Singapore Expats

hey ...can u guys help me with cheap hotels, good places, and places to get good food...!!!....thanks..!!

If you want to play safe, I can suggest Nagoya Hill area.
Hit the wikitravel for more details ~> wikitravel.org/en/Nagoya_(Indonesia)

i am looking for first hand information .... experiences from places people have been to ... i'll certainly check out the place suggested in the last post though...

JamesTan1 wrote:hey ...can u guys help me with cheap hotels, good places, and places to get good food...!!!....thanks..!!

Turi Beach Resort is good. However it is a little far from the town where shopping is abuzz.

Note: Stayed there before. Since you're asking for personal experience.

try google for jatravel
It have many packages inside... and reliable as well...

Unsure of your budget, but can try coupark.com for those voucher too...

I do agreed mainly Nagoya Hill area have lots of nice hotel... Resort wise is slightly further from town... So again depending on what's your purpose in going batam...

Shopping Wise Area:
Goodway Hotel
Golden View
Grand Majestic
Harmoni & Harmoni One
i Hotel
Nagoya Plaza
Novotel

Resort Wise:
Nongsa
Holiday Inn
Harris Waterfront

"The Hills" is pretty decent, but it's right in front of the shopping district.
"Harmoni One" is pretty good, but you still need a cab to reach the town.

also..m goin there for 4 nights....so is it enough to explore all of it...

JamesTan1 wrote:also..m goin there for 4 nights....so is it enough to explore all of it...

More than enough. There is nothing much in Batam really. Unless you're a ambitious golf player and want to cover every single hole in every golf course available.

Usually people go there for the seafood, massage and shopping, which I believe can be done in just 2 nights.

For a question like yours http://www.tripadvisor.com/ is your friend.

p.s. Initially I misread the thread title as 'Batman trip' !?

Mi Amigo wrote:

Good one !

Now that is one poolside where crook fear to tread !

One unknown sight in Batam is the Vietnamese boat people repatriation centre which has been turned into a little museum. Batam was where all the boat people from Vietnam arriving in SEA were sent to and from then they were sent onto various different countries. You'll need a car and driver to get there, but well worth the visit.

carteki wrote:One unknown sight in Batam is the Vietnamese boat people repatriation centre which has been turned into a little museum. Batam was where all the boat people from Vietnam arriving in SEA were sent to and from then they were sent onto various different countries. You'll need a car and driver to get there, but well worth the visit.

That'd be Galang island which can be reached by the bridges they've built. The camp also had Cambodians. Personally I thought it was a lot nicer before they did all the renovation, but it's still worth a visit if you're into the history. The seafood restaurant there was also good, but I haven't been there in about 6 years so don't know if it's still any good.

Some of the Indonesians who worked at the camp with the refugees used to work there too and can tell some interesting stories if you can find them. Ask them about the ghosts. And also the girl who was raped by some other refugees (there's a monument there for that one). There are quite a few photos from the era to, including shots of people on fire after they were rejected. They also have the original wheel of fortune used to determine which country they'd end up at.

Most interesting visit I had there was with the military attaches from Jakarta, including the milat from Vietnam who was insistent that there were no Viatnemese refugees. He wasn't impressed by the camp

Didn't SMS do some work in that camp?

Sure did, 3 years from 1988 to 1991. I used to have a photo spread on my website of photos taken AT THAT TIME. Not the glossied makeover the camp was given by the Indo authorities after it closed to make a tourist attraction out of it.

Okay, it's still there. The link is here:

Vietnamese Refugee Camp - P. Galang 1988-1991