Monday, September 15, 2008
BATAM!
Went for a 2D1N stay at Batam over the weekend. Overall it was a good getaway. Here are some memorable moments:
Most headache moment(s) - Whenever we were paying for something. My God... it was a math test everytime we had to convert the rupiah to SGD. SGD1 = 6300 rupiah... not easy when everything is in the ten thousand range and above!
Happiest Moment - eating A & W! Seeing it was like reaching the promised land. It was a pretty unanimous decision to dine there for lunch. Had rootbeer, chicken wings and curly fries! Bliss
Most confusing moment - Checking into the hotel. We were told to bring about S$100 which was to cover the spa, room and transport. The practice there is to pay first. So when they guy said "It's 385 in all with the extra bed" we were a bit stunned. Isn't it supposed to be max S$300?? We asked him that we were told it would amount to only S$300. He made a few calls and said apologetically that it was 385. Being in a foreign land, we didn't want to argue, so we took out the moolah. When we presented the SGD, the guy was stunned. That was when we realized that he meant 385,000 rupiah, which equates to S$62. We decided to pay first and had a mini conference in our hotel room - how come only S$62???? After a few phone calls to my friends sister, realized that S$100 each was an estimation. The room rate is correct, but the Spa and the transport will be paid seperately. Oooooor............
Most wu hua (best value) moment - generally if you buy the local stuff it is cheaper. Services are cheap too. here's a summary of what I bought and did: Manicure - S$12. Spa (3 hour package to make be nice and shiny) - S$48. Indo Mie Instant noodles - S$0.25 per packet. Toothbrush - S$0.25. Chewing Gum (bottle kind) - S$1.50. Import stuff are more expensive, but still relatively cheaper compared to SG. They have Breadtalk and the bread was about S$1 (still 40% cheaper); A&W was about S$4.50 for the meal. J.Co donuts and coffee was about S$5 for coffee and donut set
Most bo hua moment (poor value) moment - seafood dinner. It was still cheap - 3 people S$50 for 3 crabs, cereal prawns, fried squid, baby kailan, dou miao. But the size and portions were quite.... pathetic. Our initial order was only pepper crab, baby kailan, fried squid and cereal prawns. When the food came... we were like... huh? The crab was smaller than the kind you find at kopitiams. The cereal prawns... you might as well changed the name to cereal shrimp. I couldn've wiped out the baby kailan on my own! Not sure if it was due to the over emphasis on "kechil", meaning small portion... Hence we had to add on the order with chilli crab and dou miao. When it came, it was better. The crabs were nice, but i think its due to their species, the meat was quite nuah.. probably because they were quite small.
Most embarassing moment - Being totally naked in front of a stranger during the spa. It's just weird to have someone you don't even know see you warts and all... Worse still, she even helped me scrub my back... totally weird....
Spookiest moment - I dunno if its a figment of my imagination, but i woke up in the middle of the night to hear a conversation going on between my friend and my cousin. I peered at my friend, whose back was towards me. It seemed she was talking but i can't fanthom what she was saying. It was totally incomprehensible! And more interestingly, my cousin, whose back was also towards me (I slept in the centre), actually answered back. I was like... WTF??? ok ok... go back to sleep!!!! The next morning, I was telling them about it when my cousin said: "you know what? I woke up to hear you and hyena having a conversation! Hyena was saying some and you actually answered back!"...... Yikes
Most headache moment(s) - Whenever we were paying for something. My God... it was a math test everytime we had to convert the rupiah to SGD. SGD1 = 6300 rupiah... not easy when everything is in the ten thousand range and above!
Happiest Moment - eating A & W! Seeing it was like reaching the promised land. It was a pretty unanimous decision to dine there for lunch. Had rootbeer, chicken wings and curly fries! Bliss
Most confusing moment - Checking into the hotel. We were told to bring about S$100 which was to cover the spa, room and transport. The practice there is to pay first. So when they guy said "It's 385 in all with the extra bed" we were a bit stunned. Isn't it supposed to be max S$300?? We asked him that we were told it would amount to only S$300. He made a few calls and said apologetically that it was 385. Being in a foreign land, we didn't want to argue, so we took out the moolah. When we presented the SGD, the guy was stunned. That was when we realized that he meant 385,000 rupiah, which equates to S$62. We decided to pay first and had a mini conference in our hotel room - how come only S$62???? After a few phone calls to my friends sister, realized that S$100 each was an estimation. The room rate is correct, but the Spa and the transport will be paid seperately. Oooooor............
Most wu hua (best value) moment - generally if you buy the local stuff it is cheaper. Services are cheap too. here's a summary of what I bought and did: Manicure - S$12. Spa (3 hour package to make be nice and shiny) - S$48. Indo Mie Instant noodles - S$0.25 per packet. Toothbrush - S$0.25. Chewing Gum (bottle kind) - S$1.50. Import stuff are more expensive, but still relatively cheaper compared to SG. They have Breadtalk and the bread was about S$1 (still 40% cheaper); A&W was about S$4.50 for the meal. J.Co donuts and coffee was about S$5 for coffee and donut set
Most bo hua moment (poor value) moment - seafood dinner. It was still cheap - 3 people S$50 for 3 crabs, cereal prawns, fried squid, baby kailan, dou miao. But the size and portions were quite.... pathetic. Our initial order was only pepper crab, baby kailan, fried squid and cereal prawns. When the food came... we were like... huh? The crab was smaller than the kind you find at kopitiams. The cereal prawns... you might as well changed the name to cereal shrimp. I couldn've wiped out the baby kailan on my own! Not sure if it was due to the over emphasis on "kechil", meaning small portion... Hence we had to add on the order with chilli crab and dou miao. When it came, it was better. The crabs were nice, but i think its due to their species, the meat was quite nuah.. probably because they were quite small.
Most embarassing moment - Being totally naked in front of a stranger during the spa. It's just weird to have someone you don't even know see you warts and all... Worse still, she even helped me scrub my back... totally weird....
Spookiest moment - I dunno if its a figment of my imagination, but i woke up in the middle of the night to hear a conversation going on between my friend and my cousin. I peered at my friend, whose back was towards me. It seemed she was talking but i can't fanthom what she was saying. It was totally incomprehensible! And more interestingly, my cousin, whose back was also towards me (I slept in the centre), actually answered back. I was like... WTF??? ok ok... go back to sleep!!!! The next morning, I was telling them about it when my cousin said: "you know what? I woke up to hear you and hyena having a conversation! Hyena was saying some and you actually answered back!"...... Yikes
# posted by Xallista @ 5:30 PM 
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erm... spookiest moment - if thats how the accounts went, it would mean there was a 4th person between your cousin and you...
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