The name of Nogsa, the famous place in North-east Batam with beautiful beaches and good resorts, is actually come from the name of ‘Nong Isa’ which was the King Isa name when he was little. This Cemetery complex is the historic proof that there is the kingdom in Batam centuries ago. It is located on the top op small hill surrounded by old trees and sap trees. If you are lucky sometimes you would find monkeys jumping from tree to tree. The atmosphere color of the complex is yellow, the color of Riau. Nong Isa himself was not buried in this graveyard which until now is still mystery where he was buried. To reach the complex you have to climb dozens of stairs until you reach the entrance of the complex and found the history of Batam Kingdom back to 18th century, printed on wooden board. Too bad that the board is already part broken and some fonts are fade away.

I suggest the stake holders and local government should pay more attention to this complex to preserve the heritage of Batam. Not like today, when this cemetery complex not even exist on the Google map! I wonder why.

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Batam Island has several ferry terminals, but this one is unique because it is actually located on the riverbank, not on the shoreline. The sensation entering the river upon arrival or entering the open sea from the river upon departing, are somewhat different from the terminal on the shorelines. To make it more surreal is the riverbank in this area consist of dense trees making you feel that you are entering the unknown territory. When you drive from the Batam city direction to reach this terminal, you will pass the bridge and you will see the terminal with ferries sailing beneath you. This specific terminal is the favorite terminal that people choose if they wanted to go to Changi intl. airport from Batam, or vice-versa.

Before boarding or upon arrival, you can enjoy a few restaurant available in the terminal with reasonable price with many choices of food, from international to local cuisine. In fact, a lot of people who stay in the hotel nearby Nongsa, go to eat in these restaurants, because there are actually the closest restaurants from Nongsa where hotels are located. Just don’t buy anything in the convenient store there, because the price way more expensive compare to the ones outside the terminal.

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This marina located on the beach side or North part of Nongsa Point Hotel. I was staying in the Turi Beach Hotel next door when I visited this Marina or it’s actually boat docking terminal. There are two activities that people do in this Marina. First, of course, as your final stop when traveling with a boat or a yacht to Batam Island. And the second, like I and my family did, were enjoying the beautiful post card view of the Marina. You may not go to the end of the jetty if you don’t have any matter to go to the boat or yacht. But you are always can enjoy the view of the Marina with the calm sea and lots of boats and yachts as background.

Just spare some times to enjoy the scene of this marina if you’re happened to stay in one of these two hotels; Nongsa Point Hotel and Turi Beach Hotel, because this attraction is free for these two hotel guests. Its breath taking, you won’t regret it.

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This is my 3rd times went to this monumental bridge of Batam, and it’s getting worse by the time. Not the bridge, but the cleanliness of visitor plaza near the bridge. When you can't rely on Indonesian people who averagely like to litter a lot, the government should hire extra people to keep this place clean. While trying to educate people step by step.

The other miss fortune was that the police could not do anything about cars and motor bike who stop on the bridge. The situation became worse when many street vendors offering their things to visitors on the bridge, and even worse with so many garbage to the point that you could think that the bridge is the huge trash can! What a pity!

The view from the visitor plaza actually was amazing (if you don’t have garbage ruining your pictures), and the bridges themselves was also something. Barelang bridges are actually consist of 5 bridges connecting Batam Islam, Rempang Island, and Galang Island.

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This is not an ordinary mall, because of many reasons. This mall is divided by two parts; one main building with several storeys, and shop complex systems around the main building. This mall has a unique place to eat called ‘Food Street’, which is located on the ground floor in one long corridor with 3 storeys high ceiling. In this long corridor you can find almost every kind of Indonesian and local cuisine vendors and some international cuisine as well. The price are consider cheap and the taste mostly good. The hindrance that this long corridor doesn’t equipped with air conditioning system. With Batam heat combine with free smoking place everywhere along the corridor, caused this food court doesn’t suitable for small children and for those who can not stand the heat nor the cigarette smoke like my family. So we decided to eat on ordinary food court upstairs where they provide and serve almost similar cuisine as well, though the price were bit more expensive and the choice were not as complete as on ‘Food Street’.

Another unique thing, that this is the place where you can find stores selling souvenirs from Batam like handicraft, T-shirts, key rings, etc. Also stuffs and chocolate from Singapore with much cheaper price from its origin across the strait. Don’t look somewhere else in Batam to buy souvenirs, because this mall offer one-stop activities with very friendly price. Even Singaporean often shop here to buy their daily needs like toilet paper, shampoo, soaps, and other consumer goods; because in their country those stuffs are much more expensive.

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Ocarina beach is not the place where you can do beach things like surfing, sandbathing, or beach volleyball. Instead this is just a man-made attraction by the sea, with open space and has unique view of ferry go back and forth from Batam Center Ferry Terminal in the distance.

This is the second time I went to this beach, the first time was about 4 years ago when it was first opened. I noticed a huge differences. Back then, this place was like a marble in Batam with beautiful and clean scenery. But now, this place needs a lot of fixing and maintenance work. The famous ‘100-Swan Statue’ was broken and dirty, the famous ‘COASTARINA’ giant letter was deteriorating, many store which sell the souvenir were closed and the store building were also diminishing and almost collapse, the car park was broken; where it was like hit by hurricane or twister!

I did see some improvement, like they built a jetty and a restaurant at the end of the jetty. And they have a Ferris wheel for you to enjoy, dough I don’t really recommend it, because it looked old and the transparent windows on the capsule were no longer transparent to the point that you can hardly see anything from inside. But if you like flying kite, this is the ideal place, since it’s very windy and you can find a store who sell various type of kite for you to choose.

My point is, that this attraction place needs better management. With proper management, I believe that this place can be a lot better that what it is now.

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Few years ago when I was here, this terminal was still in good shape. But last December, I witness something different. I also witness that some tenant has closed made this terminal not as lively as it used to be. In my humble opinion, what this terminal needs is the facelift. The terminal authority and stake holders should think about this.

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This mall is always full of visitors, because it is located just a cross the Batam Center Ferry Terminal; this ferry terminal is connected to this mall on the 2nd floor by the bridge crossing the street. A lot of hotels are also nearby. Because of these two reasons, made this mall is a good place to transit. Before your ferry schedule, after arriving in Batam, or before you check in to your hotel.

For a mall, is actually just an ordinary shopping mall, with branded stores, toys store, book store, a cinema, and many restaurants and place to eat.

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This mosque was built by private and group funding, and it belongs to a family who has one of its late family member worked as the ship captain. His name was Mr. Budianto. This is the reason why his wife and family built this mosque with the shape of a ship.

The open hours for this mosque for prayer and religious activities is actually from before down until after night prayer or around 8 to 9 PM. And when in fasting month, it opens nearly 24 hours. But if you want to enjoy the architect part of its building and climb to the roof or I may say ‘aboard the ship’ it only open the staircase from 9 am to 5 pm every day including holiday. You have to dress properly to enter the perimeter of the mosque. Long trousers for men and long dress with vail for women. If it is not many visitors, you can directly ‘aboard the ship’ and enjoy the unique architectural piece of art. But if it is many visitors visit at the same time, you have to Q and wait for your turn. It’s free, but you are require to write down your name and phone number in guest book.

You only need about 15 to 30 minutes to visit this site, or about 45 minutes if you also want to say one of your daily prayers. The mosque was built with heart and with fine quality of building materials. You will awe to what you see thinking that it’s actually a ship on t land. If you are lucky and know member of Mr. Budianto’s family like me, you would have a chance to enter the helm room where the ship control wheel is located. Or it’s actually the main control room for sound system and CCTV.

If you visit Bandung or Cimahi, don’t forget to visit this mosque. Even if you are not Muslim, you are more than welcome to visit, because mosque is for every one! You will not regret it.

There is two way to go this beach since it is separated by the small forest of Pangandaran national park. One is by walking through the national park and another one is by taking the boat from Pangandaran west beach. If you fancy hiking and love the diversity of Indonesian plants and animals, you have to choose the first option. It cost you about USD 10 to buy the two-way ticket for each person, and you will enjoy the famous monkey forest of Pangandaran. You will also find deer in this forest. It will take you about 30 minutes to reach the white sandy beach (Pasir Putih). Just beware of your belongings (especially hats and glasses) since the monkey might steel them from you. And I suggest you not eating along the way, because it will attract monkeys more and they might somewhat could harm you.

But if you like taking boats or travelling with young children, I suggest you take the second option. Especially if you travelling more than 3 people, because it’s cheaper to rent a boat then paying the ticket for each person. The beach is free if you get there by boat. The boat is cost you about 25 to 30 USD round trip, and they are willing to negotiate the price, especially in low seasons. You also can add USD 10 more and the boat will take you to several spots around the national park peninsula. It’s better to go around it when the wave is not too high. Just tell the boat boy to pick you up at particular time of the day when you want to go back to Pangandaran beach.

This attraction of Pasir Putih Beach is open from 8 am to 5 pm. I suggest you dedicate your time for full day here, to enjoy all the activities. Don't forget to bring some food along, since there is no restaurant available in this area.

The beach itself is quite nice, but you might want to wear your beach shoes since the beach full of sharp pieces of corals and pieces of empty shells of seashell. Many activities you can do here. Just beware of your belongings, because sometime the monkey from the forest play by the beach and could still your things. While you are staying here, you can just sit by the beach enjoying the sun, find the magnificent collection of corals and sea shells for your fish tank, or snorkeling. Not so far from the beach there is the fisher man boat sunk by the Indonesian government due to illegal fishing it committed not so long ago. You can find many fish near the sinking ship because it becomes their home right now. The ship is not completely under water. Only one third of its bottom is under water while the rest of it still above water. So it’s good for picture spot.

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