sorry for starting my first post of the the year only 4 days after the new year. let's give ourselves a round of applause for surviving 2012, metaphorically and literally (we can now watch the movie 2012 and laugh at it!). and yes, i'm back from my long awaited resort getaway in bintan! still missing the short 3-day 2-night relaxing stay there because school work started once i'm back.
30th December 2012
cabbed down to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and boarded the Bintan Resorts Ferries which started its journey to bintan at 11.10am, local time. being kiasu Singaporeans, we were the first to board the ferry to ensure that we get the best seats so that we would be the first to alight in order to be the first to clear the customs. someone's slippers were almost sacrificed in the process! we didn't managed to be the first, but we were the first few. i'm glad that we were kiasu becuase there were only about three to four customs officer.
took the resort bus from the ferry terminal and headed to Nirwana Resort Hotel for check-in. upon arrival, we were welcomed with music and dancing at the entrance. resort-like to the max! i thought i'd only see such things on television but it's happening to me! there's even complimentary drinks served! okay cheap thrill (actually not cheap, we paid quite a sum considering it's just bintan). since the check-in is only at 3pm bintan time (1 hour slower than singapore), we killed time by playing bridge at the lobby. got our rooms at 2pm instead and we were so glad to get some air-con from the room because the lobby was really humid, probably due to the drizzle.
forgotten to take a picture of the room so this is yiling's, but mine looks exactly the same. i like that the room is especially spacious compared to other hotels or even chalets, and it's like not even the best rooms they have.
and this is their infinity pool! picture also taken by yiling. actually most of the pictures in this post will be :P
after settling in and getting comfortable with the room, we started to plan our activities! we were choosing from two packages offered by The Oasis. the first was 1 hour traditional massage + DIY Grill your own seafood dinner + transportation to and fro for SGD $54 per pax. the second was the same as the first except that the massage was substituted with 1 box of 16 shots fireworks for every booking of 2 pax at SGD $36 per pax. personally preferred the latter because the last massage experience i had at batam was not exactly enjoyable. however, we decided to go for the first package instead, and i did not regret it :) i think it's more worth the price anyway. anyway, the massage was good :D though i giggled quite a bit when she was massaging a few areas. we got to choose from three scents - lavender, jasmine and sandalwood and i chose sandalwood! but i got backaches from the massage the next day! :(
so before our 54 bucks package, yiling and i headed for the pool and jacuzzi while the boys headed to the gym. so hardworking right, holidaying and still gym-ing!
attempting to take a shot of us with the infinity pool! didn't dare to head to the deeper end because we don't know how deep was it, and because there were three ah bengs there :/
decided to just relax at the jacuzzi area.
and we got bored waiting. so we practised our kung fu!
just had to laugh, couldn't help it!
and here's our dinner! YAY!! really hungry already.
we had mix green salad with thousand island dressing for appetizer, steam rice, sauteed mix vegetable, grilled prawns, marinated chicken wings, ikan bumbu pepes (similar to otah), marinated squid, chicken sausages and a fresh fruit platter for dessert.
we attempted to grill our own food but the first batched turned up burnt! so the staff helped us cook the whole table of food instead :D with us being the only diners by the beach under a pavilion in a golf course and having three staff serving us, it felt as though we were really rich and booked the whole place for ourselves.
on a side note, the roads in bintan was really dark. i'd be scared driving with no street lamps. not that i can drive though haha.
31st December 2012
was hoping it wouldn't be raining, on the contrary, it poured almost the whole day! plans to explore the beach was ruined as we could only stay indoors. so we ended up playing bowling! my score remained unchanged at 80+ throughout the years :/ but not bad, i'm still second! :D was worried we had to pay damages for the floor though :P
explored Pasir Oleh Oleh in the afternoon but we were caught in the heavy rain and had to seek shelter at one of the restaurants. decided to enter some of the shops when the rain subsided and it was quite comfortable running in the drizzle with a warm and dry towel actually!
dinner was settled at Bintan Idol Cafe, at Pasir Oleh Oleh again. initially thought it was kind of stupid to go back to that place again so we wanted to try the Kelong Restaurant. made our reservations for that at 7pm and didn't cancel the Bintan Idol Cafe's which was at 6pm because the hotel staff told us not to bother as the cafe usually does not provide the transport as they promised. while waiting for the transport to the Kelong Restaurant later, we suddenly remembered why we didn't want to have our dinner there as discussed on our first day. because it was new year's eve, this was one of the few restaurants that opened but was serving set menus at SGD $98 per pax! at that moment, a lady approached us just in time to ask us if we were going to Bintan Idol Cafe. we decided to go ahead with the cafe instead of the Kelong Restaurant as it's a much cheaper option (SGD $68 for 4 people!!!). did you realise this means that we made the driver wait for an hour?
no regrets! dinner was superb and worth the price! :) we changed the soup and switched gong gong for calamari. wanted to change most of the dishes till the waitress told us only two changes were allowed.
the uber sour iced lemon tea and hot plate tofu.
sichuan soup and vegetable in oyster sauce.
black pepper beef.
calamari (YUM!) and steamed fish.
chilli crab. a miserably small one.
bought carlsberg back for countdown in the room later that night at 3 cans for SGD $5. we realised we got cheated on our first night as we paid SGD $6 for one can! :( and yiling found this childhood bubble balloon that we used to play and she couldn't resist buying it back to play since it only cost SGD $1.
and so watching television, playing bridge, drinking beer and blowing bubble balloons was what we did counting down to the new year!
1st January 2013
woke up to a freaking good weather the first day of the year in bintan! :D the sun was up and shining bright. we were determined to have our breakfast in the cafe instead of by the poolside because the food was better. there were more variety to choose from and also tasted yummier!
decided not to waste the good weather so we headed to the pool for a dip. played with the beach ball in the pool and swam to the deeper end of the infinity pool. and oh my, i got tanned in such a short time!
checked out at 12pm and walked to the beach to take some pretty pictures before heading back to singapore. the sun was too bright our polaroid pictures didn't turn out well. actually, the picture barely even came out!
and finally, bye bye bintan! i had a great time with the great company; glad that we all clicked :) all relaxed and ready to start the new year :D
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