Batam Island, Indonesia

Not last weekend but the one before, we decided to get out of town for a break somewhere new. Batam Island is a small Indonesian island that's a 40 min ferry from Singapore. Just like going to Waiheke from Auckland.

Coming in to Batam Harbour

Our resort from the sea

We arrived to the pleasant surprise of being whisked straight through immigration, not even having to get our visas, as the resort we were staying at was sorting it all out for us. We just handed over our passports to the 'Harris Resort' staff and off we went.

Often when you arrive at Indonesian hotels you get a traditional dance performance. We were highly amused to arrive at the resort to find staff offering a traditional line dancing performance in the lobby, to country music no less! Hee hee.

"don't tell my heart, my achey breaky heart,
i just don't think he'd understand..."

Batam Island is not the same calibre as Bintan Island (where we went shortly after arriving in Singapore). Bintan is a luxury resort island, full of 5-star hotels and ultra-flash golf courses. Batam is more like the 'real' Indonesia - shabby and poor. BUT, there are some great resorts and they're a lot cheaper. We stayed at what's probably the best known and largest one, Harris Resort. It's a 4-star with the usual hotel rooms and also 'cabana' (chalet-type) rooms on the beach. We had a cabana and it was fantastic, very private and lovely Indonesian-style decor.

Our cabana balcony

The pool was the other highlight. It was huge and amazing and there weren't that many people around to share it with. The resort also excelled in offering a mind-boggling array of activities - from archery, paint balling, table tennis, go-carts, 10-pin bowling and loads more.

We headed straight to the pool where I tried to get an action shot of Blake doing one of his dive-flop manoeuvres. Our camera (or my reflexes) are a little on the slow side and I seem to always get a great splash shot.

They also had a flying fox which was bloody high (from the roof of the 5-storey hotel, down over the pool area) and which Blake could not resist. You come down it so fast that two staff members have to tackle you to stop you before the end.

Getting all hooked up

Faster than the speed of light

Just before the end-tackle

On the slightly disappointing side was the fitness centre. They have what's really a huge rec centre with squash courts, table tennis and also a gym. We went down to have a quick workout and discovered that the two stationery bikes had no electronics (so your legs are just flying around with no resistance), the treadmill did not work and the two steppers could only go on one speed, which was super, super, mega impossibly fast. Perhaps a spot of yoga then.

On Sat evening we headed into the nearest town, Nagoya, which was pretty ramshackle and rundown, certainly no tourist spot. But not to worry, we had been recommended a seaside restaurant called The Golden Prawn, just outside Nagoya, about a 40 min drive from Harris Resort. Our taxi driver offered to stay and wait for us to eat and then take us back, which was handy. We said we wouldn't be too long, and he said not to hurry, he'd just kick back with a beer. Let's just hope it's the one we thought!

Well the restaurant was excellent and we ate till we nearly burst. We had about 5 waitresses to ourselves and none really spoke English. It was fun trying to explain that i wanted a non-alcoholic pina colada. Blake tried sign language ('fat belly' actions) trying to indicate the no-alcohol-for-pregnant-lady-thing. Well I'm not sure if they understood him but whatever they thought, it was so funny that they laughed until tears were practically running down their faces. It was very amusing. In the end what I received was two glasses of fresh coconut juice and a glass of pineapple juice - close enough.

Right after having eaten our pineapple baked fish, bbq prawns,cap cay vegetables, and lemon chicken - phew!

We'd definitely go back to The Golden Prawn and Harris Resort again.