Wish to expertise the way you imagined Asia was supposed to be? Then you ought to be putting the little-known and engaging island of BATAM (and Smiling Hill) high in your list.

Maybe you just want to get away from all of it within the lush warmth of a really inexpensive, simply accessible tropical retreat? If that's the case, it is all here with lovely waterfront, marina and golf course resorts ready to cater to your each whim with grace and style.

Then there's the full-blown, low-cost playground right on the entrance doorstep of Singapore, with a frontier city nightlife scene of bars, restaurants, karaoke lounges and discos.

Facilities are surprisingly sophisticated and keep getting higher year by year, with major new hotels & resorts, condominium blocks and trendy shopping centers approaching stream.

You'll be able to take pleasure in nice local food, particularly in the local open air food courts (pujaseras) and the rising number of hotels &resorts provide accommodation ranging from budget to luxury.

Best of all, it is inexpensive - meals, accommodation, transport and most other prices are much lower than in places like Hong Kong or Singapore, and even less than Thailand. They compare favorably with the Philippines.

Unusually, Batam has remained below the radar for Western guests who not often assume beyond Bali, Lombok and Jakarta after they take into account Indonesia. Yet, Singaporeans and Malaysians have been visiting en masse for years, particularly for weekend getaways.

The word is slowly spreading among Westerners; mainly by way of the numerous expatriates who've taken up work contracts in what they thought can be a "hardship" post, solely to discover to their delight that the toughest part of the Batam experience is going home.