The main reason for flying to Singapore was not actually to see the Star Wars starfighters or to dine out in the hawker centres but to take the boat to Batam in Indonesia to visit my sister and her family. Prior to their trip to Tokyo in April, they stayed with my in-laws in Hiroshima and from that moment my mother-in-law wanted to one day visit them on their industrial island. As it was, I intended to visit again at the end of November with my wife in tow (it was just me last October) and so a plan was hatched for the three of us to go over there for a short break combined with some time in Singapore.
Following a day in Singapore we headed out early to Vivo City in Harbourfront hoping to get the 9:30am BatamFast boat. That was already full though and the next one soon sold out too so we were left with the 11:35am one which certainly gave us time to get some food and go to Starbucks. On arrival at Batam Centre one hour later (but at the same time as we left due to the time difference!) we then had to endure a long, long wait in line at immigration.
We all stopped briefly for a group photo under the Hollywood-style ‘Welcome to Batam’ sign and then went for lunch at Montego Resort in Nongsa where a golf buggy cart transported us from the car park/reception area to a lovely restaurant overlooking the bay. Nasi loreng of course for me and though I tried to resist I finally decided to have some Pepsi Blue which was my first soda for well over 100 days. I managed to resist alcohol during the trip though as I was determined to break my previous record of 113 days off the stuff!
