Batam Info Thread

[cdces]

any bro planning to cheong batam btw 20 Dec to 3 Jan? I am heading back to Sing for holi and would like to have an experienced bro to guide me.

Cheers

[stopwars]

Originally Posted by inboxoutbox

i am going next week. do pm me if u are interested.

this week or next week? i'm going there this week. hehe.

[stopwars]

Originally Posted by Dark4343

Is there any dress code for pacific disco? Is short and slipper allowed to go in?

I have seen our people dancing in shorts and slippers but bro, don't you think you will look better with proper shoes and pants?

[Black Page]

Originally Posted by ndnd

Withdraw from ATM in batam using spore debit card;
Rp 1,000,000 is SGD 130.85
Exchange rate at 7643.5068
Plus another SGD 5 / Transaction (charges for oversea withdraw)

Not wise to do that

Uhm... It must be different. Is your card international with the Maestro logo? Or Cirrus? If so, you get the official international exchange rate (the one you see on Yahoo Finance, so to speak) + 1.5% fee (I am not sure if it is 1.5% or 1.25%) + 2-3 dollars fixed fee. See the MasterCard web page for info.
I do this ANYWHERE in the world. I am now in Colombia.

[hendri2]

haha!!! i think on top of the $5 charge (withdrawal charge)...you will be charged another 20k by indo banks...
just bring cash..if can`t finish, i promise to help you finish it...hehe!!!
remember don`t use credit cards..very risky...
BTW, you should get 7910 today....end of the year, 8000...hehe!!!

[Batam Man]

Originally Posted by Black Page

Uhm... It must be different. Is your card international with the Maestro logo? Or Cirrus? If so, you get the official international exchange rate (the one you see on Yahoo Finance, so to speak) + 1.5% fee (I am not sure if it is 1.5% or 1.25%) + 2-3 dollars fixed fee. See the MasterCard web page for info.
I do this ANYWHERE in the world. I am now in Colombia.

Yes you can draw your $ from the Maestro or Cirrus ATM, but most of the time it will be higher exchange rates (not forgetting the service charges) compare to the local money changer in most countries. In Indonesia the ATM only allow you to draw up to Rp.1.5mil, and if you needed more $ you’ll have to do a few withdrawal and the service charge will be per transition.

[newyorker88]

Originally Posted by ndnd

Joint giving higher commission, ojek driver will say "Good"

Joint giving lower commission, ojek driver will say "no good!"

hahahha, thanks for filling it in for me

[cheong2009]

Originally Posted by ndnd

Joint giving higher commission, ojek driver will say "Good"

Joint giving lower commission, ojek driver will say "no good!"

yes sifu. driver always like that.

[Langchai]

Just came back from a recce trip to Batam. It was my first time cheonging there. Went with a few friends only one of them been there before. This is my impression:
Thought that the girls in NED could be barfined (like in Thailand) but that is not the case. If they want to meet you, it will have to be after their bar closes (around 3am). Went to 5 of the bars to have at least 1 drink, and walked in and out of a couple more due to having no cewek or just not 'happening'. On the way to Pacific Disco, the taxi driver offered to bring us to look at the farms, but of course it is already late and the leftovers were not appetizing at all. We went to 3 farms in total. All CMI.
Finally ended up at Pacific disco. It was damn dark and damn loud. Can't see shit! And people trying to peddle us ubat. Had to stuff toilet paper in our ears otherwise sure deaf prematurely one. I'm sure most of the FL there not so good looking or high on something liao. Stayed for 10 minutes, didn't even finish our weak San Miguel Light and pissed off from there.
Last stop was Alishan KTV at Formosa Hotel. Had the best time there (not hard to do after our earlier performance or lack of it). Was told by the Mamasan that the girls only for 'sitting' nothing else. And the room charge was 100k. So we spent 2 hours plus there until past 2am. 2 of my friends managed to tapao their girls. 1 girl from NED bar joined another friend at 3am. The rest of us (myself included) got nothing for the night.
I'm not too disappointed with the trip. It was a recce trip anyway. The next time I will try to get farm girl early afternoon. See how la!

[laksa328]

going on 26 dec for 2d1n trip....hotel(formosa) has been booked...anyone wanna tag along?

[Dark4343]

Originally Posted by stopwars

I have seen our people dancing in shorts and slippers but bro, don't you think you will look better with proper shoes and pants?

Haha.. Thanks bro.. Just wanted to go there see see cewcek only.

[diegomagnum]

Hi All,

I am planning to go to Batam next week around 22 to 24. First trip there.
Is there anyone that is going on those dates ? Will like to tag along and pick up experience lol. Thanks.

[Black Page]

Originally Posted by Batam Man

Yes you can draw your $ from the Maestro or Cirrus ATM, but most of the time it will be higher exchange rates (not forgetting the service charges) compare to the local money changer in most countries. In Indonesia the ATM only allow you to draw up to Rp.1.5mil, and if you needed more $ you’ll have to do a few withdrawal and the service charge will be per transition.

Sorry, I see totally different things, and it's not just my opinion. I have numbers in front of me. Let me reiterate.

Exchange rates are better on Maestro than in any bank or office.
Why?

1) Because Maestro takes the international rate (the one you see on Yahoo Finance) and adds something on the order of 1.5% (see it on the card contract, or on the Mastercard web site). IN ADDITION, there is the fixed fee from your bank (my bank charges me 2EUR) AND SOMETIMES the fixed fee of the bank of the ATM. => Be sure to withdraw some significant sum and not only 50$, or fixed fees will eat the advantage on the rate.

2) What is charged by the exchange offices or banks? You can estimate it as deviation from the average (sell rate - buy rate) / 2. In many cases, you'll see some exchange rate fee on the order of 4% or 5%. (in an airport, it can be 20%!)

3) Since we never believe theory, I just compared my bank account statement with the exchange rates available on the street. I did this in MANY countries, incl. Batam, Uganda, Ghana, South America, Bangladesh....
(juicy field reports about local girls duly posted on ISG).
Of course, these raw data confirm that it's better to use the Maestro card rather than negotiating on the street (unless you dont want to change a small amount).
AND, even if the rate was not better, it is always easier to use a card to take cash in a foreign country, rather than travelling with a bag of notes in your original currency.

You wrote:
" In Indonesia the ATM only allow you to draw up to Rp.1.5mil".
Sorry, also here I have seen different things.
In Batam, I usually withdraw 2 millions each time.
Most ATMs give this amount in 50k notes, and this is not very comfortable.
There is ONE ATM in Nagoya Hill Street Food, though, which gives 100k notes. Much better.

Warning
The above holds for Maestro (or other international circuits, I believe) DEBIT cards. Refrain to use CREDIT cards to withdraw cash instead. VISA and MASTERCARD charge 4% fee on top of the interbank exchange rate + 1.5% for advancing credit cash.

[Black Page]

Originally Posted by Langchai

Last stop was Alishan KTV at Formosa Hotel. Had the best time there (not hard to do after our earlier performance or lack of it). Was told by the Mamasan that the girls only for 'sitting' nothing else. And the room charge was 100k. So we spent 2 hours plus there until past 2am. 2 of my friends managed to tapao their girls. 1 girl from NED bar joined another friend at 3am. The rest of us (myself included) got nothing for the night.

About Alishan, I had the same bad experience. Everyone says it's possible to book girls there. Also the bell boy at Formosa told me that. But when I tried to go there, the girl (she must be the same one) at the reception told me "girls only for sitting". Maybe she did not like my and your face.

(But plenty of good experiences outside Alishan Duly reported on ISG)

[WarrenG]

Hi fellow brudders! Been reading this thread for the past few days to get informations and it is awesome for all knowledge shared. Thanks! Btw, I plan to go batam on the 19 dec. 3d 2n. Any senior/seasoned bros would like to tag along since this is my first trip to batam and yet explore be4. Am going alone for now and I'm not really used to it. Not implementing I'm gay though. Haha! Just hope to get some guidance as I'm afraid to be ripped off. Thanks so much! =)