Getaway Bintan
Hey all, finally have time to pen down another of my breaking-free weekends. Thank God who blessed me with awesome housemates and blockmates that make a fun getaway, from work, from dullness, from lifeless.
Sharing things we did in Bintan coz I think it's quite a affordable getaway and it's just an hour ferry ride away. Indulge yourself to good seafood, glorious breakfasts, blue waters and the best part, comfy beds to sleep on.
Bintan seem to be the less popular choice as compared to Batam, probably due to its slightly further distance from Singapore but I would say Bintan definitely have better beaches. At least from what I saw, the waters were bright blue on a sunny day.
Getting to Bintan
From Singapore, the only ferry terminal that provides transport to Bintan is at Tanah Merah. It's as good as going to the airport LOL. So I guess it's not just an hour away after all. We got tickets from Bintan Resort Ferries which travels to Bandar Bentan Telani Terminal (there's another ferry terminal so do check which one is nearer to your accomodation). Although Bintan seem like the less popular choice as compared to Batam, ferry tickets do sell fast and we had no choice but to take a 8am ferry ride. So do book early and don't wait till the last minute like us haha.
Unlike Batam's ferry terminal, BBT was just, simple. Only a few souvenir shops and one minimart. So in case you thought you can do shopping here, NOPE, nothing much you can do here haha. We arrived earlier than our scheduled time, had no choice but to just hang around the area. There's a Garuda statue outside in case you couldn't convince yourself that you are already at Indonesia. :)
Getting to Holiday Inn Pantai Indah
Transfers to and from ferry terminals are provided for most of the resorts on Bintan, you will see there are many resort vans and buses awaiting at the pick-up point of the terminal. Staffs of the resort will be holding your name to welcome you at the terminal arrival area. But if transfers are not provided for your stay, don't worry, there will be plenty of "friendly" uncle trying to help you go to your destination. We hopped on to the resort's van and head towards the resort which is around 20 minutes away.
Wah feeling abit atas when we were greeted with welcome drinks. Honestly I don't know what are the towels for haha. The resort has a rather simple reception area, just a small office to complete your payment. No fancy grand lobbies or plushie sofas. But not like we are going to stay in the reception area. We were able to check in early, after completing the procedures, a buggy picked us up to our room, oops sorry i mean, villa lol.
Once we stepped into the villa, honestly who needs to go out omg. Sorry I don't have photos of every corner but let me get the video done, there should be a room tour kinda video. But anyway, a villa, is certainly very different from your usual rooms. You pretty much have everything in the room, TVs in every room and living room, dining area, mini kitchen and the best part has to be the pool with the recliners and sunbed. It's like a small heaven within the four walls. Like....i can stay here all day.
Plaza Lagoi
But we were equally excited to explore the outdoors. Plaza Lagoi is a nearby establishment with resort, shops, restaurants and public access to Lagoi beach. From our resort, Plaza Lagoi can be accessed via shuttle bus with the following fixed timetable. Bus wasn't exactly on time, but we didn't wait too long.
It really is a plaza, wide space surrounded by shop lots. For some reason the shops seem pretty quiet and not all shop lots are occupied. The beach area was quite crowded though, and it looks like they are all locals on a family outing. The weather was pretty good when we arrived, bright sun and I could see the blue ocean. Found a pretty decent cafe nearby the beach area which serves local foodfare at very affordable prices.
Warung Yeah
Everything we ordered here is IDR 30,000 or less, that's like less than SGD 3 per dish!
Crazy Fried Rice - IDR 28,000
Thought this was really good, it's a bit like the fried rice version of the stir-fried carrot cake (chai tow kuay). The sweet taste of kicap (dark sauce), with shreds of fragrant eggs. The same taste goes for the Indomie. LIKE LIKE this. I ordered the Green Chilly Fried Chicken with Rice (IDR 30,000, first photo on left below) which wasn't as impressive. But given the price, guess I shouldn't complaint much haha.
But anyway it's still a pretty nice cafe to dine in and chill. There's a rooftop bar which opens in afternoon. Then they had HBO on the TV and I remember how our eyes were just glued on the TV for at least another hour.
Not sure if you can see the blue waters behind, for a public beach, Plaza Lagoi is certainly worth visiting.
Nibbana Spa @Lagoi
Just when we managed to pull our eyes away from the TV and head out, it started pouring, like very heavily. Can't go to the beach and we were stuck within the plaza. Found ourselves passing by Nibbana Spa and decided to take a look at the price list. Turns out we were having one of the tourist pamphlets which gives a 10% discount upon presentation. There are several packages to choose from and they were kind enough to let us change some of the components.
If i remember correctly, all our 90-minutes packages were around IDR 330,000 (approx SGD 31) before the discount.
For me, my package includes:
1. Foot Bath (I think it's just foot rinse haha)
2. Neck and Shoulder Massage
3. Full Body Massage
4. Body Scrub
5. Hot Shower (LOLL like this is just to wash off your scrub, initially I thought this is some special treatment shower, felt abit cheated when I was just showed to the washroom which was pretty bad, there's not even a freaking hook to hang my towel)
Can't say it's super affordable but I know the prices are definitely much cheaper than what would have been charged by the spas from the resorts. Massage was ok, relaxing and as usual, I fell asleep in the process. But I have to say the body scrub was pretty worth it imo. Coz I'm so lazy to do a scrub all over my body HAHA and it feels good to get this done once and for all. Guess it's the right decision to do this before the day out in the sun.
Cheers to a lazy afternoon.
The rooms are just partitioned rooms and I can totally hear the boys next door LOL Would have been annoying if they were strangers HAHAHAH.
The Kelong Seafood Restaurant - Nirwana Gardens
When we're done, the sky was still a gloomy shade of grey. The staff at Nibbana asked if we need transport back to the resort, we asked if they could bring us to our dinner place instead and they gladly agreed to it. So if you want to go to any Spa, do call to check if they offer free transport.
After around 10 minutes drive down winding roads, we found ourselves at the Kelong Seafood Restaurant by the sea. The restaurant is located in Nirwana Gardens, another integrated resort in Bintan equipped with restaurants, bars, accommodations and activities including elephant rides! Purposely selected this restaurant for its serene view. We were pretty early when we arrived, killed time with photos!
Check out some of the shots, #nofilter guys!
Make your own painting here.
Even a random photo looks picturesque.
The sky sure looked gloomy, but that faintly glowing sun from behind still lit the picture.
See that small hut behind, that's the Calypso Floating Bar. Despite supposedly cheap prices of alcohol in Indonesia, the floating bar charges a bomb for the drinks and so we gave up on the thought of having a drink.
Friendly staff from the restaurant helped to take this. LOL we look like we came from a fishing village.
Time for dinner!
Digging into our first seafood meal with the dusk approaching.
Not sure if it's because of the amount of Singaporean tourist that visit or Bintan local cuisine are similar, the restaurant is pretty much serving tze char dishes which was a bit unexpected for me. But oh well can't complain on tze char dishes, it's always the comfort food.
And we get to pick our dinner
Dinner's served.
Tofu with Scallops
This was quite yummy but the tofu was abit sour :(
Lemon Chicken
Crispy yummy
Yau Mak
Black Pepper Crab
Quite fresh and it's not too spicy. The sauce is quite salty but I guess that's exactly why the crab meat inside are nicely seasoned.
Time to dig in while enjoying the serene view.
Total Damage was around 1.5 million IDR if i remember correctly. That's about 25 dollars per pax.
That's for Day 1！
Waking up to a bright and sunny day. Lazy bum like me would have asked for the buggy to pick me to the reception but the weather is just great for a walk.
See that blue waters waiting for us. Sorry, if I knew this would be the last time we see such blue waters I would have made sure I went all the way down to the beach to take a better one. (haha not that this photo is not good)
Buffet breakfast to kickstart the day
Round 1
Indomie was good LOLLL
Round 2 for the special compartment. Look at that satisfying cereal bowl.
Gawd I miss this view. Still hating myself for not going down to the beach T T Yes this morning was the last time we catch the view of glistening waters under the cottony sky.
If only I can have breakfast like this everyday.
Ths sun was scorching hot when we finished our breakfast. Time to do what we always wanted to do.... HEA IN THE VILLA. Like really thats the whole point of getting this villa haha. Dipping ourselves into our very own pool, no strangers, just us and the bright sky above our heads, no one judging you for not knowing how to swim, just be the dolphin you want to be.
And of course, can't miss the chance for that #bitchpleaseimmaunicorn shot. Who do you think pull it off? But I guess we're unicorns in different way.
Even the sunbed is an instagrammable set.
Forgive me if you think those photos are just to zhuangbi, just trying to live a dream within one frame of photo.
After the dip in the pool, was enjoying the presence of air conditioning. There I sat on the sofa, watching movies that we'll never watch but it was oddly satisfying at that moment. HEA is real. And we were indulging in it, so much that we decided to get room service to prepare our lunch omggggg. First ever room service food in my life, happened just like that.
Sorry I can't remember what's on the right but the Rendang Pizza on the left was good.
We planned to go for water sports at late afternoon but turns out, we were too late. At 4pm, the sky was gloomy and the waters have ebbed. Like, the first line of sea i can see was at least 800m away. Heartbroken that my plan of sinking into the clear blue waters was gone. We decided to walk towards the waters. Taking in the gloomy beauty as it is.
Clouds were really rolling over my head and I was embracing the sharp chills that hit me. This could've been a perfect background for your emo music videos.
The water still looks like a pristine blue from far, together with the grey thick clouds, quite an interesting sight if you ask me.
Ciu Yong Seafood
Then there's dinner time! After yesterday's atas dinner by the sea, we wanted to grab something more local this time at a local hawker center. Managed to call a driver to send us to Pujasera, which is like a food centre with rows of stalls and there's like D'Bintan Spa nearby. But I guess we went at the wrong time, most of the stalls are closed. The driver suggested a seafood restaurant that is cheap and good. Thought we will have to spend a bomb again this time but bring it on, seafood is never enough.
Through the window, I see things change outside. Turns out we left the "Resort" section of Bintan and went into the local neighborhood. The roads are narrow, dark and winding every way. I'm impressed by how the driver can tell where is where. After about half an hour, it felt like we drove deep into the woods and we found ourselves at a real Kelong kind of seafood restaurant right above the river. The floors and walls are all wooden, in the middle of the restaurant is where dinner is rared. There's a very funky smell to the place, no pretty lights but pitch black darkness when you stare into the waters. But for some reason the place felt very peaceful and homey in a way.
After we order our food, the staff just went down for the catch.
sorry I had to take a photo of this. We asked what is a drink named DLL. Dan Lain Lain. LOLLLLLLL
Now look what we've got here: Sambal Kangkung, Omelette, Deep Fried Shrimp, Sotong, Fish and Chili Crab
all these for less than SGD 20 per pax. Like take my money pwease.
Sweet and sour fish
The crabs are smaller here but it's freaking fresh. Like the meat just detach from the shells easily, nothing is wasted, you get every bit of it, including the crab legs.
Ciu Yong Seafood
Jl. Selat Bintan II Penghujan, Bintan Regency, Riau Islands Province 29135 Indonesia
With a happily filled stomach, we head back to our villa and just chill the night out. Imagine coming home to comfy sofas, bar by the pool and TVs with tonnes of channels. I don't wanna sleep T T I'm not ready to accept that this day is over. But then there's the comfy bed screaming at me haha.
Final day in Bintan, and the Rain god was on duty. It was cold and windy as we chow down our breakfast. Was really hoping that the sun will be up so I can take a final dip in the sea :( Rmb to pray for good weather next time.
Saying goodbye to the villa was tough T T It's like someone had to pull me out of a sweet dream. But anyway Bintan is one awesome getaway place especially for all the working cows in Singapore. If you just want a retreat, this place is just an hour ferry ride away. You book a nice and comfy resort room, which you can chill out at the beach anytime you want, or get a villa like ours where everyone can find a spot to do what they like, whether it's dipping into the pool, enjoying all sorts of movie on the TV, sipping into coffee at the mini bar, or just sunbathing and scrolling instagram at the recliners. Then there's affordable seafood every night and scrumptious buffet breakfast every day. Everything to just revive and heal my tired soul.
Personally i thought the massage could've been better, so I'mma do abit more research next time on good massage place or let me know if you know anything good in Bintan!
Before I end, a big shoutout to the fellow working cows on this trip. I guess we all needed that retreat and it's great we're doing it together. Not sure when but looking forward to our next retreat! Alrighty, that's all for my post for Bintan. Let me know if you wanna know about anything of my trip.