Batam Info / Interest / Help Thread

[penguin59]

Yes ..... bro , only those who have the experienced will we all learned from it. Thank You,

[DDAMn]

[QUOTE=milfmilf;19005918]Decided to save $13/day on breakfast for Swiss-Inn

Can bros advise what budget breakfast I can get nearby or at grand mall.


Use gojek or grab food app plenty of choices cheap got discount some more

[nono1973]

Originally Posted by Ninja_Assassin

Dun just look at the price plans / benefits.... it is more important to look at the FINE PRINT & EXCLUSION CLAUSES...... I had a brief stint as an insurance claims investigator several years ago. You'll be surprised at the tricks and lengths the insurance companies will go to just to avoid paying out on a claim.... or paying as low as possible if cannot totally deny the claim. Even when our investigations reveal the claims are legitimate...... we are often ask to amend or leave out certain details in our report. That is one reason why I quit after only a short stint.

Thank you for sharing, i sincerely thank you for the pointers up there and i shall really properly and consult my insurance friends/relatives before my final purchase.

Originally Posted by Ninja_Assassin

But in that short stint..... I came to realise that Insurance is a bloody scam.

Most living people buying insurance dont get to claim anything in their lifetime at all and i believe no one likes to claim anything from them either (touch wood), but what to do, we all still need to buy some if its within our budget just for the purpose of any uneventful future.

[nono1973]

Originally Posted by Myhorizon

If bringing padang rendang back to Singapore, 20 pieces, will the Singapore custom side detect the presence of cooked beef and tio fine.

I think the basic requirement is that the food brought into Singapore be cooked and not in too big a quantity (the below S$100 for 2d1n rules still applies tho).

To be 100% sure, you may wish to email ICA.

Originally Posted by Myhorizon

Just wondering cos someone ask me buy. Hope someone can share their experience bringing cooked meat products from Batam into Singapore.

I have brought aunties and uncles who brought in salted fish, dried sea snakes, (all cooked) and supermarket frozen meat, eg. chicken etc (uncooked) from Batam to Singapore. I am not saying its legal but its how well one conceal the packages well enough so it goes undetected.

[nono1973]

Originally Posted by iicycold

15 dollar tix is limited lor...knn, tat guy buy 15 & sell me 25....

but 25 is stil second cheepest in whole market liao....lol...even local indo horizon tix aso not tat cheep, so i'm still ok.

Hehehe...if you cant find any horizon ferry tickets below S$25, then dont complain,hehehe...like you said, its the 2nd cheapest out there.

Or you can be like him, be sitting behind the desk to do online shopping during working hours,hehehe...

Originally Posted by iicycold

i hear uncle say nwday u all dam hiong sia...sweep up all the clean massage in tat area & make em all dirty ah....lol

mus one day meet u 2 share notes liao...lol

Count me in with the notes by keeping me posted.

Originally Posted by iicycold

solo got the advantage ma, got frens along hard 2 bargain 4 beter price...lol...i look fwd 2 my comin btm trip...one more week 2 go b4 the beginin of hungry ghost mth.... *slurp*

( Click to show/hide )

I am thinking, if i happen to see you this August, should i treat you with food that comes with joss sticks and red candles or not,hehehe...

I am more likely to go temple visiting in my next trip but unlikely to be at the Guang Ying Temple at Galang. Might try the Sekupang ones tho.

Or the one at Tiban.

Originally Posted by iicycold

lookin fwd 2 my early morning bbbj....lol

You mean a morning wake up blowjob? Or you mean blow jobs dones by ghost in the morning?

Originally Posted by iicycold

hurri! hurri! go steal tose free kuopons....lol,like tat onli need pay jus the 28 dollar nia....lol

but i tink their promo endin soon...i notice tere's no more sept expiry kuopon liao in market liao lei...either promo ends liao or the stores stockin em up until aug then release.

If you happen to get the chance to steal some from bro Naka, dont forget to pass some to me. And NO, i am not paying you for it....hehehe....

Originally Posted by iicycold

i tink horizon mus hv beaten btmfast,sindo & majestic up up dwn dwn B A select start ovr the last few mths....lol

I think i mention this before, Batamfast ferry company came out with their very own 2 way ferry ticket at S$38 tickets too but cannot buy directly from their ferry counter.

The only 2 good things about the ticket is, it expire end of 2019 and can travel via Harbour Bay ferry terminal. Its an open ticket.

[nono1973]

Originally Posted by Black Page

That's a wise move. I pay about 260 EUR per year for an insurance like that, but which covers me for as many travels I have during the year and in any country of the world, which is what I need (I am abroad once a month, on the average).

The airline always proposes me a travel-specific insurance whenever I buy a ticket, and for 1 week stay in another country outside Europe the fee usually approaches 100 EUR. For 10 trip in one year, I would pay something like 1000 EUR should I pay separate insurances per each trip.

The one that i have shown is from Aviva in Singapore.

https://sbf.net.nz/showthread.php?p=...0#post18986760

Lots of Singaporean use them or i should say, basically ALL Singaporean who are CPF (Central Provident Fund) member uses them. And CPF is like a national fund thing where all working Singaporean needs to contribute a certain percentage into it. And this fund company uses Aviva to insure their members for most medical needs until technically the day they passes on.

Since i mainly traveled to Batam; Malaysia and Japan only occasionally,and since they are all within ASEAN, hence the lower in price. I am prepared to take the S$183 plan for the 1st 10 years and on later years when i am more physically in Batam then i will consider the S$356 plan.

Originally Posted by Black Page

I wish you to be richer when you will be old, so that you will need the landing pad not for that, but because you will hire helicopters to bring you girls from outside Batam directly to Formosa

Its really not that expensive for a helicopter tour (i believe). In Bintan, i was told it cost between 1 juta to 1.5 juta per pax.

I read on some Batam expats forum/s, medical helicopter is entirely different from a touring helicopter. A touring helicopter rental from Singapore to Batam cost between S$2k to S$3k (2-way trip taking around 15mins) but medical helicopter can cost up to S$8k per trip. The saying was, they factor in all the medical equipment onto the chopper as well as their qualified medical team on it, blah blah blah...

The nearest helicopter landing area in Batam is in Hang Nadim airport, which is why i am so glad now that there is one just on top of Formosa Residence. A location i frequent often,hehehe....

[nono1973]

Originally Posted by KopiGer

Be careful when buy the yellow voucher. My beer girl was cheated by customer who sold her these yellow vouchers @ S$10 each.

Thank you for sharing your friend's experience. By saying "vouchers", i suppose you mean the coupons which was posted by bro Leo...

https://sbf.net.nz/showthread.php?p=...4#post19005574

...and not an open ferry ticket.

And if the girls were indonesian, they should NOT be buying the Horizon orange tickets but instead should be buying those ticket for Indonesian which is way cheaper.

Price as stated were for 2 way on above photo (open ticket) but photo above show only one way.

Note, i dont sell any of those tickets mentioned here.

Originally Posted by KopiGer

She bought 5 from him but when she and her friends try to exchange them for ferry tickets....they were told the vouchers were invalid as their particulars does not tally with the names issued to those serial numbers. It seems the vouchers are not transferable and can only be used by the person in whose name the voucher is issued to.

Ok, now lets get back to the topic, as in the so called vouchers you mentioned where the girl friends bought were actually coupons aka vouchers and not open ferry ticket. (sorry i need to specifically mention this becos i bought open horizon tickets online at S$10 to S$15 before but not vouchers aka coupons)

This is how the vouchers aka coupons work :

1. Vouchers and Coupons has serial numbers. I can simply call Horizon counter in Singapore and give them my passport number to book a "ticket", and boarding pass. Once the Horizon counters has my details, anyone who picks up my vouchers/coupons can no longer use it.

2. The Terms and Conditions mention on the vouchers/coupons says clearly...

...the redemption can ONLY be done from Singapore Horizon counter at Harbour Front (and NOT Batam Harbour Bay ferry terminal).

3. They need to pay S$21 + S$7 tax and misc. Which total up to S$28.00 on weekdays and S$38 on weekends.

I gathered all the above from those who has used the voucher aka coupons before and on your girl friends case, its likely that the seller already has the original owner's details registered as stated on #1 mentioned above, hence the case of disputes.

For vouchers aka coupon, i am still not sure if they are ONLY available for use for foreign passport and NOT Indonesia passport tho.

For open tickets (orange and blue colored tickets,and not pink), no such issues at all. So buying vouchers/coupon, there will be some rick factor which buyer gonna take. Not forgetting i mentioned before that those vouchers aka coupon do not have cost price to it and were meant to be FOC. Your girl friends paid too much for the vouchers aka coupons. S$10 plus S$28 plus weekends extra S$10.

i use Horizon ferry orange tickets and not vouchers so far.

Hope that help clear the doubts.

[nono1973]

Originally Posted by mygirly

For awareness.
Anyone ever met a Singapore family on motor bike traveling opposite Farmosa Hotel asking for directions to Batam center?
Claimed passports stolen and need to go SG consultant in Batam center. No money to buy ferry tickets back home to Singapore.

Thank you for sharing.

I did not encountered this before but its always good to know such occurrence did happens and how to go about countering it.

For myself, i always have the Batam's Singapore Consulate details with me at all time while in Batam.

Originally Posted by milfmilf

yeah, will check them out on first day. thanks!

My kind of food were usually at Bai Long Bak Chok noodles at the penuin wet market, which was mention on my signature.

Or the new favorite in the area were Kek Leng Wan Tan noodle behind Gideon Hotel coffee shop. Its actually pronounce as "Ji Long" in Chinese words.

New favorite dont mean this place is new but more of an old place in a coffee shop which i find the noodles were not bad.

And by the way, its only 20k rupiah per bowl.

My few favorites were still Bai Long (Penuin wet market), Bei Long (inside A2 food court), Meximo pub wan tan noodles (about 50 steps walk away from Meximo pub) and this Ji Long (coffee shop behind Gideon Hotel). All of them selling noodles and nearly all of them closes around 12pm.

So they are pretty good for breakfast and at a much lower price,hehehe... my type of food.

Just sharing.

Originally Posted by OnlyLiveOnce

The stall is closed every Monday, and on the first and fifteen of the Lunar month. The owner also takes regular breaks and holidays.

Hmm...come to think of it, i learned that many Chinese food stores that sells good food tends to close their shops on a Monday.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that they were selling pork? Hehehe...should have skip Monday trip to batam in future (if i choose pork stuffs).

Thank you for sharing the opening/closing days.

[milfmilf]

Originally Posted by Black Page

Skip it and you have 130k to spend in drinks in a pub at night.
I skip breakfast, but Formosa does not refund me the coupons

ha breakfast important.
Just that $13 a bit too high..
$8 more reasonable lah

The savings maybe can use to add 0.5 to 1 hr massage

[milfmilf]

The 吉龙 noodle looks ok

[cougar666]

My kind of food were usually at Bai Long Bak Chok noodles at the penuin wet market, which was mention on my signature.

Or the new favorite in the area were Ku Long (or Ke Long) Wan Tan noodle behind Gideon Hotel coffee shop. Its actually pronounce as "Gu Long" in Chinese words.

The Noddles look yummy and tasty. 20k is value for $$

[cougar666]

By the way has anyone try Airbnb in Batam? The rooms look nice and some like apartment and near Nagoya Hill shopping mall.

[nitecrawllerr]

Originally Posted by nono1973

I am not saying its legal but its how well one conceal the packages well enough so it goes undetected.

Its true. Small quantity and for self consumption should be ok. Its all up to the discretion of the xray officer. Never assume it always go undetected. Those xray can penetrate concealed items.

[BFOMF5]

Originally Posted by nono1973

Or the new favorite in the area were Ku Long (or Ke Long) Wan Tan noodle behind Gideon Hotel coffee shop. Its actually pronounce as "Gu Long" in Chinese words.

.

Wrong lah, you must hv read too much 武俠小说
古"Gu" less 1 stroke in the middle.
古龍 is the novel writer.

吉"ji" in Teochew/hokian pronounce as "kek"
That why the signboard said "kek leng"
吉龍 (auspicious dragon)

[milfmilf]

Originally Posted by BFOMF5

Wrong lah, you must hv read too much 武俠小说
古"Gu" less 1 stroke in the middle.
古龍 is the novel writer.

吉"ji" in Teochew/hokian pronounce as "kek"
That why the signboard said "kek leng"
吉龍 (auspicious dragon)

kek leng ish ahneh