The Great Bintan Escape...part 2!

Day 2: Feb 2, Sunday

Me and Red woke up early the next day, Sunday, since we got a lot of things planned for the day.

We prepared to get breakfast from Spice, and on our way, we snapped some photos... Adik din sa pictures yung kasama ko... :P

Now that's how you start a good morning!

"Chalet Guide" by the beach

The breakfast at Spice is buffet-style, so syempre PG-moment na naman for me. (Kaya hindi ako pumapayat e... hehehe)

Ang sarap naman... nung breakfast. :P

After the hearty meal, we went back to the chalet to put on some sunblock.

Yep, that's her real name... Isn't this the best way to know someone's real name? :D

Once we've put on enough sunblock, we decided to walk around the beach, and syempre, picture-picture! :P

The chalets

The beach

The beach uli

Batang naglalaro sa beach

Nag-e-emote?

The two reasons why I love Bintan: the hammock, and the person sitting on it. :P yikeeeeee...

Yey! Finally removes the cover :)

hmmmnnnn... a much more "interesting" shot of the beach... :D

Excuse me miss, maalon ba sa labas???

Relaxing by the shore

Pati kayak, di pinalagpas! :P

All that buffet-eating and beach-walking exhausted us, so after a few more minutes, we decided we needed wash-up and rest. (Buhay-baboy lang... :P)

By 12, we checked out of the resort, and then booked a 2.5-hour couple massage treatment in Aura Spa at Pasar Oleh Oleh. The package included a massage, body scrub, sauna, and body lotion, in short, 2.5-hours of mindless pampering. I need more of these... :P

kahit san, basta may camera, mag-po-pose at mag-po-pose talaga! :D hehehe...

(off-topic! in fairness, I didn't burst-out laughing when they started massaging me, as initially expected from my hyper-ticklish body)

After the massage, it was time to head to the ferry terminal.

We reached the ferry terminal and bought some souvenir items there, since we didn't have time to buy them elsewhere. We also had our very late lunch / very early dinner at the terminal. Thankfully, we booked the Emerald class on the way back to Singapore, so we were able to hang-around the Executive Lounge.

Sorry, Emerald Class passengers only... :P

After a few more minutes of waiting, and we're finally boarding!

I'm not so sure if it's because of the better seats or the better sea conditions or both... but Red didn't puke this time around! Yey! We slept most of the time we were in the ferry, so that might have helped aswell.

Ferry Ride back to Singapore... before sleeping :P

After 50 minutes, and we're back in SG... Back to work! and back to real life!
I already miss the hammock... hehehe...

The Great Bintan Escape...

Isang gabi, habang magkausap sa phone:

Me: gusto kong mag-beach...
Red: tingin ako ng flights to Phuket?
Me: hmmnn... Bintan na lang kaya? para malapit lang.
Red: sige...

And thus, that weekend itself... may dalawang batang pasaway na sumakay ng ferry papuntang Bintan!
...

Day 1: Feb 6, Saturday

Red has work until 1pm during Saturdays, so I picked her up at her office in Changi North after work. From there we head straight to their flat to drop my stuff and buy provisions for the trip.

Afraid that we'd be late for our scheduled ferry ride, we head to the Ferry Terminal early. We shared a bowl of Chicken Noodle soup for lunch and proceeded to wait for boarding...

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!
Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your normal reading for a blog-first! For the first time in this blog's history... may I present... (drum-roll)Red:

While waiting for boarding...

At around 5:00pm, we were already called in to board the ferry.

This is my 3rd time going to Bintan, and I've got to say, this has got to be the bumpiest ferry ride I've been in! It was so bumpy, Red felt woozy and puked during the trip. According to her, it's her first time to do that on a trip (should I be flattered that it happened with me? :P)

After about 50 minutes, we arrive in Bintan ferry terminal. A resort crew was there to assist us and pointed us to the correct bus.

While in the bus to Mayang Sari Beach Resort

After a few minutes in the bus, we arrive at my favorite resort in Bintan, The Mayang Sari Beach resort. We got the sea view chalet, which has a great view of the beach.

View from the chalet

Inside the chalet

It was already late in the afternoon, so we just rested for quite a while, cleaned-up, and proceeded to have some dinner.

Dinner at Spice Restaurant

Playing with the iPhone before dinner

Sambal Seafood

The Ginormous Grilled Ribs

Just how big are those ribs??? Observe...

They're as big as Red's head!

Takaw!!! hehehe... peace!

After dinner we walked around and finally settled in the hammock in front of our chalet. If there is one thing I love about Mayang Sari, it's this hammock and it's location near the sea. It's so serene, especially during night time.

We laid on the hammock and talked about random and funny things...

"Charge it to the hammock, please..."

That was my favorite part of the whole trip. We were just soooo happy and comfortable with each other. If there was one moment in my life where time can just stand still, I wish it was that... lying there beside her, underneath the stars (cheeeeezzzzzy...)

Thus ends Day 1.

Merriest Christmas part 4

Day 4

We had to wake-up early for Day 4 since we needed to be on a scheduled ferry ride to Bintan, Indonesia. We took a cab from our flat to Tanah Merah Ferry terminal. Once we arrived at the terminal, we checked-in and got breakfast. We had Singapore's signature dish, Chicken Rice, in the food court of the terminal.

Around 11am, we were already in the ferry.

Ferry ride to Bintan, Indonesia

I look like I snorted something illegal...

After nearly an hour, we're finally in Indonesia!

Welcome to Indonesia!

We rode the hotel shuttle bus to Bintan Lagoon Resort. Once we arrived at the resort, we checked-in, but we had to wait for some time to put our stuff in the room since it wasn't ready yet. So while waiting, we decided to just go around the resort.





Then we decided to have lunch.

Buffet lunch @ Bintan Lagoon Resort and the return of the official food model :)

Another version of my "don't mess with my food" look

After lunch and waiting for some more time, our room was finally ready.





We rested in the room for awhile. It was at around this time that the "great flood" happened. Long story short: our room got flooded because the bathtub has a leak that we didn't notice earlier. Ah! good times! :))

This day was also a very pivotal time in our relationship. Whatever it was, I'm just glad right now that it was over and we're happy.

Anyway, going back, around 6.30pm, the girlfriend decided to go for a swim in the pool. Apparently, the pool was only until 7pm, so after the quick swim, we just went back to our room to have dinner.

Since we had so much food for lunch, we decided to have something light, and just got some sandwiches and fries. We ate them in our room while watching TV. (now that's what I call a vacation! :) )

After cleaning up, we tucked ourselves in bed and watched Saw 1 (hat tip to Reg for my Saw 1-4 copies )

I obviously enjoyed watching the movie (I've seen it several times already), but I doubt the feeling is mutual for the girlfriend. Now each time I ask her to watch a movie she responds with "Kahit ano, wag lang saw" hehehe... :))

So ends Day 4.

Escape from Monotony

After a few months of hard work, me, my brother, and his gf decided to have a few days off from the often monotonous life in Singapore. We took a whole day leave last friday so we can hop on a ferry going to Bintan Island, Indonesia, where the waves can cause concusions, the wind never stops blowing, and the hammocks are so damn irresistable!

view of Bintan from the ferry

Mayang Sari beach resort where we stayed for 3days and 2nights

View of the beach from the reception area

Our cottage

Being a usual tourist spot, the prices of items are really aimed at tourists... Rich tourists, that is. The currency they use is Singapore dollars, not Indonesian Rupiahs... Weird e? The prices of things are the same as that in SG, if not more, which is crazy. I mean, this is Indonesia! It's supposed to be much much cheaper right?!

Bintan is outrageously close to SG, so it has a lot of visitors from there, mostly the Caucasian expats who earn 3x the normal wage. Man, if I had their salary, I'd probably be here every week too!

And to add to the list of things i've done for the first time, I braved the waters and went on body-boarding. Here's my fantastically gay body-board which I bought a few days back.

The waves were amazingly strong! How strong you say? It was able to push me around with not much effort! Go figure!

no f-ing clue who these people are...

But my favorite part of the Bintan trip, I must say, is definitely this...

The best invention known to man, after the computer... the seaside hammock

Nothing like the sound of the ocean, the cool breeze, and the mild swinging of the coconut leaves while lying peacefully on a tree-shaded hammock thinking of absolutely nothing. Ah! the life!

Sidenote: this entry was written while I was lying on this particular hammock...