Traditional Market in Mitra Raya Batam Centre

Have you already known that there is a traditional market in Mitra Raya Batam Centre? The traditional market is called Pasar Raya Batam Centre. If you stay in Batam Centre areas, I am sure you know this traditional market very well. Many people from Batam Centre areas such as, Anggrek Sari, Center Point Batam Centre, Taman Seruni Indah, Citra Indah, Green Land, Marcelia, Duta Mas, and Mitra Raya come to this market to do some shopping. Many fresh vegetables, fishes, meat, fruits and kinds of condiments are available at this market. The Pasar Raya traditional market that we can find in Mitra Raya is different from other traditional markets such as Pasar pagi like what we can see in Jodoh, just beside Top 100 every morning, penuin, sekupang and bengkong. The Difference is If Pasar Pagi traditional market in Jodoh takes place in the edge of a street, The Pasar Raya Traditional Market takes place in a big building that is provided by the property developer of Mitra Raya.

The Pasar Raya traditional market is located in the housing of Mitra Raya Batam Centre. It’s just in front of Anggrek Sari housing. If you are from Duta Mas Housing, and want to go to this traditional market, you should go to Simpang Frengky (Frengky Intersection) direction, then when you are at that intersection, you must turn left, after that you will find Anggrek Sari Housing at the left side, and Mitra Raya Housing at the right Side, then you turn right to reach the market. As I said before that Pasar Raya traditional market is at a big building in Mitra. And there are many shops available in the building. All the shops are sold by the property developer of Mitra Raya. At the middle of the building there is a big, free spaces that are rented to the sellers. And many tenants use this big space to sell their stuffs

Pasar Raya Traditional Market becomes the only one market that is visited by people who stay in Batam Centre areas, as there is no more market that we can find in Batam Centre. According to me this traditional market is cleaner than other traditional markets that we can find in batam and this traditional market is also considered to be a complete market where you can find anything here with competitive prices. For your information, still at the same building in Pasar Raya Traditional Market, there are some shops that sell many kinds of foods and drinks. That is why many people take their breakfast here after they have finish doing some shopping in the market.

So it goes without saying that Pasar Raya Traditional market which is located in Mitra Raya Housing Batam Centre becomes the only one market that is visited by all people who stay in Batam Centre areas. All fresh vegetables, fishes, meat, fruits, kinds of condiments and all you want you can find in this traditional market. So if you are curious about this market, just come and do some shopping here, and don’t forget to take breakfast here too. I am sure you will not regret it.

Find cheap electronic stuffs in Batam

Do you like collecting handphone from many types? Or do you like changing your handphone, pda, blackberry, laptop, vcd, dvd, television if new brands of those electronic stuffs come out. If you do, then I am sure that you need this article to guide you to get those electronic stuffs in Batam. Many people out side batam have known that the electronic stuffs which are offered in batam are cheaper than in their places/towns. Although the difference is not a lot, but they prefer buying those electronic stuffs in batam to their places. There are many places or electronic shops you can visit when you are going to buy electronic stuffs in Batam. Some of them are: Lucky Plaza, Samarinda, Nagoya Hill, Mega Mall, Dc Mall, Batam City Square (BCS) and many more.

Well, I have mentioned some of electronic shops you can visit in Batam above. And I guess I just explain some of them here. The first Place that you have to visit is Lucky Plaza. This plaza is located exactly in Nagoya and it is just nearby Formosa Hotel. For Batam Citizen, this lucky plaza is very famous because of the electronic stuffs such as Handphone, blackberry, and pda that are offering there. So, many batam citizen go to this plaza when they want to buy those stuffs. There are many tenants inside the plaza that are offering electronic stuffs to customers with low price. If you are looking for handphone, pda or blackberry, you just come to this plaza, you have many choices to buy those stuffs as the price offered by the sellers there different one to another. For instance, For Handphone type Nokia E90 Communicator if the price offered in shop A is Rp 7,200,000, the price offered in shop B could be Rp. 7,000,000 or less than it. It depends on how good you can chaffer the stuffs. If you don’t like buying the stuffs from Shop A, you can go to Shop B, C or D. because of so many electronic shops available in the plaza, I even cannot count them all. So just come to lucky plaza, and prove it by yourself. There are two types of electronic stuffs that they sell in Lucky Plaza. The first type is Original Stuffs, and the second one is Black Market Stuffs. The Black Market stuffs are usually cheaper than the Original Stuffs. But don’t worry, not only Original stuffs that have guarantee, but the black market stuffs are also under Shop Guarantee for at least one month.


The next place to visit for buying electronic stuffs with low price is Samarinda. This place is located between Nagoya and jodoh. It is just beside the Top 100 and Ramayana mall. If you are only able to find Handphone, pda, and blackberry in Lucky plaza, but in this place, you may find another electronic stuffs, such as Television, dvd, vcd, Tape recorder, active speakers and many more. The price for all of the electronic stuffs which are offered in this place quite cheap. That is why, many people come to this place, when they are looking for those electronic stuffs mentioned above. Same like Lucky Plaza, inside the Samarinda there are available many shops that enables you to choose your desired stuff with lowest price.

Another places that you should visit are Nagoya Hill Mall, Mega Mall, Dc Mall, and Bcs. These four places are considered to be big malls in Batam. These malls also offer many electronic stuffs with low prices too. And they usually give 1 to 2 years guarantee of the offering stuffs. But from this four malls, I guess Nagoya Hill Mall is the favourite of batam citizen when they want to buy electronics stuffs from Mall.

In Short, low price of electronic stuffs offered by the sellers in batam really can attrack people from other places to come to this island only to get those stuffs. Many shops that sell electronic stuffs make people have many choices to buy the stuffs with low prices. So if you are interested in buying electronic stuffs with low price, just come to Batam.

Shipping your vehicles to Batam Island by Ferry Roro

Ferry Roro is not a new thing for people who live in Bintan Island. Roro itself stands for Roll in Roll out. People from Tanjung Pinang, Lobam, Lagoi, Tanjung Uban who usually go to batam and bring their vehicles use this ferry roro as a sea transportation. However, ferry roro becomes their choice when they are planning to go to Batam Island and bring their vehicles along with them nowadays. The service of this ferry has been improved very well recently. If a few years ago, the arrival and departure schedule from batam to tanjung uban or from tanjung uban to batam was only twice in a week, it has been changed a lot now. The new arrival and departure schedule is twice in a day so not twice in a week anymore. The first departure schedule from tanjung uban to batam is at 8am, and the second departure schedule is 1pm. While the first arrival schedule of the ferry roro from Batam to Tanjung Uban is at 11am and and the second arrival schedule is 2pm. While the first departure schedule from Batam to Tanjung Uban is at 10am and the second departure schedule is at 4pm. And the first arrival schedule from Tanjung Uban to Batam is at 9am, and the second arrival schedule is 2pm.

Many people from Tanjung pinang, lobam, lagoi and Tanjung Uban come to batam for business and they bring their cars or motor bikes as their vehicles in Batam. Before the presence of Ferry Roro in Batam, they were unable to bring their cars or motor bikes to Batam. So if they wanted to go to batam, they used to use a boat to reach Telaga Punggur Sea Port. Then they would use a cab to bring them to Nagoya or other places they want to visit. Therefore, the presence of this Ferry roro makes their dreams come true. Because they always wait this sea transportation to enable them to bring their cars and motor bikes along with them to Batam. The same thing also happens to Batam citizen. The presence of this ferry enables batam citizen to go to bintan island with their families and bring their cars and motor bikes to be used there.

The presence and the new departure and arrival schedule of this ferry roro in Batam also makes some motor bikers happy. There must be some reasons why they are happy. The first reason is, they are now able to do a touring from Batam to Bintan Island anytime they want because the departure and arrival schedule time of this ferry roro is twice in a day, so the bikers can arrange the time following that schedule. The second reason is, they don’t need to spend a lot of money to ship their motor cycle to Tanjung Uban as what they did in a few years ago. The third reason is, they don’t need to take many days when they do touring to Bintan. If four years ago they used to take 4 days when they did a touring from Batam to Bintan Island, it was because the departure schedule from Batam to Tanjung Uban and From Tanjung Uban to Batam was only twice in a week. So they needed four days only to wait for the ferry to bring them back to Batam.

For you guys who want to use this ferry roro, you must buy a ticket first before you are allowed to enter it. The ticket can be bought from some ticket counters that available near the Telaga Punggur Sea Port. The price of the ticket for an adult is Rp. 14,500, children Rp. 11,500. Motor bike Rp. 24,000 Car Rp. 173,500, and truck Rp. 272,500 plus the driver (For truck only). Those prices only for one way. All people who use this transportation together with their vehicles are protected by insurance of Jasa Raharja. So if anything happens to all passengers and their vehicles, the insurance of Jasa Raharja will be the one who takes responsibility of it.

Finally, the presence and the new schedule of this Ferry Roro in batam and tanjung uban makes people happy and enable them to bring their vehicles from batam to bintan island, and from bintan to batam island. If you are from Bintan Island and plan to go to batam with this ferry roro, you should go to Tanjung Uban, because this ferry sea port in bintan island is in Tanjung Uban. Then from Tanjung Uban this ferry will take you to Telaga Punggur Batam sea port. And for you guys who are from Batam island and plan to go to Tanjung Pinang, Lobam, Lagoi or any other places in Bintan with your vehicles, you should go to Telaga Punggur sea port first, the ferry will take you from telaga punggur sea port to Tanjung uban sea port. Then from Tanjung uban you can continue your journey to all places you want to visit by your car or motor bikes. Those information above is based on my own experience when I and my tiger club (Bikers Tiger Batam) went to Bintan Island for a touring and also an interview that I conducted with Mr. Muhammad (one of the ferry roro officer) a few days ago, I hope this information will be useful for you.

Hospitals in Batam

A wise word says that Prevention is better than healing. And some people also say that Prevention is cheaper than healing. I myself agree with those statements. For this opportunity I would like to share with you how our health becomes the most important thing to take care as long as we are still alive and I also want to share with you some hospitals to do some medical check up in Batam. When you are health, you can do anything; you can do your works, do some sports, watch movies, play around with friends or your children, and many more. But when you are sick, you will not be able to do your works, and probably what you can do just lay down in your bed. So make sure that you always check or control your health regularly to hospital to keep your health in a good condition. And to do the medical check up, you surely need hospital or other medical clinics to visit.

There are many hospitals that we can find in Batam. Some of them are; Awal Bross Hospital (Rumah Sakit Awal Bross), Otorita Batam Hospital (Rumah Sakit Otorita Batam), Budi Kemuliaan Hospital (Rumah Sakit Budi Kemuliaan), Harapan Bunda Hospital (Rumah Sakit Harapan Bunda). These four hospitals are considered to be big hospitals in batam. Many batam citizen come to these four hospitals to check their health or to send their sick families to have good medical treatments.

Awal Bross Hospital is located in Batam Center. It is just nearby the Jam intersection (Simpang Jam). If you are from Batam Center Sea Port, you just need around 7 (seven) minutes to reach this hospital by car or motor bike. Although this hospital is still new, but it does not mean that this hospital can not compete with other hospitals in Batam. According to some of my friends that I asked their opinion about this hospital a few days ago, Awal Bross is one of the best hospitals in Batam which has complete and modern medical equipments or facilities. Many medical doctors who work at this hospital are from overseas especially from Singapore. All the patients here are treated well by the doctors and the nurses as well. It can be proved that many people come to this hospital for medical check up or to recuperate them. However high medical treatment cost will not be a big problem for all patients who choose this hospital.

The Second hospital is Otorita Batam Hospital. This hospital is located in Sekupang, and it is not far from Sekupang International Sea Port. Built in 1971, this hospital is very famous for Batam Citizen. This hospital also has complete and modern medical facilities. Many ill and injured people come to this hospital for recovery. This hospital also accept people for annual medical check up with reasonable charge. For your info, some companies in Batam refer their ill employees to this hospital to have good medical treatments.

The third hospital is Budi Kemuliaan Hospital. This hospital is located in Pelita batam. It is just nearby Kartini Senior High School. Because of the strategic location, many people in Nagoya, Pelita and Jodoh come to this hospital when they are sick or they come only for medical check up. This hospital also has complete medical facilities to support their services to the patients. And it is same like Otorita Batam hospital, some of companies in batam also refer their ill employees to this hospital for recovery.

The last hospital is Harapan Bunda Hospital. This Hospital is also located in Pelita Batam. And it’s not far from Budi Kemuliaan Hospital. It is only about 300 kilometers away. If you are from Batam Center sea port, you will take around 15 minutes to get this hospital, while if you are from Hand Nadim Air Port, you will take around 35 minutes to reach this hospital by car or motor bike. Many people around Nagoya areas come to this hospital for medical treatment when they are sick. This hospital also has a good service to all of the patients.

There are actually many hospitals available in Batam Island, but there are only four hospitals that I think have complete and modern medical equipments or facilities inside the hospitals. These four hospitals become batam citizens’ choices when they get sick. From those hospitals, I think Awal Bross hospital is the favourite hospital for rich people or middle to upper class in Batam to have the best medical treatment when they are sick. While Otorita Batam Hospital, Budi Kemuliaan Hospital and Harapan Bunda Hospital become the choice for lower to midle class in Batam.

Can Batam become the Second Bali in Indonesia?

If you see the title above, you probably get confused about it. I choose this topic because I would like to compare between Batam and Bali Island. Besides, there is a hope in my mind that Batam will become the second Bali in the future. If we talk about Bali, I guess all of you know about this Island. And it is not only you, even westerners know this island very well. And for some foreigners, they know Bali better than Indonesia. It is a bit funny, isn’t it? But that is the right fact. Some westerners don’t know that Bali is located in one of provinces in Indonesia.

Bali is known by many westerners all over the world because of it’s beauty. There are so many interesting places that we may find there such as Kuta Beach (Pantai Kuta), Dreamland Beach (Pantai Dreamland), Lovina Beach (Pantai Lovina), Sanur Beach (Pantai Sanur), Tanah Lot, Bedugul, Kintamani, and many more. Beside that we also can find so many famous hotels and resorts with standard international services such as Kuta Sea View Cottage, Ramada Bintang Bali Resort, Ramada Resort Benoa, Parigata Resort, Sanur Beach Hotel, Barong Resort and many more. Those hotels and resorts are located at different areas near some interesting places I mentioned above.

If we compare Bali from Batam, they are actually not far in difference. If Bali has so many famous hotels and resorts that can attract westerners to visit that place, batam also has some great hotels and resorts, such as Planet Holiday Hotel, Good Way Hotel, Harmony Hotel, Novotel Hotel, Nagoya Plaza Hotel, I Hotel, Batam View Hotel, Pacific Palace, and Harris Hotel, All the famous hotels can be seen from my previous post titled: Hotels in Batam. And some of famous Resorts that available in batam are: Turi Beach Resort, Nongsa Point Resort, KTM Resort and Sijori Resort.

In Batam, you also may see some interesting places to visit, such as Sekilak Beach (Pantai Sekilak), Kampung Melayu Beach (Pantai Kampung Melayu), Melur Beach (Pantai Melur), Camp Vietnam, Barelang Bridge (Jembatan Barelang). Although these places are not as famous as what we can see I Bali, but I think these interesting places also can attract foreigners to come to Batam. The problem is, how to make these interesting places become better and finally people will say that these places are as nice as like what we can see in Bali. In my opinion, if Batam City Government and Batam Tourism Department take this case seriously I am sure that Tourism in Batam can be more famous. And there will be more foreigners come to visit batam to see the places.

In Short, It is important for Batam City Government and Batam Tourism Department to do some improvements in Tourism field in order to make all the interesting places in Batam become more famous. The more interesting places they offer, the more foreigners they get to come to this island. For me, If we are trying hard to make some improvements in tourism field, I am sure Batam Island will be as famous as Bali in the field of tourism. And there will be many westerners come to this island to visit all the interesting places that we offer them. Finally, we will be ready to Say: Welcome to Visit Batam 2010 !!!

Batam Skateboard Community (BASCOM)

Do you like playing skateboard? Are you confused where to find a Skateboard Community in Batam? Don’t worry guys, for you who like playing skateboard, This information will be useful. There is only one skateboard community that we can find in Batam. The name of the community is Batam Skateboard Community (BASCOM). This community was formed on August 22, 2001. Because of having the same hobbies and other positive activities, they formed the community in MyMart Carnaval Mall. This Skateboard community has 26 members currently. And most of the members are teenagers. However, this community accept the members from any type of ages.

When I came to see this community in Engku Putri Park, Batam Center, there were many people saw their performances. There were around 22 members there playing the skateboard around the park. Some of the beginners tried to do the Ollie style, 180Degree Ollie, Shove it and Kick flip. They tried all those styles several times to make them become familiar with the styles. According to Jacob who is usually called Jaja by his friends and one of a member of this community, these four styles are aimed for beginners. So before they go to further styles, they should master all of these four styles. He added that if beginners do these four styles continually, they will master these styles in three months.

As this is not a new community, there are so many activities they have already done. Some of them are: 1. Held a performance in Sound of Alternativesia 1, 2, 3, 4 in Circle K Nagoya. 2. Held a performance in the program of Attack for Valentine in Center Point Nagoya, and Held a performance in at the program of Bazaar in Sumatera Expo. Beside that, this community ever became one of entrants in Batam Reborn Competition in 2008, and Game of Skate Competition still in 2008. By the way, For your information this community will also show their performance in Changcuter new video clip which will be held on May 5, 2009 in Coastarina Batam Center.

The members of this community usually gather in Engku Putri Park Batam Center everyday, from 5pm until 11pm. This place becomes a favourite place for them to practice because of the location is so strategic. Besides, the condition of the place also supports them to use their skateboards to play. There are many equipments they use while they are playing this sport. Some of them are: Pyramid, Hand Rail and Quarter. All of the equipments they made by themselves. For Skateboard, they usually buy it from Singapore, Padang (Substance Shop), Jakarta or Bandung. They buy the skateboard in parts, not a complete one. So The board, wheel, Trucks, Bearing, and Raserpad are bought differently. From the information that I get from Mikha, one of the members of this community, to have one skateboard, they usually spend at least Rp. 1,200,000. To become a member of this community is so easy. The main requirement is only having a skate board. So if you have a skate board and want to join this community, you can come to Engku Putri Park, then you can meet them there and register yourself to Dedy, (The Chief of the Community). Or if you want to make a call for collecting some information about this community, you may call Jacob at 0856-6880-5250.

As this community always holds so many positive activities, If I may suggest to the Batam City Government to provide them some good facilities to support this sport so that they can practice and improve their skills in this field well. So that there will be so many Best Skaters we may find in Batam island in the future. So for you guys who are curious about this Skate Board Community, you can come to Engku Putri Park Batam Center, and you will find them playing the skateboard there. And for all of you who want to be a member of this community, make sure that you have already had a skateboard.