[nono1973]

Originally Posted by PigletDiDi

Will post some review when now there.

Waiting...

Originally Posted by matong36

The crowd had me and another person in the spa/massage area. However the gold/silver packages were more popular. There were 3 groups of people who came in and out while I was waiting for the massage.

Thank you,thank you. Those were very very important information for me. 315pm,there are 3 group of people there,hmm...cool!

Originally Posted by matong36

Thank you for the encouragment every time to me and fellow Batam cheongsters. Wish the same to you.

Thank you,bro. I have the tendency to pick up key information in every FR i read. And yours being one of most informative ones which contain lots of key information for my future plans in my Batam trips.

Originally Posted by tomcat007

Hmm.. sometimes the more you hear something, the more you tend to believe it to be true.

There wont be smoke w/o fire.

Originally Posted by cashprice

..prevention at most time can be better than a cure

The answers to every man can be different depending how he asked the question. The understanding of a question can also be different when read by different person too.

Originally Posted by Tracers2424

This "shopping mode" suiting me better.

Looks like we are sharing similar frequency,hehehe...

Originally Posted by ryu0000

..now ppl feel happy to pay 400k rp just for massage n hj.

Comparing to people who pays S$40 to S$150 in Batam for just special service alone,400k for 1.5hr massage and HJ in a spa-like ambience should be way better. Let's take a look from another angle of view :

a. if Sports Massage,Indo Thai,Spa Secret or the like were to offer me a HJ with 1.5 hr of massage at 400k,will i take it?

Now,let me exaggerate this view just a bit more,

b. if Sports Massage,Indo Thai,Spa Secret or the like were to offer me a HJ with 1.5 hr of massage at 600k,will i take it?

My answers :

a. Yes

b. No

Thats my limits.

In Batam,most lower-end massage places charges are around 50k-80k for an hour massage and around
90k-130k/1.5 hr massage. HJ at 100k (MILF 30+) and FJ at 200k (MILF 30+) after bargaining. Semi SYT or SYT may cost about 50k more and full roaming with full strip and/or other VAS (value added service) eg,bbbj,fingering etc may cost another 50k. Everything all added up (massage + special) can easily come to an average of about 300k per 1.5 hr session for HJ and about 400k for FJ.

For hotel-kind of massage places (Formosa,Gideon,Goodway etc) maximum i am willing to pay is 200k HJ and 350k FJ,excluding the per hour massage.

For Spa-like massage places,maximum i am willing to pay is 200k HJ and 350k FJ,excluding whatever the packages they might have.

I have been "brought up" (learned and grow) here in this thread that HJ = 100k rupiah and FJ = 200k rupiah. And i use that as a rule of thumb for my bargaining guideline. Pretty much common sense here,if i can book a semi SYT 23-28 year old with 7/10 look at 600k-800k rupiah for overnight unlimited FJ with a 200k tip (which is also my maximum overnight tip limit if service is super ultra tip-top). So there is no need to pay more than a "certain amount" in any massage places with special service (massage + special all in).

I am afterall...a stingy man,hehehe...

Below is a reference quote from one of my archived data from 12+ years ago in Batam :

GALS
We check into the hotel first then went for lunch since most joint only open after 11/12noon indo time. We also do some shopping for necessities like condom/drinks/ciggi before we start our hunt at around 1pm. Here's the joint we checked out : 1) Sensasi ( i picked my gal #63 for Rp270K, saw a few chio one around but were all reserve, also saw a young pretty chinese lookalike that i might wanna try on next trip, #20 and same price, mamasan said only arrive 4 days ago so dunno service good anot ) 2) Legenda ( very dark , difficult to choose gal ) 3 ) Crown ( hornyman pick his gal here at Rp260K ) 4 ) Bovo ( classy place but ave gal is only so-so looking, the price here all **** up, good looker goin for Rp360, one PR goin for 800K, **** gold better ) 5 ) Titanic ( GreyK finally picked his gal #169 for Rp250K here ) we actually took 2 hours for gals sight-seeing, no real stunner encounter, maybe next trip we should start like this : Orkid , Queen , Dynasty, Alisan .... Most joint are equip with ktv facility so u can actually ask a gal to sit with ya, tok cock, sing a song before u decide to book her but drinks are not cheap. Typical price for a gal's booking range from Rp250K - Rp280K ( with commission ). MISC INFO The Nagoya downtown area is very compact, if I stay in an hotel there, usually I'll walk outta the hotel to get cheap food/drinks/snacks etc. Lotsa local eating place around, just avoid side alley & be streetwise. A few eating place popular with s'porean are : A1 , Oki , Oke : like our newton circle hawker centre, I like it here. A meal of fish,prawn,veggi and tahu for 7 person cost only Rp145K plus another Rp50K for drinks. Golden Prawn : a live seafood restaurant by the river, kelong style. Batam Kuring : indonesian restaurant, cheap ! over dinner at A1, we discuss what to do next, the gal as usual suggest goin to disco like planet/ozone to pop some pills. But we're all thinking of arranging for a short time for tomolo morning before we went back, later give up the idea as most gals will only be back quite late so too rush. Finally we went to Sensasi ktv as recommend by my gal, there'r some singer there to kept u entertain until later at nite where a fat guy & a sexy gal put up a dance show, stuff 10K into an Ang-Pao & flash it, the gal will come & lap u up before u slide it into her crotch. Total bill for the ktv session come up to Rp270K.

GETTIN BACK
There're ticket counters inside B.Ampar & Sekupang ferry terminals so you can always confirm at last min, just be there 30min before departure, there's a ferry leaving almost every hour. Your return ticket should be able to last 30 days and is usable at both B.Ampar & Sekupang ( some said Waterfront city also can ). I prefer to goto Sekupang if I'm coming back on sunday to avoid the weekend crowd at B.Ampar, Rp15K is enuff for you to take a taxi from town to Sekupang.

SPENDING
There're many variable cost here, it all depends on how you wanna spend your money, like other riau islands, $200 should be enuff for most. here's my spending for this trip with exchange rate at $1 = Rp5K : ferry : $26 ( penguin ) hotel : $35 ( weekday rate at singa ) gal : $54 + $20 ( Rp270K + Rp100K tips with driver commission ) lunch : $ 4 ( Rp20K - bah kue teh at coffeeshop ) snack : $10 ( Rp50K - room service in hotel ) dinner: $14 ( Rp70K - seafood at A1 ) ktv : $20 ( Rp90K + Rp10K tips ) super : $ 5 ( Rp25K - room service in hotel ) driver: $14 ( Rp70K - tips ) ciggi : $ 4 ( Rp20K for 4 packs of luckies ) condom: $ 4 ( Rp20K for a pack of 12s ) drinks: $ 4 ( Rp20K - bought in supermarket )

TOTAL : $214 Posted on Mar 9, 2003, 2:08 PM

Notice the amount spend today and the amount spend 12+ years ago? The amount i spend less than a week ago for my solo trip is a little lesser than S$260.00 inclusive of ferry.

I didnt go KTV tho,but i go for 2 massages (with one special) and 1 foot reflexology. I dont take sea food tho,but i dine-in 2 meals inside hotel room with my girl,dinner and supper.Girl : 800k (i purposely dont bargain down for once),tip 100k. I stayed in a 3 star hotel and not in a deluxe/superior room.

The exchange rate : 10310/SGD

Is it more expensive to cheong in Batam today as compare to 12+ years ago?

Yes,at about 17.69% higher.

Just personal perspectives and analysis here.