Well, holiday went into a quicksand. :'(
I have finally acquiesced to the fate that Year 6 is nascent, brimming with a lot of challenges (and a lot of fun, hopefully). Let me tell a final tale from Indonesia, as I pensively gaze across the ship-laden waters marrying Batam and Singapore.
Born, raised, and breathed urban areas for 18 years of my life (and counting..) I take immense pleasure of viewing rural scenery. Singapore, sorry to say, lacks such places, and thus I begged my parents to allow me travel out of town as much as possible during my 12 days of Indonesia. (Jakarta isn't green either..)
So I went to a few places out of town, namely Bogor, Bandung, and Puncak. Other than being considerably greener, cooler, and rustic compared with Jakarta, another common theme binds these places together. Congestion. In ascending order. Well, it was high-season, but the distance that could have been traveled in an hour took more than 3 hours to complete, including a complete half an hour halt as the roads to Puncak were momentarily closed. I napped throughout the journey to repay my sleep debts, though, so it's fine :)
Only in Indonesia you can pay the police to escort you through the traffic congestion. Only there you can find lots of people standing in the middle of the road selling stuff, and even offering services to direct your car through a 'hidden passage' to circumvent the congestion. Only in my beloved country you can become a boss with two thousand rupiahs (equivalent to roughly 0.2SGD). How? Give the money to the guy in the parking lot. He will shout: "makasih bos!" (thank you, boss) hehehe
As such, I was much delighted to discover that Batam is actually congestion-free and is exquisitely natural. An hour plus of ferry ride from Singapore, the relatively developed rural town is a haven for seafood. My last Indonesian meal and drink was really worth it, probably someday I might have the privilege to tour around the town with my Singaporean friends. That's all for today, folks, see you around :)
Truly Indonesia's finest,
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