There was nothing much to do in Batam. Three days in Batam was like a year to me. I wanted to go home. Holiday Inn Resort Batam provides a daily complimentary downtown shuttle service to the shopping malls – Nagoya Hill Mall and Batam City Square Mall. Out of boredom, we went to both and there was nothing special, in my opinion.

Nagoya Hill Mall

Nagoya Hill is the biggest shopping mall in Batam. It has 3 floors of retail shops. You can buy the popular Indonesian kueh lapis (layer cakes); eat the crispy ayam penyet (“smashed” fried chicken) at Nagoya Hill’s food street; buy Indomie Mi goreng from the hypermarket on the ground floor; and shop around for bargains in the mall.

I found the mall a bit crowded and there were a lot of Indonesian smoking in the mall. I saw nothing that made me do a double-take or want to break out the wallet at all. Though Batam is a Duty-Free Zone, prices are still high, almost the same as in Singapore. It was quite disappointed.

Batam City Square Mall

Another day, we took the shuttle to Batam City Square mall. It was better than Nagoya Hill. Not crowded and I did not see anyone smoking in the mall. There were many shoe stores, clothing stores, book store, restaurants, etc. All the books in the book store were published in Malay language even the title was written in English. Prices for clothes and shoes are also very high. I had nothing to buy there.

Holiday Inn Resort Batam Downtown Shuttle Service Timetable

Holiday Inn Resort Batam is 30-45 minutes away from the Batam City Square Mall and Nagoya Hill Mall. Holiday Inn provides free shuttle to both shopping malls a few times a day and there is a schedule to follow as below:

*Advance booking is required. Please visit Concierge for assistance.

Cycling in Batam

Sister and I had nothing much to do in the evening. So we went cycling as Holiday Inn Resort Batam provides bicycles for guests to use for free. We would like to explore and discover the natural beauty of the surrounding areas. However, it turned out to be the scariest cycling and travelling experience in my life. We were unaware of the safety and security in Batam.

Batam is generally safe during the daytime, but at night you should exercise caution. It was around 5pm in Batam and there were lots of Indonesian motorcyclists on the road. They were travel in groups and there were many groups. Some of them followed us, kept calling us, and tried to attract our attractions by performing stunts. One of them even tried to touch my sister. We managed to get back to the hotel as fast as we could. I shivered when I told my mum what had happened. Seriously, do not travel alone in Batam.