Batam Info Thread

[hendri2]

Haha!!! To use spore atm cards to draw money in batam to cover your expences there??? Ah pek's advice is put 16 pieces of 50s notes in your 4 pockets...atm cards are for blackmail money....

[double8]

I chuckled at the "recommendation" of using credit card / atm card to withdraw money for better rates over changing cash at money changers.

[cdces]

Originally Posted by cdces

any bro planning to cheong batam btw 20 Dec to 3 Jan? I am heading back to Sing for holi and would like to have an experienced bro to guide me.

Cheers

Still looking for a fellow cheongster to guide. I am thinking a 2D1N trip preferably weekdays to avoid crowd. PM me to arrange pls as I am coming back next week soon.

Cheers

[heavenlychaser]

next wed, batam anyone?long time nv go

[Black Page]

Originally Posted by double8

I chuckled at the "recommendation" of using credit card / atm card to withdraw money for better rates over changing cash at money changers.

(you write "credit card", I wrote "DEBIT card", i.e. ATM Maestro card!!)

To enhance your amusement, let's chuckle together at real numbers. At least, people can chuckle too counting the money which can be wasted.

Real numbers

I took my bank account statement of October 2012, on my last visit to Batam, Singapore, Malaysia.

I withdrew the following local amounts. For each local amount, my bank account was charged the following amounts in EUR, which includes +1% applied by Maestro, +0.xx% by my bank (0.xx% depends on the country).
For each withdrawal, I computed the DIFFerence with respect on the international bank exchange rate of the same day

Note 1:
Mastercard takes the average rate of the day the operation is actually made on the source bank, that is some days later. Therefore, the actual DIFF fee we compute is not always the same on all days.

Note 2:
For each operation, I did not count the +2 EUR fixed fee, because it is the same I pay if I withdraw the same amount in EUR in my country. Therefore, I would pay it also if I change EUR in a street money changer.

SGD 500 -> EUR 319,70 Paid rate: 1,56397 DIFF= -1,62%
MYR 1000 -> EUR 255,34 Paid rate: 3,91635 DIFF= -1,16%
MYR 1000 -> EUR 255,90 Paid rate: 3,90778 DIFF= -1,37%
IDR 2.000.000 -> EUR 163,03 Paid rate: 12267,7 DIFF= -1,28%
IDR 2.000.000 -> EUR 163,87 Paid rate: 12204,8 DIFF= -1,68%
IDR 2.000.000 -> EUR 163,50 Paid rate: 12232,4 DIFF= -1,92%

Conclusions

The actual fee paid with respect to the international bank exchange rate (the one you get if you change Billions SGD between banks) is always on the order of 1.5%, never more than 2%.
Try to go to any money changer, check the difference between selling and buying rates, normalize to the average (which is close to the international bank rate), divide by 2. Is the fee so low? When I do that, I get something on the order of 4% at best.

We cannot go back to 25 October 2012 and check the rates that were offered by money changers at Harbour Bay or Bukit Bintang, but would you really think that they were better than the ones listed above?

Again the same important remark
The above is true ONLY if using a DEBIT Maestro/Cirrus ATM card.
If you use a CREDIT card (VISA, MASTERCARD), on top of all fees there is an additional +4%. Therefore, it is not convenient. Money changers are more convenient than credit cards to withdraw cash.

[Batam Man]

Originally Posted by Black Page

Sorry, I see totally different things, and it's not just my opinion. I have numbers in front of me. Let me reiterate.

Exchange rates are better on Maestro than in any bank or office.
Why?

1) Because Maestro takes the international rate (the one you see on Yahoo Finance) and adds something on the order of 1.5% (see it on the card contract, or on the Mastercard web site). IN ADDITION, there is the fixed fee from your bank (my bank charges me 2EUR) AND SOMETIMES the fixed fee of the bank of the ATM. => Be sure to withdraw some significant sum and not only 50$, or fixed fees will eat the advantage on the rate.

2) What is charged by the exchange offices or banks? You can estimate it as deviation from the average (sell rate - buy rate) / 2. In many cases, you'll see some exchange rate fee on the order of 4% or 5%. (in an airport, it can be 20%!)

3) Since we never believe theory, I just compared my bank account statement with the exchange rates available on the street. I did this in MANY countries, incl. Batam, Uganda, Ghana, South America, Bangladesh....
(juicy field reports about local girls duly posted on ISG).
Of course, these raw data confirm that it's better to use the Maestro card rather than negotiating on the street (unless you dont want to change a small amount).
AND, even if the rate was not better, it is always easier to use a card to take cash in a foreign country, rather than travelling with a bag of notes in your original currency.

You wrote:
" In Indonesia the ATM only allow you to draw up to Rp.1.5mil".
Sorry, also here I have seen different things.
In Batam, I usually withdraw 2 millions each time.
Most ATMs give this amount in 50k notes, and this is not very comfortable.
There is ONE ATM in Nagoya Hill Street Food, though, which gives 100k notes. Much better.

Warning
The above holds for Maestro (or other international circuits, I believe) DEBIT cards. Refrain to use CREDIT cards to withdraw cash instead. VISA and MASTERCARD charge 4% fee on top of the interbank exchange rate + 1.5% for advancing credit cash.

Fine, if you think that's a better deal, but I'll always go to my money changer, and I don't need to bring bag of $ when I travel, SGD has the $10,000 note if I really need to carry that much cash.
Sorry I was wrong about the local ATM with Rp.1.5juta, you are right that some and I should say very few bank's ATM can withdraw up to max Rp.2juta.
You seems to be a seasoned traveller, me too, and I think we all have our own ways of doing things, which work best for us.

[Black Page]

Originally Posted by Batam Man

Fine, if you think that's a better deal, but I'll always go to my money changer, and I don't need to bring bag of $ when I travel, SGD has the $10,000 note if I really need to carry that much cash.
Sorry I was wrong about the local ATM with Rp.1.5juta, you are right that some and I should say very few bank's ATM can withdraw up to max Rp.2juta.
You seems to be a seasoned traveller, me too, and I think we all have our own ways of doing things, which work best for us.

My dear FRIEND, we are here on the forum to help each other and others too who lurk but do not write.
I took more than half an hour to collect all those numbers, but I wanted to be sure I was right and I also wanted to share this with everyone.
I was pissed off, the day I discovered how much money I was wasting travelling around the world by not being careful in changing the money. 5% of 1000 SGD is 50 SGD!! It's one cheap cewek or 2 big dinners in Batam.

[sohbuckkong]

hi, i want to ride motorcycle in batam but i do not have motorcycle licence, i only have car licence. I wonder can i 'buy' a licence' in batam. tks

[hendri2]

hahaha!!! if you show the $10000 note to the money changer mei mei...stupid one will ask you to go to temple....but the smart one will say let`s marry now...hehe!!!

[ogman]

Heavanlychaser, CDCES, WarrenG!!

Although this will be my first trip across the strait as well, I am planning a trip to either Batam or Bintan 12/20 to 12/23. I'd like to join a couple other cheongers since we'd be able to compare notes. Anyone up for a small group trip?

Aso any expert Indo-mongers want to share your wisdom in exchange for a free flow of beer?

Please PM me!

[newlander]

Originally Posted by hendri2

hahaha!!! if you show the $10000 note to the money changer mei mei...stupid one will ask you to go to temple....but the smart one will say let`s marry now...hehe!!!

good idea bro, but 1000 note still not much for mei mei

[cheong2009]

Originally Posted by Black Page

My dear FRIEND, we are here on the forum to help each other and others too who lurk but do not write.
I took more than half an hour to collect all those numbers, but I wanted to be sure I was right and I also wanted to share this with everyone.
I was pissed off, the day I discovered how much money I was wasting travelling around the world by not being careful in changing the money. 5% of 1000 SGD is 50 SGD!! It's one cheap cewek or 2 big dinners in Batam.

bro, learn from mistake. everybody still learning.

[hendri2]

haha!! bro newlander...it is 5 zero..not 4...not yet christmas lah!...smart mei mei would want to marry...but no normal cheongers would do such a silly thing to give 10k....marriage does not mean their legs are chained to yours...hehe..

[hendri2]

haha!!! ah pek is a bit tipsy...it is 4 zero (10000)..not 5...should not drink and talk cock...hehe!!!

[Heil Hitler]

A two week delayed FR. 2D1N stay at Hotel 89. Got this chick from New Berry Indah (NBI):

Name: Lena
Age: Late 20s
Looks: 5/10
Boobs: A+ or B-
BBBJ: 2/10 (not much feel, kept spitting)
FJ: 7/10 (tight and quite a moaner)
Damage: RP450K, Tip RP80K

To make matters worse, a bunch of drunk Indians came back at 2am and decided to have their conversations in and across the hallways. These are a real low class bunch and you can tell that they don't get out of the country much because they want the whole batam to know that they are there.

I've got Indian friends and they are nothing like this bunch of low-lifes. The group had a skank with them and she's in her 50s (as were the rest), trying to act all cool yelling, "He's got beer in his room!" As if it was the f#*king discovery of the century. Get a life already huh? You're no spring chicken!

I finally had enough and set the hotel security on their arses. Only then did they zip that hole in their face.