(Some Wednesday around the end of November 2013. Sorry, my report comes so late!)
I arrive to Singapore Harbour Front from Kuala Lumpur. 6 hours of bus, spent almost always sleeping. I know I have to rest and fill up my batteries. The procedure is well established: Sakae Sushi, Prima Ferry, coffee, trip with my heart bumping ("what will happen this time? who will I meet?"), Harbour Bay IMMIGRASI!
I settle in my room at Formosa. I feel like at home! New SIM card from my usual pusher at Lucky Plaza (I saw that little girl growing up). I send out SMS to several of my old friends. It's like launching seeds. Something will grow back.
Seafood at Windsor. My friend beer girl is still working there! I eat surrounded by 3-4 girls, who just want to chat sipping something with me.
All this good introduction to Batam, regrettably, does not turn in anything good for the night! As it happened already other times in the past, my first night in Batam is a true disappointing disaster.
From 0:00 to 1am, I am at No Name. Nobody remarkable there.
From 1am to 3am, I am in Pacific. I meet a couple of girls at the entrance. I pay 2 beers and we enjoy together a little while, till I discover that one of them is one of the "belly dancers"! I think she is new. She is not one of the well-known faces that has been dancing on the Pacific stage since the last few years.
She changes clothes and moves to the stage. I feel it would be just a waste of time insisting with them. I guess that this girl, just because she dances on stage every night, must believe she is kind of "super star", and thus may demand an outrageous fee to go to room.
I wander around. I feel Pacific is not the hunting realm I knew before. Working girls are too aggressive, and I do not see any interesting girls.
I spot a group of girls who look pretty and higher-level. I pay drinks to everyone, and after a while an older lady tells me "These are Vietnamese PR from Pacific KTV. 3.2 juta for booking".
I am shocked. I never heard such a high price in Batam! And it is also the first time I see viet girls in Batam! They are Vietnames indeed. They truly speak Vietnamese! I can recognize this language. It's not a scam. But they are not what I want here. And for sure I am not going to pay here more than in Singapore for Viet girls.
I come from KL, where clubs are flooded by viet girls, much more sexy than these ones. There is no point for me to go with a viet girl in Batam, paying even higher prices than in Singapore (350 SGD!). I guess that for a rich Indonesian it may make sense, to pay more for whiter skin and the exotic look of Viet girls, but also in that case, I wonder how viet girls can be more expensive in Pacific than in Orchard Towers in Singapore.
From 3:00 to 7:00, I stay in Newton. Also here, nothing good for me.
I walk back to Formosa in the daylight. I feel quite depressed.
Batam is a hit&miss, as I always lecture friends who ask me how is it. Tonight, only it was only a MISS!
Let's see tomorrow.
(follows to Day 2)