Swiss-Belhotel Batam

We spent last weekend eating crabs and playing on the East Coast. Friday was a dinner out by the Singapore Flyer, at Seafood Paradise. We had to try the Creamy Buttery Crab. It sounded so good but a bit disappointed with the taste. It didn't taste like butter at all but more like sweet cream. Not going to have that again but wouldn't mind going back to try the white pepper crab. Everyone else was a lot more ...

... worst, strapped in to your seat heart racing waiting for something to happen. The ball in which your sitting is attached to the ground by a magnet. the two bungy ropes either side of you are tightened and then you are released from the magnet.... you shoot into the air 200km an hour... spin around and fly back down! Then you bounce around for a while before coming down! Oh my god! You think i'm an eejit? i'm a big one, beside this ride is the gmax ...

When I arrived in Singapore, it was two days after I left home, and I hadnt slept on the airplane as you can imagine I was tired. After making it through immigration at the big airport (which is not easy task) I took a taxi to the other, smaller airport from which I would fly to Tioman Island.<br>This taxi driver was new. He had never heard of seletar airport and had to call his friend to ask where it was. He figured it out and we set off. Eventually he pulled over and took out his ...

... each. We had 20 kilos more than that and at 30 Euro a kilo it was unbelievable. We decided to repack and dispose of anything unnecessary and finally reduced our luggage to the acceptable limit. Our twelve hour flight was quite good with the usual aircraft noise, kids and few loud passengers. We arrived in Singapore and caught a taxi to Malcolm's cousin Steve ...

... br><br>We were ostentatiously dumped off the bus in Singapore without a clue where we was. After asking around trying to ascertain where on earth we was we found out we was in Kavona, some 20 mins away from the city centre where we needed to be. We headed onto the MET ( the Singapore underground) for our first experience of efficiency.<br><br>You will rarely wait for a train no longer than 3 minutes, the carriages are separated from the platform by a ...

... was long, as I was stuck in a middle seat in coach.  The guy sitting next to me was a sales/marketing guy from Dallas, who thought I was a special brand of crazy.  All those people who consider that SQ in coach may be preferable to UA in business are smoking something -- SQ coach is marginally better than UA coach, but you are still a sardine stuck in a can.  The food was good - I had the Japanese option again. Once in Singapore I found Kent with no problem, and ...

... for free plus free calls to anywhere in Singapore and free use of XBox and other games. You will not smell exhaust or see a car releasing a 'dark cloud'. The streets are perfect and you will not find an unfinished pavement and everything is maintained well. Even work in progress in not an eyesore, for instance we passed by a railway station still being build up, the works are being carried out in an enclosed area, in a way ...

... offers of rides and "other services" shall we say and also the fact that the place was teaming with cockroaches!! lets just say indonesia was an "experience" and that me and ad wont be rushing back antyime soon. well atleast to that little part anyway! then just to top off the day, upon arrival in s'pore ad got taken into the immigration offices for the second time that day as they thought he didnt look like his passport ...

... in the direction we thought the terminal would be, correctly, towards the container terminal and the ocean. It was hot and the vehicle exhaust is something else so after half an hour or so we hailed a cab and paid the $6 or $10 to get to the mountain that overlooks Sentosa Island. We drank more and then boarded the car to take the quick ride over the highway and cruise ship pier to get to the island. I'm less than impressed with these cable cars and was glad ...

... a $16 one way ticket to Batam and boarded the jet-ferry effortlessly. The only set-back was that some transport company has to update their website which said I could take a ferry to Nongsapura trom the World Trade Center (where I live) and not the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (where Ishak lives). Oh well, it just means that I had to come to Sekupang and cycle a little farther at this end. But then, that's what a cycling trip is all ...