Short and hectic tour trip. We went on a tour organized by 168 tour agency. It’s a short 2 day 1 night trip in Batam consisting of a day tour and stay at Pacific Palace. I wouldn’t recommend going on this tour as it’s disorganized and it’s much tilted towards earning from the tour group. The tour guide brought us to various factories that sell goods about 1.5 times pricier compared to normal shops.
Here is the order of the visit:
➢Massage at GO!Massage
Massage was good. My tensed up muscles were loosen and it’s the perk of the itinerary!
➢ Lunch at Golden Prawn 933 + Golden Tourist Shop (Tidbit shop) & Bird Nest Shop
The tidbits here are pricier compared to stalls outside. Lunch wasn’t as nice as we expected it to be but it’s still of good value. First time having baby lobsters. It has a similar texture to prawns but it’s flesh is softer.
➢ Diana Homemade Cake Lapis
The Kuey Lapis cost about 250000 – 290000. Pricier than what you can find outside. It’s possible to get one at 210000 in the malls.
➢ Indonesia Traditional Otak Otak Factory
➢ Golden Beach : where coverage very wide range of sport activity such as Go Kart, Paintball, Flying Fox, Kayaking, ect. (at Own expenses) + First Factory Outlet
Visited “little” island. A place filled with miniature houses and animal figurines.
There’re sales of popular apparels here as well!
➢ Indonesia Cultural Dance
➢ Bengkong Dry Market
➢ Batik Factory Outlet
Batik is cheap but other than that it’s mostly souvenirs.
➢ Polo Outlet
A good buy for polo Ralph Lauren if it’s original. I can’t say much as I don’t know how to differentiate imitations from the original.
➢ Maha Vihara Duta Maitreya Temple
The biggest temple in Asia (Claimed by the tour guide) . It’s more of a modernized version compared to the traditional palace looking kind. Well maintained and it provides a calm and smoothing ambience.
➢ Last stop will be at BCS Mall
Many good buys can be purchased here! The top floor sell local food and chicken rice cost around $0.60! It’s filled with many commercial stalls and the prices are much affordable compared to Singapore.
Afterwards, we checked-in at Pacific Palace Hotel. We wanted to explore the vicinity but sadly, we didn’t. That’s because we suspected that there might be a potential threat as we were stared at by some road siders. To stay on the safe side, we went back to the hotel.
It’s disappointing that the tour guide changed our ferry timing to a earlier slot and we were not informed about the nearby mall. We only realized it during our transfer to the harbor. If the information was delivered, we wouldn’t have spent the morning in the hotel while waiting for the pick up.
Overall, it’s a good short trip but could’ve been better if information is passed down such as “approximate distance from local malls ; ferry timings ; etc “