Food on Batam Island

As I visited Dr. Frans Setiawan whom I got in contact with through Couchsurfing, I got to know a little bit of the life on Batam Island. They lived in a beautiful housing compound named Bukit Sukajadi which has hills and forested parts in the background. In the morning I got to enjoy some jogging and tai chi training. Although Batam doesn't have surf beaches and outstanding tourist sites, spending some time there especially when you can join a local event would be worth the effort. It is easy to get to Singapore by ferry. Holders of Indonesian passports can get a good deal of about § 15,-. Buying ferry tickets at the terminal is usually more expensive. Cheaper tickets needed to be bought at travel agencies in a shopping mall

On days that both of my hosts needed to work the whole day and didn't have time for me, I have been dropped at Nagoya Hill shopping mall. After shopping around and trying different kinds of food, I started to make contact with some property business representatives. They drove me around the island to show their properties in areas I wanted to spend time in. This was my first impression of what was going on on Batam Island. I saw some coastal and forrested areas, among others the Panbil village and the nearby Kepri mall.

Frans drove us a bit through Batam, the food there was cheap, very tasty with excellent service. He introduced me to his friends Uwan and Sabrina. We had breakfast in Batu Aji, the more lower middle class part of Batam. After this we drove past a couple of villages onto Barelang.

There we had a beautiful seafood late lunch while I was exploring the houses on stilts in the water. It was similar to the clan jetties in Penang, the houses and stilts were a bit less sturdy and the environment more genuine rural. I was very impressed by the friendliness of the people because they didn't hesitate to invite me into their homes

The food was relatively expensive for such an area, possibly because many Singaporeans come to visit Batam for food and spa

Pangkor Island and food

Tan Eng Kien, the only Couchsurfer from Pangkor Island
I have decided to choose my accommodation in Lumut because it was good value with higher quality compared to Pangkor. For RM 60, I had a 28 m2 room with fridge, TV, phone and balcony with waterviews right next to the jetty. This has been neceesary for me due to my work on the computer and business calls. During the day I enjoyed the tasty food on Pangkor, enjoyed the beaches, jungle treks, culture and historical sites. But everything would not be as memorable without Tan Eng Kien, the only couchsurfer who was a real local fisherman's boy from Pangkor

Kien is a warm-hearted, lively, interesting and interested guy who is enthusiastic about nearly everything, especially his future studies in Australia. He showed me around the island and then invited me for lunch with his family. we met only for a few hours because we were both tired and I actually knew the island quite well already. His mother did not speak much English, so I tried to converse with her in my basic Hokkian and some Malay. This was another experience with food as communication with other cultures without much verbal interaction. She saw that I enjoyed her delicious home-made dishes and naturally knew that I liked it. There are two jetties on Pangkor, one is the main jetty marked with"visitors" and the other one with"villagers". Kien and his family lived in the village which was not too far from the beautiful temple Foo LIng Kong, a must see, apart from the laksa and rojak in the neighbourhood


Sentimental feelings coming up in my heart as I visited the Dutch Fort. How can two different types of blood, one is Dutch(leave out the English within myself) and the other Malaysian?

The Dutch Fort on Pangkor reminds me a lot of my own Dutch Malay(si)an heritage
Foo Ling KOng temple on Pangkor Island. Beautiful architecture with miniature Great Wall
Pasir Bogak beach, my favourite on Pangkor. Unlike Langkawi, the Island is small and easily explored in 2 hours. I go there primarily for nature, beach and exercise which is very relaxing


Dutch Ford on Pangkor Island with forest background, a piece of colonial history amidst tropical nature
Foo Ling Kong temple lies amids lush tropical rain forest and gives one a feeling of piece. And few tourists know that this beautiful temple surrounded by a beautiful Zen-like garden with breathtaking views on the water is just 5 min walk from the Sungei Penang Kecil jetty.
Me eating nasi lemak with fish curry in a Malaysian coffee shop or kopitiam. Food is incredibly cheap and good value. Many locals are having breakfast while sitting and chatting around the table. You get a good feel for local life
Mee or Chinese noodle maker. The actual work is carried out by mostly foreign workers. I had to chase them to be able to make the pictures. For them it is sometimes hard to understand that people would like some photos. Anyway, when I would live here, I would certainly buy their noodles
Me on the beach on Pangkor Island. Teluk Nipah is quite clean but I find it too touristy, including the food