOME SWEET HOME! so tired after a one full day trip. and what's more the 3 shopping mall they brought us, Lisa and me went before last year already =X hahaha. luckily i only exchanged $50, Batam wasn't a good shopping place. i still prefer Bangkok. it's a shopping paradise with good bargain!~

one day i must try zhuhai! i heard it's as good as BKK shopping xD

Labels: colleagues, friends, overseas trips, shopping, sunny

a labour day trip to Batam, organised by the Family Court. i was psyco-ed by the people to go, and since i am free, why not? it's a one day trip, with seafood lunch plus city tour for $60 only.

i exchanged SGD$50 to Rupiah 327,000 just one day before the trip. haha. and so, we're supposed to meet 7am at Harbourfront. it's a weekend + public holiday and so our boss wanted us to be there 1.5 hour before departure to avoid the crowd.

but we're still stuck in the crowd anyway =/ the queue was much more scary than last year i went. haha. scanned through our passport and went through the gate...

and suddenly i heard someone called my name!! i turned and it was Sangeetha!! haha. she was working as the immigration officer. and she looked so cool with the uniform. awww, i love uniform xD

while waiting for our ferry gate to be opened...

Fiona, Hui Ting and me & Lisa, Fiona and me.

me and Fiona vs me and Hui Shan.

oh Hui Shan was the ex-staff in my Finance Department. she quitted and i replaced her position. haha. we hit it off quite well, and together we were complaining on her ex-supervisor who are my current supervisor!! one of the main reason she quitted was because of HER!!!!! oh my, i hope i can survive for at least a year!!

the Family Courts colleagues!!

we waited for super long for the gate to open. and once it was opened, those kiasu people just chiong for it. haha. and it's a free seating, everybody will be fighting for seats.

and we were the group of silly one who chose to sit on top, the open area. we thought of enjoying the sea breeze. but who knows it turned out to be so hot. we waited for like 30 minutes for the ferry to start moving, everyone was perspiring and complaining why wasn't there any wind?!

and when the ferry finally started, the side of the boat blocked our wind, we have to move further out to feel the wind.

playing paparazzi!!!~

wind + sun combination!

and yay! finally we reached Batam Ferry Terminal. i'm back at Batam again!!!! we queued the super long queue to get our passport stamped, and out to meet our tour guide for the day.

there's no such shops at the ferry terminal the previous time i came

the first station, they brought us to buy Keropok! lol. the salesperson there were all hardsell their fish/prawn/sotong crackers. they sold all kind of crackers. so i 意思意思 buy some back too. don't wanna leave the place empty-handed =/

next, the tour guide brought us to have masssage at Batam very famous Reflexology Therapy Massage & Family Relaxing Centre. i did not go for it as it costed S$22, and i only exchanged S$50 =X so majority did not go, the whole bus only 5 people went for it =D

so while waiting for them to finish the whole entire massage session for 1.5 hours, the driver drove us to 1st Factory Outlet and Batam City Square for shopping

this place sold the clothes all so expensive. not worth buying!~

after that, we finally went to Batam City Square. we have 1 hour to shop there. actually there's nothing much to buy there, we just did some random shopping. i bough a small bottle of nail polish back xD

left the shopping mall and went to fetch the massaging people. haha. after that we were brought to some dried grocery store. most people chose to stay inside the bus for the air-con. Fiona and me went down too see see. we went around sampling food. haha. sample food no need money xD

all the preserved and dried food.

we went Golden Prawn 555 for our seafood lunch. the place looked like a cottage hut, so villlage feel. and they have all sort of seafood.

i think the best food was the fried squid. haha. i didn't eat the prawn, it was so mini small. don't wanna waste time removing the shell, later removed the shell, the prawn became shrimp. haha. no point eating that.

the flower crab wasn't that bad. just that the crab don't have super huge pincers. the flower crab pincer so skinny. haha. i stopped eating crab when my crab flew away from my plate =X haha. so pai seh!~

and and and... the drinks! their coconut was very huge! got some was even bigger than my head. haha. i don't really like coconut water, so i drank coke! for those who drank coconut, they were complaining that they looked as if they were drinking soup! haha. tooooo big already!

coconut vs coke!

and next, it was shopping time! they brought us to 2 shopping mall before we left for home. the first one, we went Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall. most of them went for manicure and pedicure, i went shopping with Hui Ting instead. haha. i bought a shirt at Rp95,000.

and so when most of them were done with their nails, it was almost time for our next shopping centre.

our last shopping trip at Batam Centre. i realised the time they gave for the last shopping mall was too short. by the time we settled our dinner, there's no time for us to shop already.

walked for awhile before deciding to settle our dinner at Gadeno. haha. their pan pizza was extremely cheap. it was only Rp5,000 (S$0.70) for a normal pan pizza?! haha.

in the end, Lisa, Hui Ting and me decided to share on Double Set B with 2 pan pizza, 1 Spaghetti, Garlic bread and 2 Coke for Rp60,000 (S$9.20). while Fiona, Hui Ping and Xue Li on the other table ordered separate things.

our dinner.

anyway, their service wasn't very good. they had difficulty understanding what we were talking about. our food came pretty fast. but Xue Li's spaghetti came very slow. by the time we finished our food, her spaghetti was not served yet. and we were running out of time.

and so, the 3 of us decided to settle our bill and do our last minute shopping. i still have alot Rupiahs left, and i don't want to bring them back to Singapore. we called for bill for like 3 times, but still no one came. in the end, we fed up and walked towards the counter to pay the bill. so irritated.

yay, so the 3 of us went off and running like mad to find for anything to buy. the other 3 still inside the restaurant settling their food and bill. Xue Li in the end cancelled her order. poor girl!~ and she chiong to supermarket to buy chicken essense. lol.

i have no idea what to buy, so i just randomly picked a hat for Rp90,000. it was pretty pretty hat okay!

back to our bus and off we go to the Ferry Terminal. i don't know why but everyone was running like mad. running round and round the zig-zag queue when there's only 2 people in the queue?! we were all carrying big bag small bag and run. looked pretty lame when the gate wasn't opened at all!! HAHA.

the hat that i bought at the very last minute!

me, Lisa, Huiping, Xue Li and Fiona.

so tiring, and we slept throughout the journey back to HarbourFront. and i wanted to salute to Fiona.. okay, when we reached Harbourfront and people were pushing their way out, there's this auntie who were pushing Xue Li at the back. Fiona just turned back and said, 后面的auntie, 你可以不要一直推我的朋友吗？(the auntie behind, can you stopped pushing my friend?) wow, Fiona is my idol now!!~ power

anyway, Lisa and me got quite some money left, so we tried to change it back to Singapore dollars. i managed to get back $10.60 (just a loss of $0.20 nia) and Lisa got back like $24. haha. so happy~ i only spent $40 in Batam. LOL

and took bus back.... HOME SWEET HOME! so tired after a one full day trip. and what's more the 3 shopping mall they brought us, Lisa and me went before last year already =X hahaha. luckily i only exchanged $50, Batam wasn't a good shopping place. i still prefer Bangkok. it's a shopping paradise with good bargain!~

one day i must try zhuhai! i heard it's as good as BKK shopping xD

Labels: colleagues, friends, overseas trips, shopping, sunny