Stops: Telaga Punggur Pulau Batam, Batam View Beach Resort, Hang Nadim International Airport (Days 6-10)

From the port, I got a Gojek to my hotel. Gojek is kind of like Uber on steroids. They provide everything. Most rides are on the back of motorbikes, but I always get the cars even if I don’t have a suitcase or bags. Safer, and I get some practice chatting a bit in Indonesian. I didn’t realize I had set my pick up from within the taxi only and parking lot. We texted and called and I told him where I was. He found me and we zoomed to the hotel.

Looking out from the lobby at the hotel.

I had just missed out on a reservation at a sort of garden hotel and pickings were slim if I wanted to swim. So, beach resort wedding hotel surrounded by golf courses it is! But, as it was still Ramadan, no weddings. No nothing, really. There have to be at least 140 rooms in the hotel, but I could see from the breakfast list in the morning that only 9-11 rooms were ever occupied. Not quite as personal as Ten Rooms, but close. Pool all to myself all day? Sure. Nobody on the beach in the morning so I can go swimming and there is absolutely nobody around. Perfect.

There was a sign out warning of stonefish and jellies (in English only) and at one point a guy came out to warn me. So, I stayed close to shore where it was sandy. Hotel staff were wading out pretty far to get in boats sometimes, so I could so how far they went. No venomous spines or tendrils encountered. Lots of swimming every morning after breakfast.

I got a lot of reading done. A lot.

Love a hotel with an omelette station and with Indonesian fried noodles and loads of fresh fruit, too.

There was a house band that played in the lobby every night. And, I do mean house band. At least one of the members was on staff. I saw the drummer doing some gardening earlier in the day. They would play a half-hour set and take a break. One night it was kind of psychedelic surfy 70s Indonesian rock. The next it was all Mexican and border rock. I chatted with Manny, the band leader. He asked me where I was from, so the next night they started off with Bee Gees, “Massachusetts.” It was all so surreal because I was the only one in the audience.

These guys can play anything.

My last day, the hotel erupted. April 10th was the end of Ramadan and the start of Idul Fitri. The whole hotel filled up with families and I took off to the airport. This was also why I could not get a flight on the 9th.

The airport was jammed. Like Golden Week in Japan. It felt a little odd to take photos of people, but so many groups were really dressed up.This is a pretty conservative Muslim area, so women and even many young girls all wear head scarves. But, these were not very conservative. Flashy colors, all kinds of embroidery and stuff. Three sisters in one family pretty much had the Disney Princess look down.

I had booked a super cheap LCC, but not Lion Air which flies a lot of 737 Maxes. You expect to get nickled and dimed by these carriers, but Citilink was great. Lightning fast check in. No trouble about my suitcase being 20.2 kilos when the limit was 20. Nothing like AirAsia. And, I was on my way to the mainland after getting some time in the ocean.

Flying over Malaysia leaving Batam bound for Medan.