Just came back from my short trip to Bintan, Indonesia.
Left Singapore on Monday morning from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and boarded the Bintan Resorts Ferry.
Reached Bintan Island on the same day in just less than an hour.
Upon reaching the ferry terminal,
we were surprised to see that the items sold at the terminal are priced in Singapore Dollars! And the worst is that thery are not any cheaper than Singapore too.
Luckily, we went prepared with snacks and instand cup noodles.
We reached Nirwana Garden Resort at around 1pm Indo time (Sin 2pm) and were greeted by a typical indonesian folk drums and dance gig. We felt rather honored but awkward though. However, we later realized that it is meant for every wave of visitors everyday. We were only allowed check-in at 3pm, so we had 2 hours to kill. We decided that maybe eating is the best way to kill time, which we did at their resort restaurant called 'Coffee Shop'. They charge in Singapore dollars as well, not surprising, with a 10% Government tax and 10% service charge.
We did nothing much that requires us to pay in Singapore dollars. So most of our time was spent in the pool, by the poolside and the beach. The swimming pool was great, partly because its free to swim!! Other activites such as adventure walks, archery, rifle shooting, ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) rides and buggy rides are not cheap at all. Hence, swimming was our favourite past time. We get to admire people of all shapes, sizes and colors. It was really quite a oogling-feast for us. Other than swimming, we did a lot of tanning. Even when we aren't tanning intentionally, we get a tan even on our short strolls along the beach or to another resort, the Mana Mana Beach Resort, also a resort by Nirwana.
The food there is atypical of that in Singapore, Asian. But of course, with a tinge of western to allow caucasians who cannot handle plain youtiao porridge, curry, rendang and nasi lemak. The population of visitors there were mainly, Singies, Japs, Koreans and Caucasians (they all look the same and sound similar @_@'). Our daily breakfast was included in our package and we take it at the 'Coffee Shop'. Though we bought sufficient food supply, we thought that maybe spending a bit on food isn't such a big deal. So, we visited 'The Kelong' restaurant. Well, 'The Kelong' wasn't really much of a kelong after all. It is just a restaurant built on the shore by Nirwana Resorts to give visitors a feel of 'dining over water'. We weren't impressed by the idea as we were expecting more from all the pictures that we have seen in Bintan brochures. I guess there are better and real kelong restaurants outside the compound of Nirwana Gardens. We gave 'The Kelong' a pass and decided that we should just take some photos there.
Instant noodles and snacks go great with screening of local channels in the hotel room. Since there isn't really anything to do at night, watching the tv programmes was our night pastime. Our favourites? HBO, channel five, channel eight and channel U. We glued our eyes to the television set until we 'K.O.'
The last day was indeed a long wait due to poor planning. We had earlier decided on the later ferry at 4.30pm. But we had to check out from the room at 12noon. So we have about 3 hours to kill before we can leave the resort for the ferry terminal. We couldn't swim or tan, as we couldn't really shower after that. So we hung around the main lobby, took short naps and read our Singapore papers. Hunger started to set in, so we grabbed a pizza and a plate of fries at the 'Poolside Restaurant'. It wasn't cheap but still reasonable for two hungry stomachs.
All in all, the service at Nirwana Resorts was excellent except that the free amentities should be improved. For the price of S$138/pax, I don't have any complaints.
Pictures from our Bintan trip can be viewed at:
http://wifi.fotopic.net
or view gallery directly by clicking image below.
Left Singapore on Monday morning from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and boarded the Bintan Resorts Ferry.
Reached Bintan Island on the same day in just less than an hour.
Upon reaching the ferry terminal,
we were surprised to see that the items sold at the terminal are priced in Singapore Dollars! And the worst is that thery are not any cheaper than Singapore too.
Luckily, we went prepared with snacks and instand cup noodles.
We reached Nirwana Garden Resort at around 1pm Indo time (Sin 2pm) and were greeted by a typical indonesian folk drums and dance gig. We felt rather honored but awkward though. However, we later realized that it is meant for every wave of visitors everyday. We were only allowed check-in at 3pm, so we had 2 hours to kill. We decided that maybe eating is the best way to kill time, which we did at their resort restaurant called 'Coffee Shop'. They charge in Singapore dollars as well, not surprising, with a 10% Government tax and 10% service charge.
We did nothing much that requires us to pay in Singapore dollars. So most of our time was spent in the pool, by the poolside and the beach. The swimming pool was great, partly because its free to swim!! Other activites such as adventure walks, archery, rifle shooting, ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) rides and buggy rides are not cheap at all. Hence, swimming was our favourite past time. We get to admire people of all shapes, sizes and colors. It was really quite a oogling-feast for us. Other than swimming, we did a lot of tanning. Even when we aren't tanning intentionally, we get a tan even on our short strolls along the beach or to another resort, the Mana Mana Beach Resort, also a resort by Nirwana.
The food there is atypical of that in Singapore, Asian. But of course, with a tinge of western to allow caucasians who cannot handle plain youtiao porridge, curry, rendang and nasi lemak. The population of visitors there were mainly, Singies, Japs, Koreans and Caucasians (they all look the same and sound similar @_@'). Our daily breakfast was included in our package and we take it at the 'Coffee Shop'. Though we bought sufficient food supply, we thought that maybe spending a bit on food isn't such a big deal. So, we visited 'The Kelong' restaurant. Well, 'The Kelong' wasn't really much of a kelong after all. It is just a restaurant built on the shore by Nirwana Resorts to give visitors a feel of 'dining over water'. We weren't impressed by the idea as we were expecting more from all the pictures that we have seen in Bintan brochures. I guess there are better and real kelong restaurants outside the compound of Nirwana Gardens. We gave 'The Kelong' a pass and decided that we should just take some photos there.
Instant noodles and snacks go great with screening of local channels in the hotel room. Since there isn't really anything to do at night, watching the tv programmes was our night pastime. Our favourites? HBO, channel five, channel eight and channel U. We glued our eyes to the television set until we 'K.O.'
The last day was indeed a long wait due to poor planning. We had earlier decided on the later ferry at 4.30pm. But we had to check out from the room at 12noon. So we have about 3 hours to kill before we can leave the resort for the ferry terminal. We couldn't swim or tan, as we couldn't really shower after that. So we hung around the main lobby, took short naps and read our Singapore papers. Hunger started to set in, so we grabbed a pizza and a plate of fries at the 'Poolside Restaurant'. It wasn't cheap but still reasonable for two hungry stomachs.
All in all, the service at Nirwana Resorts was excellent except that the free amentities should be improved. For the price of S$138/pax, I don't have any complaints.
Pictures from our Bintan trip can be viewed at:
http://wifi.fotopic.net
or view gallery directly by clicking image below.
Comments
i was busting my ass for the past few days on my fyp thesis.
50 pages sia.