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Published: January 28th 2008
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"Batam, is a very holey city", we were told on arrival into Indonesia with our good friend Tony. "Every road is covered in holes! hahaha" Tony exclaimed right afterwards.
We took the ferry from Singapore straight to Batam spur of the moment for a weekend getaway. We wanted a taste of third world country before Thailand, and before we knew it, we were right in the middle of it.
Once we exited the Batam Harbourfront, culture shock hit us with a strong force. We drove through the streets towards Batam Centre with Tony to translate for our taxi driver. As we gazed from inside our protected vessel we witnessed Indonesian life before our eyes. Roadside vendors infested the streets along with mopeds and dirt bikes. Families of 5 were packed onto tiny suzuki bikes while speeding through traffic at dangerous speeds. Chris and I looked on as beggars and locals slept on the side of the street just escaping from the blistering sun over them. We finally arrive at Hotel Horizona, our home for the next 24 hours. We got one of the largest suites in the place, overlooking the main road and with a huge airconditioner to fulfill all our
wildest dreams; it cost us 100,000 Rupiah each, ($10 CAN). Once we'd settled into our room we headed down to the lobby to meet Tony. He informed us that he'd bought the taxi for us for the entire day and Pah Ahndi, (our driver), would take us anywhere we wanted to go. We thanked Tony and hopped into the car. First, "City" we told Pah Ahndi, who we soon remembered didn't speak a word of english. Have you ever tried to translate english to someone who speaks only Indonesian? The two languages couldn't be closer polar opposites and trying to explain to our driver that we wanted the 'City Centre' was a task that was finding itself to be much more difficult than we had hoped. Pah Ahndi after five straight minutes of idling in the car, making up signs, finally exclaimed 'Aaah. City!" and jumped on the gas pedal. We were off.
Wanting to drive through Indonesia is death wish in itself. Taking a taxi is not quite as bad because you've entrusted your life to someone you assume has gotten used to the insane road rage and lack of street signs and lights. Mopeds and motorbikes are constantly
pulling infront of you and a horn is a used more often than your break lights. Chris and I sat in the back of the car staring out of our windows at the broken villages, holding onto the seats of the car...did I mention the car have no back seatbelts?
After about an hour of driving towards what looked like the middle of nowhere we tapped Pah Ahndi on the back and attempted to ask him where the hell we were headed. He looked at us blankly and then reassured us that he was taking us to where we really wanted to go. Chris and I looked nervously at one another wondering whether we really wanted to go to where we really wanted to go anymore.
Another hour had passed and we were still driving. Now we were really in the no man's land and it was only every ten minutes that we would see road side vendors selling chips or pop on from their beat-up little trailers. Pah Ahndi said "10 more minutes", and we were relieved to hear something we actually understood.
When we arrive Chris and I looked at each other and laughed. Pah Ahndi had driven
us two hours to an abandoned temple where all there was were old, deteriorated statues and a number of weak-looking stray dogs. We had no idea where it is we were. We looked around and returned to find Pah Ahndi sitting on a bench eating some peanuts. He smiled and said, "nice, nice, we go?" We both stared at him and nodded our heads. The trip back took just as long and word of advice to all out there heading to indonesia, never tell a taxi driver to head to city without knowning where he's going...it's not where you really want to go.
We were getting hungry for lunch and told Pah Ahndi we wanted to stop and get food. He looked at us strangely as we both did the universal sign language for eating and finally I got fetup and yelled out, "chicken!". Pah Ahndi laughed out loud and replied back, "AAAAH, Chicken!" He brought us to this Indonesian restaurant that looked very impressive in comparison to its neighbouring shops. None of the waiters spoke english so Pah Ahndi took it upon himself to order for us, without asking us what we might want. As soon as we sat
down we had about 25 plates filled with different dished layed out infront of us. From friend chicken to rice to curry...it was all there. We were told each plate would cost us 5000 rupiah (50 cents) if we took it. We were happy and feasted upon our meal.
The afternoon we returned back to our hotel and said goodbye to Pah Ahndi. We decided to roam the streets for alittle while until dinner.
Walking the streets of Batam in daylight is completely safe. Though if you are a foreigner it is almost impossible to go unnoticed. As soon as we stepped foot into the open streets, locals bombarded us with cries for attention, and photographs. We were celebrities in a place we'd never even been. Every man, woman and child stared at us with the uttermost fascination. As if we had just arrived from a UFO and we had eight heads with massive tentacles for legs. Cab drivers honked and yelled from their taxis while fifty men at every street corner would ask us if we wanted a ride on their moped. As well there was the one pimp from every street that asked us if we wanted a
quick "boom boom", we would nicely reply "no" and then departed very quickly. It was so surreal to see the slums before your eyes. Children were playing in garbage and many would approach us begging for food or money. It's heartbreaking but we understood that it is a fact of life in Indonesia.
After a while of exploring we returned back to the hotel to meet Tony for dinner. He took us out to a big Chinese food court where I witnessed some of the worst chinese karaoke I've ever heard in my life. I swear I wanted to take my chopsticks and stick them in my ears to shield myself from the hurt. After dinner we drove through the only tunnel in Batam..nothing special but i felt i should mention it. Chris and I went to our room and pondered our experiences from the day.
The following day was just another day of exploration. Chris and I got up late and checked out at noon. We left our bags at the reception, along with our passports and headed into the city centre once again. This time we actually stopped at some shops and checked them out. We actually went
to a respectable massage parlour and each got traditional indonesian massages. For one hour they cost us 70,000 rupiah ($7 each). We felt it was a bit pricey but the massages were unlike anything we'd ever had. They crack almost every bone in your body, especially when the four foot indonesian girl is standing on you. Chris and I hopped on the 4:30pm back to Singapore. We enjoyed our short-stay in Batam but felt it's the not the best play to vacation. There isn't much there but red light districts and locals. Our taste of third world life has delicious and were off to see more. All well from Batam.
Evan and Chris.
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Jordan
non-member comment
Wow! That's not like *anything* I've seen before! I'm so proud of you guys for navigating and sorting everything out. I hope it makes you excited for Thailand! And Mr. Madill's right: your hair looks fantastic! :)