next country of travel after covid! batam! i used to love batam cos its cheap - 2 way ferry for ~$45, cheap cafes, shopping, (and cheap thrill of motorbike rides that my mum doesnt allow me to take in sg) but after covid the ferry tix are $70 now :O haiz nvm la just go see see hor. and i used to stay in harris cos it's affordable and it's right next to the batam center terminal so no $$ and time spent to get cab. before gojek and grab you could only hire cabs from their concierge and the prices were fixed and you guessed it, they would often jack the prices to earn $$ (still considered cheap but still...) :X 

anyway this time round i went with meiyen's friends, lets call them B1, B2 and B2's gf C. i kinda know B1 and met B2 before but it was the first time travelling with them. we had this wa group set up where they were talking about the hotel and everything before the trip. tbh i dont like looking at group chats so when i finally opened the chat after hours it was already 100+ messages. i kinda summarized the texts and they were finalizing on this resort called nongsa marina and resort in the northern part of batam (batam center terminal is at the central-south) and i tot they already booked it for 5 of us since they finalized it but NO. they told me to confirm with meiyen before we booked? okay so first red flag for the 3-2 divide.

our ferry was scheduled to be 9 July 4.40pm. i had the PAP walk in the morn so the timing was just right for me to go home, bathe and grab lunch after the walk before heading out but as murphy's law goes..anything that can go wrong will go wrong. and indeed they did. the ferry operator sent an email on friday night to inform that our 4.40pm ferry was cancelled, and they were bumping us on the 2.30pm ferry at another depature terminal instead (tanah merah instead of the original harbourfront). so we panicked as it was quite last min. i was still hesistant whether to go for the walk in the morning. but eventually i did, MY managed to contact the ferry operator to get 3.30pm tix at harbourfront terminal and everything seemed to be fine.

but when we disembarked the queue at arrival was freaking long ): but we were quite entertained by the malaysian couple in front of us who were squabbling (could tell they were malaysian cos of their accents). we couldnt hear much tbh it was only the girl who kept raising her voice but she kept saying the bf was raising his voice at her?! hahahha excuse me even though he was in front of us we could only hear you okay. and the girl kept saying things like "not happy then break up" really like drama hahahha. and there were many other classic lines like "dont touch me!!" when the guy tried to pull her to keep up with the queue and "not happy then i will leave" (but she didnt leh, really dramatic)

we finally managed to clear immigrations after 2 freaking hours (even C who took the later ferry had caught up with us) and we were supposed to meet the 2 guys for dinner but they were still quite far away in some other mall and MY and i were quite tired and sticky so we decided to grab to the resort first to check in, put our stuff and bathe, leaving C alone at the terminal to wait for the guys.

along the way in the cab, B2 was angry at us for leaving C alone? though both the guys had already said they were on the way to the terminal before MY and i ordered our grab, they only picked C up at the terminal when we were reaching our hotel which was a good 30-40min away. they "thought" we were still with C at the terminal so they "took their own sweet time" to arrive. what nonsense. even if we were still there at the terminal, we already kinda made plans for dinner so why still take own sweet time? ridiculous.

anyway end up MY and i just had dinner at the hotel. which was not too bad imo tho pricey. they were having some event that night so it was like a dinner under the stars, with pretty lights set up romantically. not the right partner to be with but hahahaha.

the guys and C went off to eat a sumptuous seafood dinner but i didnt feel i was missing out tbh. not a big fan of seafood hahahha. but we did meet them for some light drinks in the hotel after they came back. so in the room we were sharing about our day - the long immigration, the quarreling couple and all and B2 kept saying we were stupid for not stuffing a $5 and asking them to tolong (help)? omg how could he even suggest this illegal thing. maybe not illegal in batam but $5 seriously? they would fall for a $5? but still, kidding or not, is really something i will never do. even if it really helps to cut the line. but illegal? no thank you.

okay that's him maybe. and then day 2 was really epic as well. they literally had no plans but to sit at the pool and do nothing but the pool was very dirty and not like the infinity ig worthy kind? hahahha. not judging but im the kind who cant sit still so me and MY wanted to go out to shop and get massage/nails done whatever. BUT THE PLACE DAMN FREAKING FAR NO GRAB WANTED TO TAKE US. i managed to book a grab bike but that was only for 1 and MY didnt managed to book so i left to go to the mall first. pretty much shopped about 2h by myself before we managed to book a grab car for her to come join me. and then we managed to go to my fav cafe opp bcs yay! so thankful it survived covid.

and then for dinner we wanted to meet the other 3. we texted to see if we should meet them at nagoya snd they said ok. but they said they were still running their errands so we can walk around by ourselves first before meeting them. so MY and i went to the hypermarket to get some essentials but before we were done, the other 3 said they were done and they were leaving immediately. no pre-warning? but we werent done at the hypermarket so the 3 just left without us?!?! and said that they will text us the dinner address place so we can grab there ourselves? eventually they got the private hire to circle around the mall before picking us up cos they couldnt wait at the entrance due to mall restrictions. but whatever la. like i tot we were meeting to go dinner together? huh?

and at dinner B2 kept saying i was stupid to throw my life away for a few dollars cos bike is so dangerous? just be generous and spend that extra few $$ more to get a grab car instead. and how could i leave MY there at the hotel. hello? not as if i wanted to?? and not our fault the place so far nobody wanted to pick us up? *rolls eyes*

haiz i dunno but anyway the whole trip it felt like B1 and B2 were upset at us? guys are so petty man *rolls eyes*

and came third day where we were going home. so thankfullllll. and thankful there was strong aircon on the ferry back. else cant cool the heat in my heart. shag trip >.<