Batam
Trip Start
Dec 18, 2009
1
65
93
Trip End
Sep 01, 2010
Batam Centre, Riau, Indonesia
Monday, May 10, 2010
Batam did not seem to have very much happening. It was stiffling hot so we headed to an air conditioned mall for some shops and food. For dinner we ate in the mall before heading to one of the pubs we had seen called 'Sugar Pub' with karaoke bar... Well it wasn't your average watering hole kind of establishment. We drank our beer sitting next to a conspicuous looking pole surrounded by a bevvy of beautiful women in very short skirts with lots of make up on. The men at the bar did not seem bothered that these ladies had chosen their laps rather than the perfectly good bar stools. We later reflected that we should have known better considering it was called SUGAR with blacked out windows and neon lights. Second time lucky we headed for a karaoke bar a little down the road, and when we walked through the black curtains we realised that karaoke bars may just have a double meaning in this neck of the woods. (Again we later remembered the neon lights and blacked out windows). To the left hand side sat a group of 10 dressed up ladies waiting to entertain. We drank our beer in record time, although oddly we were joined by the gentleman who appeared to own the bar... awkward is not the word.
The next morning we did a little shopping once we had realised just how unbelievably cheap Batam is... dirt cheap bags, shoes and clothes. Apparently they are not used to seeing western tourists around here as we managed to turn almost every single head everywhere we went followed by lots of giggling. We flew from Batam to Jakarta that afternoon.
Comments
Loving the "perfectly good bar stools" comment!