Batam Info Thread

[nono1973]

Originally Posted by newyorker88

Batam actually is about 66 % of the size of Singapore, excluding barelang islands. Population about 1 million. locals are about 100K plus, the rest from outside.

My information is about 5 years ago data. Population wise, maybe changed already.

Woah! Till today i have been thinking that Batam is bigger than Sillypore in terms of island size. I am guessing after many decades of land reclamation from the side of Sillypore,it has finally grown bigger...and bigger.

Pace of life in Batam is also exceptionally slow as compare to sillypore...i used to go shopping with the girl i book a few times,they kept complaining i walk very fast...lol...and i do understand that part as this is their lifestyle and they are also high heels,hehehe... So nowaday,i kind of quit bringing the girls out or if needed to,buy them a pair of low-heel shoe....lol. Or they can just stay in hotel room where i will i leave some money to allow them to eat all they need to when i am out touring,then next morning bye bye...

Originally Posted by nitecrawllerr

Yes, still remember. But 17 yrs back during late Suharto downfall lagi best. Do u believe if i tell u I bought S$400, cheong with my kakies (wheres Xd and Romeo?) to Batu then Batam and i think it was a 6 nites "tour". End of the trip still got some S$ balance. Sigh, those were the days. Everything sweet cheap!

The only memory i have on Suharto are those days when my parents worked in Jakarta when i am still a kid and the many stamps i collected from my parents letters that was addressed to me which all has this Suharto's face on it....lol.

During then,if i don't remember wrongly,my parents ever told me that each 2 storey semi-d house in Jakarta cost around 3 to 4 Juta. Those were the days when i get to live there for a month or 2 (school vocation/holiday) and watching Cantonese Serial Drama still must put on ear phone for fear that the sound of the TV may alert the indo-authority (Chinese articles was banned then).

The exchange rate was 1250/SGD if i don't remember wrong,the 100k indo notes was not invented and Suharto's Japanese wife's is still alive,public phone call from phone booth cost 50-100 rupiah within the country....donkey years,i guess...lol

Originally Posted by localbest

After that if you turn right you will reach Newton hotel but if you continue to walk straight you will reach the first massage joint called better and best massage which is beside hotel utama.

The rate for Princess Massage (2 years ago) was as follows:

Normal room - 50k for 1 hr - massage only (no lulur and mandi susu)

VIP room - 110k for 1 hr - massage, body scrub (lulur) and mandi susu (spa)

VIP room - 125k for 1.5 hr - massage, body scrub (lulur) and mandi susu (spa)

VIP room - 150k for 2 hr - massage, body scrub (lulur) and mandi susu (spa)

HJ was about 100k-150k with roaming boobs OR FJ package 300k charge separately

Thank you bro for your information.It is very kind of you to share it with me (and the rest,of course) and also knowing that i often stay in Formosa. Can i safely say if i locate Utama Hotel,i can get to this Better and Best Massage?

For Princess Massage is it at the below pictured location? I just need to confirm,thx...

Originally Posted by Naka_Timo

Yes, can bring u explore jodoh, and also bengkong and many other places too.

To be honest,it is a true honour for me to have a senior Batam bro like yourself who are willing to guide a newbie like myself.Hope i didn't bring you too much trouble or disturb your original Batam trip plan.

My most sincere thanks to you.

[nitecrawllerr]

Originally Posted by nono1973

The only memory i have on Suharto are those days when my parents worked in Jakarta when i am still a kid and the many stamps i collected from my parents letters that was addressed to me which all has this Suharto's face on it....lol.

During then,if i don't remember wrongly,my parents ever told me that each 2 storey semi-d house in Jakarta cost around 3 to 4 Juta. Those were the days when i get to live there for a month or 2 (school vocation/holiday) and watching Cantonese Serial Drama still must put on ear phone for fear that the sound of the TV may alert the indo-authority (Chinese articles was banned then).

The exchange rate was 1250/SGD if i don't remember wrong,the 100k indo notes was not invented and Suharto's Japanese wife's is still alive,public phone call from phone booth cost 50-100 rupiah within the country....donkey years,i guess...lol

Those era Chinese cant celebrate lunar NY openly. Cant even adopt Chinese name. Unlike now. Btw i thought Sukarno wife was a japanese?

[SEAJ]

Originally Posted by nitecrawllerr

Those era Chinese cant celebrate lunar NY openly. Cant even adopt Chinese name. Unlike now. Btw i thought Sukarno wife was a japanese?

Suharto's wife's name is Tien and they used to call her Madame Tien (10 in Dutch) percent..... In reference to her penchant for getting 10% of sooo many businesses and proceeds of everything! LOL

SEAJ

[nitecrawllerr]

Originally Posted by SEAJ

Suharto's wife's name is Tien and they used to call her Madame Tien (10 in Dutch) percent..... In reference to her penchant for getting 10% of sooo many businesses and proceeds of everything! LOL

SEAJ

I know. Wah 10% is alot man. But what puzzle is why bro nono1973 mentioned shes a japanese? Was she? I know sukarno wife was a japanese.

[SEAJ]

Originally Posted by nitecrawllerr

I know. Wah 10% is alot man. But what puzzle is why bro nono1973 mentioned shes a japanese? Was she? I know sukarno wife was a japanese.

Yes, Dewi Sukarno was a 19 year old Ginza bar hostess when Sukarno met and eventually married her as one of his wives.

Ibu Tien was, like Suharto who was from Yogjakarta, Middle Javanese from Surakarta/Solo.

SEAJ

[Kent_do]

Originally Posted by SEAJ

Yes, Dewi Sukarno was a 19 year old Ginza bar hostess when Sukarno met and eventually married her as one of his wives.

Ibu Tien was, like Suharto who was from Yogjakarta, Middle Javanese from Surakarta/Solo.

SEAJ

Waoh, looks like we are getting some history lesson on Indon, here in this BTM thread...hehehe.

Bros, r u guys going into election next time round....kekeke. jkjkjk

[nitecrawllerr]

Originally Posted by Kent_do

Waoh, looks like we are getting some history lesson on Indon, here in this BTM thread...hehehe.

Bros, r u guys going into election next time round....kekeke. jkjkjk

I dont know about u guys. But me definitely looking forward to 2016!

[localbest]

Originally Posted by SEAJ

Suharto's wife's name is Tien and they used to call her Madame Tien (10 in Dutch) percent..... In reference to her penchant for getting 10% of sooo many businesses and proceeds of everything! LOL
SEAJ

There is also one Mister ten percent in bolehland.

Educated in spore but like to criticise spore, even his country people all the races look down on him.

Refuse to sell sand to spore and jealous of spore achievement.

Even his successor recently wrote a book and comment about him...

He is partly responsible for bolehland backwardness.....

[qwerty2009]

Originally Posted by newyorker88

Lost GF, lost my kid, lost business, lost a lot of things before I stumbled on this place. Working here for more than 14 years.

Now just an old man, trying to make the most out of life.

Sorry to hear that. Anyway, as you said , life has ups and down And you did overcome it means that your heart is still strong and lively as before just that the situation in front of you is different but i believe one day, you will still achieve your goals ! If you are bored, we are always here to talk about random batam affair

[nono1973]

Originally Posted by nitecrawllerr

Those era Chinese cant celebrate lunar NY openly. Cant even adopt Chinese name. Unlike now. Btw i thought Sukarno wife was a japanese?

Sorry,sorry...i mixed up between Suharto and Sukarno liao...my bad and thk you pointing it out and correcting.

[localbest]

Originally Posted by nono1973

During then,if i don't remember wrongly,my parents ever told me that each 2 storey semi-d house in Jakarta cost around 3 to 4 Juta. Those were the days when i get to live there for a month or 2 (school vocation/holiday) and watching Cantonese Serial Drama still must put on ear phone for fear that the sound of the TV may alert the indo-authority (Chinese articles was banned then).

Yes, during the 60s,70s,80s or even 90s chinese in indonesia are not allowed to learn chinese and speak mandarin in public. Indonesian chinese are told to have indonesian name and all these restrictions have resulted the younger generation indonesian chinese do not have the ability to converse and write in chinese. However, some of the richer indonesian chinese will normally hire chinese tuition teacher to teach their child at home discreetly but majority don't.

That is the reason why sometime you will tend to see indonesian chinese in singapore speaking bahasa to each other rather than the mother tongue mandarin. But you will be surprised that some of the indonesian chinese can even speak more fluent bahasa than the local indonesian people.

In about year 2001 if I dont remember wrongly, Wahid also known as Gus Dur which is the 4th president in indo made the announcement that Chinese New Year to become an optional holiday. He followed this up by lifting the ban on the display of Chinese characters and the imports of Chinese publications. From then on, chinese indonesian are free to learn chinese again.

Wahid was partially blind and he was a javanese of chinese mix blood with paternal ancestor of the surname of Tan.

But in the whole of indonesia, only the chinese in riau island like batam, tanjong pinang, balai, batu, etc can understand and speak fluent mandarin. The reason is because these places are able to receive spore channel 8. The effect of TV broadcast is very powerful.

Just to share a tip : If a person wish to learn a language, by just looking at the language book is not effective. However if the person frequently watch the TV/video program of the language, he/she will be able to learn and absorb faster because not only he/she see the subtitle, hear the pronounciation of the speaker and watch the drama in action. Therefore if you want to learn bahasa, the best way is to watch indonesian sinetron or drama, there are plenty in the youtube.

The chinese in indonesia are generally more well off or richer than the spore/msia chinese because the chinese population in indonesia is small therefore less competition in business and indonesian market is super hugh, just imagine 250 million people living and is the 4th most populous country on earth.

Jakarta is not only the most populous city in Southeast Asia of 10 million people but its official metropolitan area, known as Jabodetabek, is the second largest in the world, and the metropolis's suburbs extend even further. The entire area has a population over 28 million.

(Jabodetabek mean the combination of Jakarta + Bogor + depok + Tangerang + Bekasi cities)

Originally Posted by nono1973

The exchange rate was 1250/SGD if i don't remember wrong,the 100k indo notes was not invented and Suharto's Japanese wife's is still alive,public phone call from phone booth cost 50-100 rupiah within the country....donkey years,i guess...

Bro nono, the exchange rate that you mentioned which is 17 years ago in year 1997 is 1250 rupiah per dollar ?

I last went to Jakarta in year 1988. If I did not remember wrongly, at that time the exchange rate is about 1000 rupiah per sing dollar.

At that time the smallest coin is 10 rupiah so light until as if almost weightless. But now even 50 rupiah have become of no value already.

After 26 year which is today the rupiah has devalue more than 9 times to reach 9300 per sing dollar.

[SEAJ]

I don't know if it's real or just a joke, but someone told me that a lot of Chinese took up the name Kasno when they were forced to change their name in the mid 1960's.

Bekas means "used-to-be" whilst Cino of course means Chinese - thus Kasno means used to be Chinese.

Anybody know if true?

SEAJ

[SEAJ]

Originally Posted by localbest

.................
Bro nono, the exchange rate that you mentioned which is 17 years ago in year 1997 is 1250 rupiah per dollar ?

I last went to Jakarta in year 1988. If I did not remember wrongly, at that time the exchange rate is about 1000 rupiah per sing dollar.

....r.

I was in Indonesia for a few weeks towards the end of 1997.

Prior to 1997, the Rupiah vs USD had been hovering around 2300 - 2500, went up to between 2,500-3,800 first part of 1997 before drastically jumping to +-6,000 around Christmas, and then +-12,000 and reaching a high of over 16.600 when the riots etc broke out in 1998.

Just approximate rates I remember.

SEAJ

[localbest]

Originally Posted by nono1973

Thank you bro for your information.It is very kind of you to share it with me (and the rest,of course) and also knowing that i often stay in Formosa. Can i safely say if i locate Utama Hotel,i can get to this Better and Best Massage?

For Princess Massage is it at the below pictured location? I just need to confirm,thx...

If you walk from formosa passing nagoya citywalk and upon reaching biz hotel, you will need to turn left and you will see Better and best massage before hotel utama.

But if upon reaching biz hotel, you continue to walk straight you will most likely see tropical asia massage (a massage joint with some indo chinese masseuse)

But if upon reaching biz hotel, you turn right and continue to walk you will reach hotel newton.

Yes, Princess massage is at the picture location under nagoya paradise centre

Chinatown massage, Princess massage, Ala Mayang massage, Tulip massage, is at the same row of shophouse behind hotel utama.

While Tropical Asia massage is at the shophouse on the same row as hotel utama

I only can remember the address of Chinatown massage is at komplex nagoya paradise centre Blok P No.3.

In the massage joint most of the massage cewek in batam in the beginning will normally quote a high price first (狮子开大口), then you will need to negotiate with them to see how much the price can be further reduced.

Remember that bargain the price of special services like hj or fj in Batam is recommended or else you will realise that you have overpaid for the services.

To act poor, I always tell the cewek that I am a kampungan (country bumpkin in bahasa) who came from a Malaysia village just to let her know my name is not called Mister Robert.

[localbest]

Originally Posted by SEAJ

I was in Indonesia for a few weeks towards the end of 1997.

Prior to 1997, the Rupiah vs USD had been hovering around 2300 - 2500, went up to between 2,500-3,800 first part of 1997 before drastically jumping to +-6,000 around Christmas, and then +-12,000 and reaching a high of over 16.600 when the riots etc broke out in 1998.

Just approximate rates I remember.

SEAJ

Was rather surprised that the flutuation of the rupiah can be so great before reaching economic recession in 1998.

I reckon at that time property market in jakarta must have suffered big time man.

I remember during year 1998, the value of my relative semi detached house in manga besar has dropped almost 10 times, very jialat man.

House become concrete.

Money become paper.

Car become metal.

Land become soil.

ATM card become plastic.

But gold is precious...