I am up and down pretty early, but I am not really interested in the free breakfast. I go do McD instead and have pancakes. Afterwards I come back up to the room and work on this journal and finally get caught up! It is now just after noon. Hmm, what will I do now? I call the travel agent that arranged my flight to India. I ask them about going on an afternoon boat cruise out into the ocean and to one of the nearby islands. Yes, they tell me, the boat rides are operating and they can get the ticket. So, after having a nice lunch at the café, I walk back to the mall and pay my $29S for the Cheng Ho Afternoon Tea cruise. A bus will pick-me up at a nearby hotel at 2:30.
I am in the lobby of the Rendezvous Hotel at the appointed time, and soon I am in a bus with a few others on our way to Clifford Pier. I had been here yesterday, but just a little earlier. The boat was waiting. Other people had already arrived, so there was a good size group on board. The ship is an old-style wooden ship with lots of Chinese design elements. It is not fast, but it chugs along and gets us where we are going OK. During the course of the afternoon I notice that we have Germans, Americans, Indians, Japanese, and perhaps others in our group. Very international!
The boat leaves at 3:00 PM. We will sail south-west to Kusu Island, and then around a couple other out-islands on our way back to port. We should get back about 5:30. We have a tour guide announcer, Eunice, who is quite well spoken. The cruise also provides us with afternoon snacks and beverages. That is why it is called the "Afternoon Tea" cruise. I enjoy the various small desserts. There are also some finger sandwiches which look good but I am not that hungry.
We soon arrive at Kusu Island. Kusu means turtles. There is a temple on the island, and many turtles are kept there. This is actually a very common chinese custom, one that I have seen in many other places in this trip. The island is reachable by regular ferry service, and you can come out here and picnic and spend the day. It is a very peaceful place, very pretty.
We all reboard for the trip back to port. We first continue a bit further to the southwest. To our left in the distance are some of the islands of Indonesia. One of them, Batam, is only about a 45 minute ferry boat ride away. Maybe I will go there tomorrow. We also go past the Three Sisters islands--three small islands grouped closely together, and also the east side of Sentosa (where I was yesterday). I am sitting on the upper rear deck. The ocean air is very fresh, and the gentle rocking of the boat almost puts me to sleep!
We get back about 5:35. Part of the deal is a bus ride back to where you were picked-up, and so I take the bus (a bigger bus this time) with several other passengers. We are all going to hotels near or along Orchard Road. The ride back takes a while. Traffic is a bit heavy. I finally am dropped of at Rendezvous, and 5 minutes later I am back in my room.
I decide that I want to get more info about taking the train to Malaysia, and also taking a ferry boat to Indonesia. So first I take the MRT to Outram Park station. From there I walk about 2 km to the railway station. There is only one train line from the station, and that is the Malysian Rail to Malaysia. They have 2 trains in the morning heading north. The first stop is Jxxx Bxxx. The fare would only be aboput $12S, and I can get the ticket any day just by showing up before the train departs.
From there I take a taxi to Harbourfront Center. This is where the cable car to Sentosa is, and also there is a ferry boat terminal here for the boats that go to the nearest part of Indonesia. I visit several different ticket counters. All of the companies are about the same. The cost of the ticket is about $25S round trip. Between all of the ferries there is a ferry leaving every 30 minutes or so all day.
I then get on the MRT at the Harbourfont station. I ride it to Chinatown. It is almost 8:00 PM and I am hungry. This is my first visit to Chinatown, and I walk about 2 blocks away from the MRT station. I see an outdoor place on the corner that looks busier than the other places, but still not too busy, and I say OK, let's eat! I have a very nice dinner of sliced fish and chinese greens, along with white rice. Best meal here in SIN so far! Cost was $12S, or about $8 US.
I then take the MRT back to Dhoby Ghaut. When I get back to the hotel I see the McD next door. I have a sudden taste for some ice cream, and so I get and enjoy a chocolate ice cream cone. Ahh, that way good. I then stop in at the business center of the hotel and check my email, and then come up to the room where I work on this travel journal. I also call my friend S. We agree to meet on Thursday morning. We will probably go to Little India and to Chinatown.
I spend the next couple houra or so wandering around this mall and the one next door. It is similar to some of the malls and markets in Thailand--lots of small shops, lots of mobile phone vendors. There is a large department store, and at the upper level there is a food court. I have lunch at the food court. The clerks are happy to see me, and they greet me warmly. I smile and say hello back. It is apparent that the people working at the counter are either owners of that shop, or at least they care about having customers. I decide on one shop, and after looking at their picture menu I select nasi goreng, a rice and seafood dish, very tasty. The price for the meal, including some iced tea, was 15,999 IR, or about $2US. The prices in the shops were reasonable, but not as low as in Thailand. I guess I am spoiled! There was also a grocery store, and it had a good selection of items, including fresh produce.
I then go back to the taxi stand. I tell the man I want to go to a beach, any beach, the closest beach. With some difficulty, and after the help of several other taxi drivers standing around us, we eventually decide that I want to go to Tering Bay. OK, sounds good to me. I am assigned a driver and we get in his car. This is when the fun begins. We must bargain about what the fare will be. I don't really know how far we will have to go. All I have is a rather poor map, and I know that the fare to the ferry terminal is about 30,000IR. He starts out at 200,000IR, I tell him that is too much and he can just take me to the ferry terminal instead. He wants 50,000IR for that, but I know better. I say 30,000. He says no, and I start to get out of the car. He relents and says OK. When we are nearing the ferry terminal we start negotiating again about going to the beach. We finally agree on 100,000IR to take me to the beach and then back to the ferry terminal. We shake hands on it.
As it turns out the fare was too low. The drive to the beach was a good 40 minutes or so. We passed many hew housing developments, and several factory areas, including a large on for Matsushita. Occasionally there were bad spots of potholes in the roads, but usually the roadway was OK. The earth here was a reddish color, and sandy. The countryside was quite pleasant. We first stopped at Tering Bay Resort. I did not really want to go there, but we were allowed to enter past security and go to the clubhouse. One day this will be a very nice facility. It has a golf course, a private beach, etc. It seems like it was conceived and built during the Asian boom years. Now it is very quiet. While there we spoke with the security guards, and decided that I really wanted to go to Nongsa Beach, a public beach just a few km up the road. So we did. Yes, this is where I wanted to go--a natural, normal, beach area.
This being Wednesday, it was VERY quiet here. This is a small village along the ocean, with a few cafes and bars here and there. We drove up to the nearest one. I could see it had two seating areas, one on land, and the other on a large deck over the beach/water. Unfortunately it was low tide, and the water was far away. In front of the deck area were two boats sitting on the sand, waiting for the tide to come back in and refloat the boats. In the distance there were two men fishing from the water's edge. A dog was sleeping on the walkway to the deck, and a family (presumably the owners) were sitting down to a meal in the landside seating area. Well, I am thirsty and it is nice and warm, so I ordered a beer, and one for the drive too. We sat on the deck, enjoying the nice breeze and the peaceful view. Nearby to our right (north) was the Nongsa Ferry Terminal. I guess I could have gotten a ferry back to SIN from there, but I already had my ticket for departure from Batam Center. So, we got back in the taxi, and soon I was back at the ferry terminal.
I went to the WaveMaster counter and checked-in for the next boat. It leaves in about 40 minutes. I walk thru the terminal building. There are a few shops. The lower level is for arriving passengers, and the upper second level is for departing passengers. I go upstairs, go thru Indonesia immigration, and enter the waiting area. About 10 minutes later boarding starts, and I get on the boat.
The boat is basically the same as the morning trip, and I sit in about the same place. Just before we left the terminal it had been raining, but the rain has stopped by the time we leave. The ride back is quick and smooth, and I am back in SIN by 5:45 PM. After going thru SIN immigration I am on the MRT by 6:00PM, and back at the hotel within 20 minutes or so.
Soon I had out and walk over to Clarke Quay. I had been there my first evening here in SIN, but that had been later at night. I walked thru the restaurant, bar, and shopping district. Actually some of the prices here seem very good. Scarves for $1S, many items for less than $10S. Towards the northwest end of the Clarke Quay district there are some converted warehouses that now house restaurants and shops. It is nice that the city has found a way to keep some of the older buildings.
In the middle of these older buildings is a clearing with a large wooden covered deck--an outdoor bar. I notice it as I walk by. There is a lady bartender, and a lady sitting at the bar, and no other people. Hmm. OK, I walk in and sit at the bar and order a beer. It turns out that both of them are employees. The lady sitting at the bar is the waitress. They are happy to have a customer. As I sit and chat with them they do get a few other customers. The place is very large, but they say it is very slow.
I am getting hungry so I leave the bar and look for a place to eat. Of course the real problem is that there are so many choices. I finally decide to eat at the food court in one of the waterfront buildings. It is interesting that there would even be a food court here. But there is, and I have very good dinner for about $5S. The food court has both indoor and outdoor (riverfront) seating. The outdoor seating is taken, so I sit indoors.
I then walk southeast along the river to Boat Quay. This is another entertainment district about a 10 minute walk downriver towards downtown. I had been here a few nights earlier. Tonight I notice that there is a jazz club, and I can hear some nice music coming thru the window. I walk up to the 3rd floor of the building, to the Jazz at South Bridge nightclub, and for the next couple hours I enjoy some first rate music. There is a jazz trio--piano, drums, bass guitar, and there is a female vocalist. Her stage name is Maya Nova, and she is from Bulgaria. But, she really knows her music, and sings a lot of Gershwin and other good stuff. At my request they do Summertime. I also meet two ladies who are sitting near me. One of them is a civil and structural engineer! Wow! The other does interior engineering. They are having a "ladies nite out". It is, after all, Wednesday night, which is ladies night at many night spots (same as in USA). My two 7-Ups cost me over $23S, Wow! But, there was no cover charge, so I guess it all works out.
Now it is almost midnight, so I wave goodbye to the band and walk back to the hotel. What an interesting day! Boat ride, Indonesia, Nongsa Beach, good jazz. Cool!
After my usual pancake breakfast at McDonalds, I take the MRT to Harbourfront Station and walk to the ferry terminal. I will go to Batam, Indonesia, today, taking the ferry over this morning and returning this afternoon. I do not have any real plan. The ferries go to 3 different places in Batam. I have no preference (and no info to suggest any preference), and so I simply get a ticket on the next available ferry, which will go to Batam Center, whatever that is. The ferry ticket is $23S, and I will take the WaveMaster Ferry. There are several ferry companies, all charging about the same fare and providing about the same service. My boat leaves at 10:25 AM, so I do not have any time to waste. I must first go thru Singapore immigration, which takes just a minute, and I am in my seat with about 5 minutes to spare!
The ferry boat is a single story boat, with 9 across seating (3-3-3). It is about 75% full. The rear section has bench seats and tables, and a small café counter where you can buy something to drink. I sit in the front section on the RH side window. We soon pull away from the pier and begin our trip. The ferry terminal is immediately opposite Sentosa Island, and we pass directly under the cable cars that I rode the other day. We slowly make our way out of the harbor area, and then the boat picks-up speed. However, we do not get up to full cruising speed until we have gone past the islands that are nearby and actually enter the Malaaca Straits. At slow speed it takes us about 25 minutes to reach the Straits. We then reach cruising speed for the dash across the Straits, which takes about 25 minutes, and then we slow down again for the approach to Batam terminal and docking. The entire trip takes about 70 minutes. The ferry boat rides smooth and reasonably quiet.
I am not in a hurry and so I am one of the last people off the boat. I do not yet have my visa for entry to Indonesia. However, there is a "visa-on-arrival" window, and after filling out my visa form and paying $10US (not Singaporean, good thing I had a $20 with me) I am granted a visa and allowed entry. I exit the immigration area and into the main part of the terminal. First I exchange some money. My $50S gives me 247500 Indonesian Rupiahs. That's 12 notes of 20,000 each, plus a few more--a real pocketful of cash! I look outside. Hmmm. There is nothing to walk to nearby--it is just empty ground, construction sites, and some industrial buildings. I go to the desk of a hotel reservation service. No, I don't need a hotel, but I need to find out where "town" is, where is there a place to visit and see. After some limited conversation it appears that I should take a taxi to Nagoya, which is the town center, where there are shopping malls and people, etc. I then go outside the terminal to the taxi line. I am immediately asked where do I want to go. I say Nagoya, and am assigned a taxi. The stated fare will be 30,000 IR, which is less than $4US.
The ride to Nagoya takes about 15 minutes. The traffic is medium. Similar to BK and SIN, you drive on the left hand side here. When we get into town the driver drops me at a shopping mall in what looks like the center of town. OK, this is a good place to start my visit to Batam!
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