Batam

In spite of the boys holiday camp I have been so busy that have not been good at updating the news here. I used their last week at camp to get an interview done with the Eu Yan Sang people and it was a truly great meeting. Learned a great deal and am trying to put it into some kind of form now. But with the boys being off school and off camp a bit tricky.

Last Friday we went over to Batam to see where Robert is staying. Quite a hassle the getting away from here - a lot of running around in the terminal and many checks and very busy with people. Also on the other end had to get visas for everyone etc. So this way the trip takes considerably longer than just the ferryride of about 1 hour. But we got there. It was dark when we arrived so didn't see much of the island. The resort where he stays is very funny though - Harris. It is by the seaside with own beach but facing the Singapore Straights, so wouldn't want to go into water there. But they have a great big pool and masses of activities. Robert has a junior suite there and they had kindly put in beds for kids. The kids are always so excited to go to a hotel anyway! All the staff are so happy and friendly all the time even though Robert complains that things don't work perfectly. I found the friendly and personal attitude makes up for that any time. The manager is a round happy Greek guy from Cyprus who is always around greeting people, answering phones, shaking hands, joining in karaoke and line dance. On the BBQ night the boys had their first go at karaoke with "twinkle twinkle".

Saturday morning Robert went to work and we explored the resort. Soon Beatrice discovered the kid's club "nanny" and was not to get away. They played outside, indoors, went fishing. There were two other kids from Singapore in the club for most of the day and all played really well together. And "nanny" Rofi is a real Mary Poppins - she really joins in the games and is not superwising the kids. So I didn't almost know what to do with my day! Got a lot of work done on my article, went to the gym and foot reflexology (ouch!!!). There is also a nice roof top spa that I will plan in for next time! In the afternoon we all went fishing with the kids club - just to a pond outside and funnily they all caught lots. Karl thought he won as he was the first one to catch a fish but later Raoul took one after the other. He thinks he caught at least 10. Beatrice got 6. We released the fish afterwards. (And when they went fishing the next day almost nobody caught anything at all - the fish knew already!)

The resort was very busy on the weekend - lots of local groups for daytime activities (a great attraction among others is a long "flying fox" that starts from the roof of the hotel and goes over the pool!) and a few big church groups for their gatherings. That ended in very loud and extremely bad karaoke style singing until late night under our window. Couldn't understand much apart from a few halleluja's from time to time but otherwise sounded like some really bad chinese pop. Well, I was so tired of my busy day that it didn't really matter.

On Sunday met Robert's big boss at breakfast, he was very nice and friendly to us, talked about his 4 kids and let Robert have a day off. Not that it mattered much because the kids just wanted to go to kids club anyway. With bribes and threats we managed to drag them away for a little swim and lunch in between play. Beatrice had been keen to go bowling - there is an alley at the resort - so we went but after 5 rounds she had had enough and ran back to play. Karl followed soon. Which left Raoul, Robert and me bowling for all 5 of us. Raoul carried the heavy balls bravely and was happy with his strokes no matter if he hit. Well at least great stamina. But we are all rubbish at bowling and really only went because Beatrice wanted it!

None of us got sick or had any problems at all. So I guess Robert must have been really unlucky with his Batam belly and that gave him very hard time for the first couple of weeks. Hopefully better now.

So we didn't manage to do any sightseeing at all. Next time I'll know and just send the kids to club and go shopping on my own. On the way back to ferry could see a bit of the surroundings. It is really still a developing country in spite of it's proximity to Singapore. Many many wooden huts on roadsides, just like some remote corners of Bali. Roads full of holes, buildings broken or unfinished. It will take ages to catch up even with Malaysia. But people seem to be very laid back and happy.