One Day Frugal & Fun Trip To Singapore From Batam - Indonesia
- Traveling
- 27 March 2018
Last week we had a great day, traveling to Singapore in one day! It is only one day trip, but we've learned a lot and save a lot. We departed from Kuala Enok - Riau on Saturday to Batam via boat and stay there. On Sunday we prepared for the trip by purchased ferry tickets, bought folding stools, snacks (as a diabetic, I have to bring some snacks to prepare if I get the hypoglycemia attack), mineral water, go to the money changer and make planning regarding our visit to Singapore the next day. The ferry tickets we bought at Indomaret convenience store because my friend told me that Indomaret sells tickets much cheaper than the port counter.
At Monday we left the hotel in the morning and arrived at the hotel again at night. Here are the details of our trip:
There are many ferry ships that can take you across to Singapore from Batam and they are available every hour. There are three ports in Batam that you can use: Sekupang Port, Harbour Bay Port, and Batam Center Port. On this trip, we use Batamfast ferry ship departing from Batam Center Port to Harbour Front Port at Singapore cause we stay at Harris Hotel Batam Center, it just a step away from the Batam Center Port. The cruise took approximately one hour, depending on the condition of the Singapore Strait, if the waves are high it can be a little longer. If you departing from the Sekupang Port or Harbour Bay Port the travel time will be slightly faster because these two ports are closer to Singapore than the Port of Batam Center.
Although we bought the ticket from Indomaret Convenience Store, we still had to come to the Batamfast counter at the port to get the boarding pass and embarkment and disembarkment card
Here are my boarding pass and embarkment and disembarkment card
At this counter, you can buy the mobile prepaid SIM card to connect with your relatives
Then why did we choose Batam Center Port as our starting point? Because the hotel where we stay is close to the Port of Batam Center than the other ports. Our ferry ship was departed at 08:05. Batamfast is a timely ferry ship company. So if you choose to use Batamfast you have to arrive earlier to the port so it is not too late.
The VIP class of Batamfast ferry ship is so comforted! You can sleep here, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to miss the view of Singapore Strait
At 09:15 we arrived at Singapore and rushed to the immigration check. There are so many people waiting in line to enter Singapore. But it is said, in the holidays the queue in immigration check can be longer and longer, you need to prepare for events like this. I am quite impressed with the agility of the immigration officers in Singapore who manage the queue so that it is quickly done.
To tell the truth, this is our son's first experience on immigration checks alone without being accompanied, however, I feel worried that he needs help, so I feel the need to ask permission from an immigration officer to wait for my child up close so it would be easy if he needed my help. Thank goodness the clerk allowed me, but only me, my husband was not allowed and told to leave us. All went well, my son had no trouble communicating with the officer who checked him.
From the beginning, we had planned to visit only one compulsory place, Garden By The Bay, and visit the other place if we still got the time. We bought a Garden By The Bay ticket through an online travel agent Traveloka because it is cheaper than buying at the venue’s ticket counter. From Harbour Front Port we go to MRT Station at VivoCity Mall, buy MRT tickets, and learn about the MRT map. The map is not hard to learn, it just takes an effort to find the stop point of each line. And we can go through this easily! Thanks to the teamwork between three of us three. YAY us! Lol!
The MRT's ticket counter. You should go here if it is your first trip with MRT, but if you already have the MRT card you just need to top up your card balance at the MRT's ATM.
Now you have to know the MRT lines that you should take from the MRT's map.
We really enjoyed this trip and enjoyed our adventure at Garden By The Bay, as well as the night-trip on the ferry ship. You will not regret exploring Garden By The Bay as well as Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. The garden is so beautiful to take great photographs and to learn so many new plants and the nature conservation.
The Flower Dome of Garden By The Bay
The Cloud Forest of Garden By The Bay
At eight o'clock in the evening, we got back to the hotel, feeling tired but happy and satisfied. As a diabetic type 1, I'm so proud of myself cause I have 15 km walk! I'm so amaze of myself! I proof that I can! Someday we will return to visit a very new place! YAY! Congrats to our team! These are our small steps into a foreign country for the first time, we believe there will be new steps to the other beautiful countries.
A special treats after a long walk: pork soup! Very delicious!
Here is the video that documenting how happy and proud we are:
