Batam . Batamindo . Latrade

Caroline Yeoh (BGS Prof) organized a trip for us to Batam to better understand the business conditions over at Batam..it was my first time to batam really..though its hard to believe…since its so near Singapore..but yeap..haha..

Had to get up really early as our ferry was at 8.30..sigh..i hate getting up early..but luckily..NEL travels to harbour front..so not much of an issue..after we checked ourselves in..we started to board the ferry n dats where the guys all started to sigh… “Penguin ferry????...oh no…” lol..Penguin happens to be the same contractor dat is responsible for shipping soldiers to Pulau Tekong durin our army days..oh well..who could blame them..or rather..us..haha..

I managed to catch the view of Singapore from ashore n I hav to say..no wonder ppl said Singapore is a beautiful island..cos..it is..haha..esp when the ferry passes by sentosa’s Siloso beach where bikini babes r playin volley ball..haha…so jus how can u not say it is beautiful..lol..

Played daidee on board n took loads of pictures…n when we finally got bored..we tried to throw sentill overboard..dats where we realized its impossible..haha..esp when the boat is always tilted to the side where Sentill is at..kee kee kee..so we went ard takin pic of ppl slpin..hm..hm..hm…

Caroline Yeoh joined us at the top deck n we had a nice chat..den she left the presents left for the CEOs with us..which is when I wondered..(Refer to pic below)..we r goin to a muslim c’try..n the best gift to give them is… … …U.S pork???? Lol..but dat was onli the bag..haha..but still..maybe not the best??...

Someone asked me on board..if I had a girlfriend and that I looked like someone who has many girlfriends..sigh..y does no one believe me??..i am how available can..hahaha..

The journey was short..abt..45 mins?..or there about..

When we arrived..it was scorchin hot..i jus wanted to be indoors..haha..we had to quickly load up coaches n got goin to Batamindo..where we met up with the management of the industrial park n visited many other firms..they’ve got pretty ‘interestin’ labour laws over there..if a particular Indonesian is a full time staff in ur company and he one day decides to quit…u as the company..will hav to compensate him/her on his/her decision to quit. N I’m like..huh…wats the rationale man..haha..they r way over protective..which is y no local will ever get a perm position in the firms there..Singapore companies aint stupid..we jus work ard it..so all the locals employed there were on contract basis.

I hav to sae the CEOs frm various companies were open to say the least..answerin all the qns we had to post..afterall SMU undergrads r known to be armed with questions n comments..which sometimes come bac to haunt us..After a few firms..we headed to a seafood restaurant to hav our lunch..yum yum…black pepper crabs..fried prawns..kang gong..sotongs..n my giant coconut!!..haha..but our international frens were not comfortable though..many did not eat much seafood bac in their c’try..esp Vikrant who was beside me..had to hypnotize himself to try some seafood..n he told me… “u know..bac in India..we’re not such big fans of seafood”…lol..n we had ppl from france as well..they din seem comfortable with anything..guess it’s the first time they’re at a more typical Asian nation. Singapore..is not quite the same as over there..haha..

In the afternoon..we went to the Kings factory..n nono…its not the Ice Cream one…haha..its the shoemaker..who produces most of the industrial shoes used in the market in spore..labour laws there states that workers shud be released by 5pm..such gd life..n by 4.40pm..everyone was packin up..by 4.55pm…everyone was queuing to clock their time out..who says we’re calculative on work hours?..they r worse..haha..

N at abt the same time..we headed to the coach cos we were to leave for a shoppin mall..which I cant rem the name..haha..n the workers there were starrin at us like we were some Alien..sigh..we..were onli walkin..y r SMU ppl always targeted?..haha..

After the mall..we headed to the Kelong owned by CEO of Latrade Mr Zhang. Mr Zhang happened to be on the same tour group as my family was when we went to Taiwan..haha..the world is small..n I bump into him whenever I leave the ctry..maybe we can work some business deals out..haha..he’s the one who was restin his hands on me in the pic below.

Hm..wonder if he wans to have a god son..haha..

His kelong looked ordinary frm the outside..except that its big..but when u get to the inside…it is a diff story..haha..it was like he was runnin a chalet..he had 40 over rooms..and even had signs to direct ppl to rooms..n in his kelong..he has a real ktv room..movie theatres..pool tables..ping pong..satellite tv..and a bar..he usually uses those room to entertain potential tenants at Latrade. He even offered me n sentill 2 bottles of chivas (18 years)..which we shyly declined..damn..y did we..haha..

Looks like a cardboard doesnt it?

ta-da!

His room had a really nice view of the sea..n it showed u..jus how success can get u to enjoy life..n he started with limited money n no degree..Mr Zhang also planned for a BBQ seafood buffet for us..yum yum..haha..n when things r freeflow..Sentill gets flowin..look at the amount of food he’s eaten..along with weiyuan (we usually call him wei ge..lol)..

Look how much sentill can eat..

And sentill pushes his plate to weiyuan..pretend its not him who ate so much..tsk tsk

A very full wei yuan..

We had a long nite..but it was a long nite of fun of cos..haha..n our dear fren Wan Yi..proved jus y everybody calls her blur when we played daidee..we were playin 5-cards..n she came out with.. ‘4-5-6-7-9’…n I was left starrin at the card for some 3 seconds..n ask her..r u sure u can put dat?...n she took even longer to realize it..haha..it was 3.30am in the morn..but still…liew..blur le..lol…

When dawn broke..we showered n headed to the dining hall for breakfast..n nasi lemak was served…goodness..the chef serves fantastic nasi lemaks..yum yum yum..still makes my mouth water..haha..after breakfast…we headed to the mall for some more shoppin..where they had alrite lookin t-shirts goin for $9 per piece..yup..birds we become.. “cheap-cheap”..

N they still had A&W!!..long time no see..haha..tink there’s onli one or 2 left in Singapore..or none..not veri sure..n I had curly fries after curly fries..yummy..

i'm in a kampong!!

We took off for Singapore by noon..n b4 den..everyone went to J.co n left with some 4 boxes of donuts each..haha..which we all devoured on the ferry bac..sinful..n gym beggin..