Getaway@BINTAN 16-17 Dec

SR, Min, PJ and I got ourselves to Bintan last Saturday. It was a wonderful time of pampering ourselves. From the moment we stepped onto the ferry, we were letting our hair loose and just soaking in the holiday mood. Mainly, we wanted to get to the spa and try out some seasports.

We reached Tanjong Pinang at around 11:15am ID time. Indonesia's an hour behind us. It sort of made the day feel that tad bit longer.

The bus took us from the ferry terminal to our resort. It was quite funny. I was thinking why the "guide" who brought us to the bus didn't say anything much. Until this tai-tai looking lady got off the bus, did he finally open his mouth to talk to us. That lady, was the boss! He was apprehensive of speaking, as he was afraid that his boss will laugh at his broken mandarin! Haha...

Later, when he did talk, he talked quite a fair bit. We came to the understanding that the people there mainly spoke Teochew....haha...my dialect....Bahasa Indon and bits of english and mandarin. The town size's only a few hundred thousand, which explains why the place was all filled with shanty towns, and NO shopping malls (the part which min, our shopping queen was not really excited about) as there would not be sufficient market for the viability.

A lot of the architecture there were kept simple, and mainly wooden. All kampung-like. The main mode of transport - bikes. It's somewhat similar to Thailand and Malaysia. One bike can be a transport for up to 4 people (1 adult, 3 children).

The people whom we met were ultra friendly, and my guess was that we were tourists and those kind of outrightly spottable kind of tourists. The service was superb! They covered our needs very well, machiam personal assistant. The guys at the reception helped us plan our itinerary, provided prompt transport service, morning calls (more than one, to make sure we were awake!), and umbrella service at our doorstep to ensure we didn't get wet due to the rain whilst crossing over a short path, and the list goes on. It's very worth it, for the amount we paid. We felt like princesses!

We tried the banana boat - tugged by the motor boat in front of us. Those guys made sure that we fell in the water! sheesh. PJ tried snorkling!

Finally, we did our long-awaited Spa! It was great - they practically scrubbed you from head to toe, massaged practically all your nerve points. Never felt so relaxed and released! How nice, if it never ended! It was quite funny also. That, however, I will keep it under wraps.

Overall, it was a memorable getaway! I wouldn't mind going back there. Probably when I start to crave for my next Spa treatment again...now, I'm rejuvenated, recharged, and renewed! Time for the next lap of work and play in the upcoming season!