BATAM DAY 2

Before checking out from Hotel Nagoya Plasa


The streets of Batam on a Sunday


Last kopek before we leave Batam


See how the waiter balances the pile of dishes


'Mak Ateh' and not 'Mahathir' eating house!


The street to Pasar Nagoya


We ended up buying these giant bags


Buy my honey with your money


Mingling with the locals in playing chess


Looking at the watches


Idham truly satisfied with his $2 haircut


Traditional kueh for sale - same like ours


Choosing the young 'petai'


Selling and cleaning up chickens for sale

Beside a fruit stall in the market

All you need for rendang and opor is here!

Sorting kampung eggs into different sizes

Must teach the men the name of the greens

RETAIL THERAPY AND SPA

Click on the video 'HUJAN' by Sudirman before proceeding to read.

After a mixture of eastern and western breakfast, complimentary of the hotel, we collectively agreed to venture to Pasar Nagoya for a wet market experience. It was a short 500 m distance walk from the hotel with plenty of stopovers to distract you. There were shops selling 'Carlo Rino', 'Gucci' and 'Guess' bags, watches, clothings and convenient stores where you can grab snacks as souvenirs for your kampung folks back home.

Since it was a Sunday, most shops were either closed or opened late and the streets were still deserted. I had to get some herbal capsules for my brother-in-law but most of the jamu shops were not opened yet. After asking for some directions, we could detect the action on the street picking up as we neared the market. The market was flanked by rows of stalls selling local fruits, jeruk (pickled fruits), dried fish and cracker. And to our surprise turtle eggs were being sold, much to the delight of Idham who quickly suck a few. I love the smell of the half-boiled eggs but frankly, I had never mustered enough courage to try one yet.

We raided the wet market and haggled over the price of shallots, cili padi, petai, lime and dried chilly. We saw live chickens in cages waiting for customers and fresh kampung eggs to be packed for the housewives. There were stalls selling beef, mutton, fish, crabs, shellfish, dry stuff and traditional kueh. We couldn't care less if our shoes got wet and our feet feel mushy because this was a new experience for the four of us - urban concrete dwellers to market with the local who gleed at our antics in haggling in Bahasa Indonesia and buying by the tons. Typical of Singaporeans to shop like crazy everywhere they go on holidays around the globe! We were at the market for about an hour choosing and deciding on what to buy and how to ferry these items home. Finally, we ended up buying extra big bags to store those new purchases.

Idham went missing for a while. He came back with a trolley and that took a load of our effort in carrying all the things we had purchased. It seemed our shopping was not done for we ended up buying buah salak, dried anchovies and fresh huge mango and jeruk anggur bogor. As we turned a corner, we saw the jamu shops begin to open up for business. We were buying jamu and local Mustika Ratu products by the shelves because we werre milllionaires there with the conversion rate to our advantage.

At SGD2 for a haircut, Idham couldn't resist a haricut and had one - complete with his beard trimming and a head massage. My husband with his Houdini's disappearing acts would always report back and told me he had gone to the sticker shops, or observe the locals playing chess or checking out the watches on display. My Isa is into all these - always poking his nose and head at everything local, soaking himself with the atmosphere, disintrested by those actions glossed by the commercially tourism productions.

The ladies decided to treat themselves to a spa while the men would keep the things back in the hotel and head on their own agenda. The spa at Mustika Ratu cost us each 425000RP. We met the men again at Nagoya Hill Mall. They too had had a full body massage for 60000RP. The drizzle wet the dusty roads and washed away the soot that had stained them. The rain reminded me of the song sung by Sudirman -'Hujan'.

Though it was 3pm, none of us had had our lunch. Upon recommendation from the taxi driver, we went to 'Mak Ateh' nasi pading eating house. We thought it was 'Mahathir' and were wondering how Dr M had created a political ripple in Batam. We burst with laughter when we saw the big signboard at the eating house read as 'Mak Ateh' and not 'Mahathir'. Again, there was a spread of fifteen dishes to entice us.

We went for some more shopping at Batam City Square before we flagged for another taxi to the hotel. By then we needed some tea and dropped by at the satay corner beside the hotel. We had more satay and hot drinks and wonderfully tasted murtabak telor. It tasted like Roti John but the egg and flour crust was soft with small chunks of meat. Another out of this world experience! Must tapau (bring back) this home, I said to myself.

Our ferry would leave at 9.30pm. With the weekend getaway coming to an end, we packed our bags and called for a taxi around 7.30pm. We started with four bags but with a miracle, lugged home nine bags.

That was the reason why I mentioned earlier; the Batam trip had brought a new total experience for us!

Listen to Sudirman with 'Hujan' - Batam roads were given a bath by the rain/hujan.

BATAM DAY 1

With strollers - both are brothers

Idham trying out the raw duck yolk with tea.

The nasi goreng - Enak Sekali Dong!

Mee ayam dry with a separate bowl of soup

Mutton satay dipped with ABC black soya sauce

The rows of satay sellers. Juct pick your fave!

Idham and Siti. They made great company!

Clowning with street children

Nagoya Hill Mall - behind our hotel

At a card printing shop

Mee Bakso warong asongan vendor

At Puti Bongsi Eating House

Eeeni..Meeni..Mainee Moore.... 20 dishes to choose from

A cobbler to mend your shoes

A stamp maker waiting for customers

An es teller for me once I reached Batam

Blinded by shopping @ the 'Matahari' (Sun)

The two men ordering their Nescafe

The Batam that greeted me after 15 years

'MATAHARI' BLINDED ME!

Stepped on Batam soil after a hiatus of fiftteen years - the days when Zoo Station invaded our shoreline and one of the must place in Batam's itinerary was a stopover at its station. Batam Ferry Jetty was still in it's ramshackled condition and I remember vivdly how we had to carry Nizar strapped in his stroller, above our heads while Thaqif up on his father's shoulders to avoid being crushed by the melee of crowd leaving for Singapore.

We left as scheduled at 8.40 am ferry after making a fuss with the ferry operators. Siti's data was not captured on computer so she could not board with us although we had booked the tickets a week ahead. We insisted on leaving as the four musketeers and finally after throwing some tantrum and mama drama stunts, we got our wishes!

The ferry terminal had taken a complete make over since then. Things are more orderly and there is not much of a hassle in arrival now. Officers welcomed us with a smile and girls clad in batik kebaya invited us to their cafe. The four of us, together with Idham and Siti decided to steal the weekend for a short getaway to Batam, never expecting that we would come back with a totally different kind of experience!

Batam Mega Mall was still in a stupor state, with many shops still closed. We were too early for them, but not Matahari Department store. It was offering great discounts and all hell broke loose with Siti and I as we rummaged through the discounted items. Within ten minutes of arrival, Batam had swallowed me in with her shopping - log, stock and barrel. The husbands were sieving CDs for their music collection at a music store, from Marcell to Metallica and from Guns & Roses to Jonathan Butler.

We tried checking in at Nagoya Plasa at 1.30pm but our rooms were not ready yet. Leaving our baggages with them, we walked towards the nearby Putu Bongsu makan house. I had never been faced with a difficult decision to make - to choose what to start eating from twenty dishes laid in front of me! There was pangang chicken, steam and smoked chicken, chicken fried in batter, rendang chicken, chicken belado, chicken pecel - the same goes for the beef dishes too. The use of spice was mild and not overpowering. Rice was eaten dry with little gravy. But the extra 'kick' came from the green cili sambal.

I love a lot of herbs and spices in my cooking. The 'naked' meat nevertheless disappeared from our eyes as we tried plate after plate of the dishes. We believe in being adventurous with authentic cooking so a little adjustment to our taste buds would enrich our cuisine vocabulary and make us more appreciative of the local culture in cooking. We washed down our lunch with blended avocado mixed with coconut sugar.

After checking in and a quick washup, we walked a short distance to Nagoya Hill Plaza where 'Matahari' awaited us again. I snapped up about six blouses, taking advantage of their offers and currency exchange rate which had gone up - 1SGD to 800000RP. The retail theraphy was like a romance to me - taking me at a whirlwind speed and with love and buying at first sight.

Dinner was along a narrow street beside the hotel. See how convenient the location of the hotel is. The street was filled with vendors selling satay, seafood, egg martabak and mee ayam, bakso, mee pangsit, mee alim and jamu drinks. We tried the mutton and chicken satay dipped with specially prepared ABC black soya sauce mixed with cili padi and sliced onion and peanut sauce. Siti and Idham had mee ayam with bakso while my husband asked for fried rice.

The smoky atmosphere because of the rows and rows of 'pedagang asongan' (mobile vendors) couldn't stop us from enjoying our first night dinner alfresco style at Batam. One satay stick after another went into our mouth, alternating with mee ayam and the fried rice. Mee ayam was served dry with shredded chicken, cube mutton, fried shallots and spring onion. It's then tossed with special sauces and vinegar. You may ask for the bakso soup or its own soup to go along with it. The 'kemangi' leaf is eaten as a salad to it. The fried rice was not oily and in three letters - 'WOW!' For dessert we had Murtabak Manis - similar to Malaysia's kueh Pulau Pinang but it had shredded cheese topping the groundnuts.

The food was superb and the service was fast. Our standing ovation went to Idham for trying out milk tea with a raw duck yolk. We gave the thumbs up for the dinner and the 'Wak Satay.' It was cheap and fulfilled our desire to try real cooking of the local people. As the night crawled in and the street strewn with satay sticks and ketupat leaves, we contemplated of either watching a midnight movie or listening to some live music at our hotel.

We opted to check out the music scene but because the fairer sex was wearing the 'tudung' (scarf), we were barred from entering the disco by the bouncers. I bet they noticed our eye bags were getting puffier and heavier and thought that we might need our beauty sleep to prepare for ourselves for the next day's experience at Nagoya. The midnight show was forgotten and we decided that the body neeed some rest and the legs bellowed for some resting.

Does anyone know why this part of Batam is called Nagoya? Any connection to WW2 when the Japs attacked the region?

MUM, I 'BELANJA' YOU MAKAN

With Cik Gu Zaharah, Chef Bob's mum

The three guys who were my dinner dates

Mango and pineapple smoothies for us

Relax Mambo after a heavy meal

Dining outside the restaurant

The ever beautiful Cik Gu Zaharah

The humble Tom Yam is also served.

Surf and Turf for a whale's appetite

Sweet sour fish with rice

Till we meet again for another makan episode

Some gila time with the straws

Drink your milk - untainted with melamine

Waiting for restaurants to come up with this idea

A memory card holder

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WHEN MAMAK MEETS MAMA MIA

While doing some typing at school last Tuesday, my phone rang. The school holidays had already begun yet you would find me scuttling to school in between my shopping trip to JB. Call that passion for the job.

"I belanja you makan, mum", my son Nizar announced over the headset. My body went limp and my tongue hanged loose, nearly touching my neck. Not only was I already hungry, having skipped my lunch in order to maintain my figure after the birth of two sons but to hear his voice and asking me to join him for a makansutra outing is another ball game. I know.... some of you are laughing behind my back.... but to hear that invitation from your son who is serving Singapore faithfully and with full dedication and putting his life above everything else made my heart melt and ooze with love. My other son, Muhd Thaqif is also serving the country with full committment at Tekong, taking charge of new recruits everytime they cross the sea from Changi to Tekong. He is my other love, very quiet but always deep in thoughts.

I also know my son Nizar too well. If he says "I belanja' (spend) you makan", either his dad or I would have to fork out 50% of the bill. Father, son and nephew Hazim picked me up from school at 6.00pm. We decided to try out Chef Bob Scooter 'Asian Fare and Grill' at Simpang Bedok for a change. Instead of venturing to Beach Road and creating a din with the thumping of the sup tulang on the table, we orientated our car to travel east instead.

Bob used to be a TV star during his childhood and was often seen dancing and clowning in the Mat Yoyo episodes. Unfortunately on that day, he was out shooting for his cooking shows so we missed out on having his photos taken with us. We met his mum, Cik Gu Zaharah Salleh. She was behind the poetic voice of 'Ilham Pujangga' with Ismail Harun. She also happened to be a family friend and we got talking of some people whom we know in common. Click link to listen to the song.

http://www.imeem.com/bakawali/music/jULDErT6/ismail_haron_ilhampujangga/

The place was spacious and you can dine in or out. As I was having that unmentionable word the 'flu', I decided to sit outside, facing the road and watching the cars pass by and families streaming in for their dinner. My son tried the sea food platter, husband ordered the sweer sour fish with rice while the nephew was comfortable with cheese chicken macaroni.

There were other Asian fare you could choose from - Vietnamese Pho to Fried Rice or Mee. The great dame who initially wanted to look after her girth after giving birth, succumbed to a huge order of 'surf and turf' - steak with prawns, cuttlefish, wedges and salad. My diet plans had gone out of the window and I stubbornly refused to catch it.

The smoothies were authentic - jackfruit, mango and pineapple. Thick and delicious. The food was fresh and scored well in presentation. The taste was good too as I could see everyone ended up with cleaned plates. The price is another factor though. So as not to waste the food with the price on the mocca coloured menu cover, we stuffed ourselves till every morsel on the plate disappeared. I was struggling to devour mine. My strong pearly white canine weren't doing justice to the meat - a bit tough and dry so I offered my steak to everyone to help me finish my $26 worth of food.

I fell head over hill with the moss-green topping of Putri Salat - the topping was so lemak, creamy, soft and evil for the arteries. I scooped it with the spoon and it just slid down my throat smoothly. Sensational and heavenly delicious that my eyes rolled over, leaving me looking like Linda's Blair pupilless eyes in 'The Exorcist." The base of glutinous rice was also soft and sinfully 'lemak' - thanks to the fresh coconut milk generously used in the steaming of this traditional Malay dessert. It was served in a champange glass! Priced at $3.60.

The bill for four came to a whopping $100.80. A bit high for us cheapskates.....but if the son is paying 50%, why not? Anyway I felt like a true dame because the Filipina waitress kept addressing me as "Yes maam", "What would you like maam?" and "May I be of service to you, maam?". Won't your knees become wobbly and head swell triple its size? You hardly hear our local chaps in the service line muttering those words, do you? It is no wonder than our service industry is being replaced with a lot of foreign workers if our youngsters do not have the patience, determination, resillence and the GEMS quality to retain their customers and clients.

You want to know if we would make a come back? I think we would. I would like to try the Vietnamese Pho because I did not try this out while in HCMC (they use pork there) and I would definitely try their toast served with a difference. What's the difference you may ask? That's for you to find out and try. So if you need to pamper yourself or celebrate an occassion with your loved ones, head to Simpang Bedok and roost at Asian Fare and Grill for an unhurried dinner. It's best to go on weekdays so that the waitress can address you as "Maam" or if her mood is high "Your Royal Highness" too!