Alone in Tokyo

Bintan Trip

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Now that the stupid SAT is over, I have TIME to blog about my BINTAN trip. =)

Day 1.
Took a ferry to Bintan. Seasick...Lucky it was only an hour's ride. We arrived about 4pm (forgot which time)...and suffered from jetlag. You may think it is crazy to suffer from this when Bintan's time is only one hour behind Singapore's, but I'm just lazy to make the switch. We checked into our beautiful resort, and prepared for BBQ...

Now for photos!!!

Beautiful Resort + Ziyang doing star jump. LoL.

The 2 Guards.

Me and Ziyang's room...

Is this paradise?

Can't resist...

Nora, Kwan Ling and Andrea

Where are we pointing towards???

All this has made Ziyang emo. LoL

3 guys doing star jump. HAHA.

Coconut tree.

Isn't that simply wonderful?

OF COURSE!!!

Amazingly, the fire for the BBQ was too BIG till we can't get it to die down. Usually it is hard to even get the fire started...all thanks to the wind. Monsoon season...what to do.

Day 2.
Woke up in the morning, with Han Xiao's parents preparing breakfast for us. We played beach volleyball and captain's ball afterwards...Super noob sia. Beach volleyball is tough...

As Singaporeans, how can we forget to shop??? Haha. Bought tons of stuff at Pasar Oleh Oleh. Everything was at 50% off, I guess because there's too few people there. I hope because it's not the peak season, otherwise it will be tough for those people to survive...

6 of us + Han Xiao's mother at Pasar Oleh Oleh

After dinner (which was prepared by HX's parents), we had karaoke for an amazingly low price. Of course the songs are old ones, but still it's value for money.

Day 3.
Wanted to kayak and go for a night tour, but the rained spoiled everything. It's all the monsoon season's fault. Ended up only going for a jungle trek and a massage at Pasar Oleh Oleh at night. The massage was pretty good though; feel really really relaxed.

In the middle of the trek. Fantastic view there. =)

Day 4.
Checked out in the morning, and went SHOPPING again lol. Then went back home...Sad thing is I left my jacket there..If everything else could be left there like the jacket...

[more photos next time]

Afterthoughts...

Well although the monsoon season ruined our plans, it was still a good trip. Bintan offers us clean beaches, good hospitality and most importantly, a good place to relax. With that, my aim of the trip is fulfilled.

It became apparent to me that Bintan is a newly developed tourist destination, at least relatively. Many of the resorts there are still expanding, and the facilities are not considered complete. The people living there basically depend on tourism for a living...and I must say I am impressed by their good service. I hope that the low number of tourists there is only seasonal, for it will be difficult to survive with such low number of visitors...

Also, it struck me that we are really lucky to live in Singapore. Education is made available to almost everyone. There, children hang out in the shops all day, not knowing what the world holds for them. Are they going to continue operating their parents' shops when they grow up?
Or are they going to move out of Bintan to seek a brighter future? No one knows.

Despite their living conditions, people there are optimistic. They serve every customer with their best smile, and will help you get anything so long as it is within their means. They sincerely hope that through better service, tourists will return, more tourists will come and subsequently life will be better...

Contrast this to Singapore. People complain about poor service. We do not care whether customers will return or not. We are self-obsessed and selfish, caring only about our own lives...Is that what is supposed to be?

We can only hope that tourism will help the people living there step out of relative poverty and live a better life. To the people living there, continue striving!!!

PS: Sorry for the poor language. Haven't written for quite some time. =(

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