I went to Batam (
part of Indonesia)
for a one day tour with my dad today. It was some kind of company sponsored thing and he asked me along. Yes, it might be a lame occasion, but I haven't spend any time with him for as long as I can remember. So I thought it'll be good to make my old man happy for a day at least.
The trip was better than I thought, though I'm totally consumed by fatigue. I'm a being that needs sufficient rest or I become a magical boy that transforms into a zombie.
Regretfully, I forgot to take a picture of my ferry ticket. That would've made a great opening picture.
The ride on the ferry took about 50mins, surprisingly, there is a time difference of 1 hour even though it's a neighbouring country. The first place that we went to is the Tua Pek Kong temple. (
though I really don't know why they spell it that way, but who I am to judge the name of a god?)
I really liked how the temple looks. It reminds me of all the scenes in dramas and movies. When I think of a traditional temple, this will be the first image that comes to my mind.
For the first time in the many years of my life,
I heard my dad tell a dirty joke to his colleagues. Even though it wasn't a really funny one, I had to bite my lips to stop myself from laughing my ass off. He has always been the straight and in control kind of guy, but I suppose "like father like son".
I'm a huge proponent for dirty jokes.
The adults are all full of shit as well, in a good way.
Honestly though, there wasn't a lot of things that I could take pictures of as the tour focuses mainly on sucking our money away, bringing us to all the places where you either buy something, or stand around looking like an awkward penguin. Of course,
I choose the latter.
There was shopping and massage (
which sadly under certain circumstances I didn't go for).
Since there isn't much to write about shopping malls other than that the prices aren't really that attractive, I shall move on to something that is slightly more interesting visually.
p.s. All the panorama shots are roughly 30MP downsized to 2.5MP
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| Largest temple on Batam, as I was told. |
It is really huge. Along with some really amusing statues. There are many laughing buddhas around the temple, there was a few lined up in front that caught my eye.
IT IS A GOD SINGING KARAOKE DAMMIT.
Holy
shit, is this a reincarnation of Luffy?! I swear that pose is classic One Piece's Luffy. He simply has to bare some teeth and stretch his mouth to his ears and the transformation would be complete.
As you face out from the temple, it's just a huge ass "parade square" that faces the sky. As all the buildings from there are short, there is literally nothing obscuring your view.
It's a really huge and spacious place.
The only shot that is remotely cute is this.
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| Really, I simply shot some random kids |
We then went to a place that sells chocolate, and a place that sells kuey lapis, and keropok and some other random stuffs that are just too boring in pictures.
I'm going to be mean here, but it's the first time being near a
middle aged fag. It's like the social outcasts all grown up. He came with his wife and mother, and.. well, I really don't know how to put it in words without sounding like an absolute butt hole. But he's just anti social and weird as hell.
Moving on, I was feeling all (
look below) in the shopping malls.
Because my charm seems to be on the max setting and there were chicks checking me out left and right.
Oh, the agony of being too awesome.
Our tour guide is hilarious, here are some bullshit he told us.
As beer and petrol is ridiculously cheap in their country compared to Singapore, we could actually afford to bathe in beer and drink petrol. Because their petrol is cheaper than our mineral water. (
some)
He also said and I quote, "Our traffic light very modern one, more modern than Singapore. *
as we approach a traffic light* You have traffic light, we have traffic, but no light."
As we all turn out to see that
none of the traffic lights are functional at all. Way to go man.
Their public transport also way more advanced than ours. We can only alight and board at bus stops. They can alight and board anywhere. And yes I've seen it in action. People can get on and off any where as long as they flag for the bus. It's like a yellow van, and it comes every 5 seconds (
quoted from the tour guide), for a moment, it was true, every 5 seconds, a yellow van passes by us.
As there really isn't anything special that I wanted to buy, I ended up getting a pair of Converse Sneakers at a mall. I wanted to get some sort of Navy Blue, but the design only looked nice on shelves, but a little weird when I tried it on. Instead of getting black, I've decided to choose a... brownish grey instead. Since it'll probably match any jeans that I own currently.
I think any pair of Converse sneakers will look the same in Black and White. Other than black or white of course.
I think I mentioned that I wanted to collect Sneakers. This is my first step to doing so! But since I'm probably going to wear them often, let's hope they don't die like my current one before I actually get another pair. I love Converse sneakers because they are incredibly durable.
On the way back, when I was near enough to finally get a cellular connection, I quickly pulled up Google maps and checked my location.
It could actually give me my location and directions back to the harbour. So I thought, if I ever got lost in the sea, this could be useful. There even dotted lines to show the different routes that ships uses.
Before I end my post in my usual fashion, something interesting happened when I was leaving Batam on the Ferry. I met this really pretty girl when we first board (Batam to SG), our eyes met and she was pretty much the exact kind of girl I was looking for. I was stunned of course, both by her beauty and how lucky I was. We sat at different locations but I was hoping that I would get to see her again when I got off. (
which will be a bit of a challenge since I was with my dad after all)
I did manage to get the timing right and we met again at the door. She... seem to take a a little more time getting out, as I was. It was that moment when we paused and just looked into each other's eyes and probably stood there for about 3~4 seconds. Honestly, it felt longer than that. It's really like those drama "love at first sight" scenario and damn, was I thrilled.
Atlas, I curse my own uselessness and lack of balls.
I didn't try getting her number.
There was the thing with my lack of courage and that my dad was standing next to me. Trying to approach a girl didn't seem like the most appropriate thing to do at that moment.
But if I ever see her again, I swear that I would definitely try, to at least be friends with her or something. That's a 1 in 5 million chance, but that's still better than nothing! Well, it's not everyday that you meet someone that makes you think "
She might be it". Let's just hope that if I really ever do get to know her, she wouldn't be older than me.
That would be... tragic. Labels: batam, converse, daily photo, life, one day, panorama, saturday, shoes, sneakers, temple, trip
