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.