Bintan Terminal

If we have "Philippine Eagle", Indonesia has "Garuda". They both seem to be super birds except that ours is real and the latter is a mythical bird. Garuda is a national symbol of Indonesia and thus replicas of it are all over the country. Now I know where the name of their flag carrier_ Garuda Airlines had gotten its name.

It was a huge statue and therefore couldn't be easily ignored. I found this one in the garden right in the vicinity of  Bandar Bentan Telani, a ferry port in Bintan, Indonesia.

I actually like this port in Bintan. Reminds me of our own Caticlan (Boracay) airport. Yeah, that's the comparison. Our airport (already??) and their ferry terminal, haha. Both are gateways to the best beaches in Asia.



Somehow, this ferry terminal looks more like an airport than most of our local flight terminals.

At the lobby, were not only eateries and resorts transfer booths, but rows of shops as well. I was surprised to find an outlet of  "Polo" and other branded goods.




If you missed buying take home souvenir products outside, no worry cos before your departure you could do some quick shopping inside this terminal. I thought some of the trinkets were even cheaper here.

The departure area got a lot of Singapore destinations promotional materials up on the walls and ceilings. Obviously, this part of Bintan is an extension of Singapore tourism.

A view of the terminal on board the ferry.



Haven't I mentioned that I love the ferry as much?

Nirwana Resort Hotel

Weather is not yet the cold December we usually have by this time of the year here in the Philippines. Have you noticed it? I'm so keen about weather these days. The global climate change has intrigued me a lot. The weird exchange cycle of wet and dry seasons ( atleast us here have only two, what more if we got the common 4 seasons,  that would be crazier:)) has never been so unpredictable as it is this year and the previous year.

So don't laugh at me if you saw me layering my outfits on supposedly summer season here or spending weekends on a beach during supposedly cold "ber" months.  

Hence the summer feel in December, I thought a beach post could still fit in before the year ends. Thu' I don't promise that this one would be my last beach getaway this year. Matter of fact I just got an invite for a day stay in a local beach. Only I'm not yet sure if I would have  time to attend to it with this busy yuletide season setting in. We'll see.

This particular beach day was a month ago. At a neighbor here in the tropics _ at Bintan, Indonesia. After an almost  one hour  fast speed catamaran ride from Singapore, we needed not to avail the regular coach transfer cos we had rented a car that we used around with our mini Bintan tour and finally sent us to the resort .

I was amused by the size of Nirwana Gardens. The whole resort has a total of five holiday stops. So big it housed giant animals_ it has an elephant park!!!. . to say the least. 

At Nirwana Resort Hotel, we were welcomed by a musical performance and were served with  welcome drinks ofcourse.

The reception lobby was relatively huge that when a friend saw my photos, she thought they were taken in an airport. See, we are  third world like that, haha. Show us a a big space and we would think of it as an airport, haha.

The lobby was full of tribal trinkets on display.

The accommodation was a sweet delight.

The facade of the resort hotel buildings reminded me of our own Shangrila, Boracay. There's small similarity in architecture but Shang.Bora is more awesome in many ways.

How can you refuse to idle your day in a haven like this? I can't. . I'm weak.haha.

You notice it too?? The whole Bintan trip I wore this black top intensively, haha. At overseas getaways, we actually are so random and always travel light. Usually with no extra clothes at all. Sometimes we would decide on our next destination right on the spot. Most of the time, no extra margin to prepare for our outfits, I hate that!!! haha.

Extremely opposite of the beaches in Batam ( Indonesia also ),  Bintan beaches stand mighty!!! Nirwana Resort Hotel best asset is the beach. With spanning hectares of powdery beach!!!! Best of all soooooooooooo uncrowded. Think about our white beaches in station 1,2 & 3 of Boracay, delete the images of crammed commercial establishments and the uber crowded beach goers. . then you get the image above.

What can I ask for?. . but to bring me back there. .now!!!! haha.  

North Bintan Tour (part 3)

We hopped back inside the car nearing the end of our North Bintan Tour. Which tour?? I know right? re = wind = > part 1 and part 2. Seriously? you're planning to click those parts?. Don't get back to me to say I haven't warned you! haha.

I felt so relieved and pure love gushing all over my veins for our tour guide/driver when I found myself on the above photo of our next stop.. . my dear guide/driver, I forgive you and willing to forget the wasted hours we spent on those  and these boring places.  (*/%$#@?) eeerm, sorry wrong image. This one belongs to another tour which I'll share a post on it later. whaaaaaat??? grrrrr back.




Instead I found myself ... in the market area of my hometown???




Hello, wake-up!!! You ( yes me!! ) in Bintan, Indonesia. . not in Quezon Province, Phils. Clear?? Ok.




The tour guide pointed us to this alley and said we go check the beautiful scenery. Right away I doubted his suggestion but we went anyway.

Whattaf? The gas odor was so offensive and saw nothing but a tiny dirty boat embarking at the seaside. It was so not scenic and undeserving of a shot, hence we didn't take a single photo of the sea.




So as just to gain something out of this scorching noon in this alley to a sea, I asked my brother to take this photo of me infront of this house which I thought was the only one that had character.

We ran back to our rented car which was parked infront of these stores. I wonder which part is this of our itinerary. At this point_ we were supposed to be in a town- Tanjung Uban or in a shopping center- POO. This must be the town cos what on earth would I shop here (if this was the shopping center)??? Eggs, dried beans,dried chilies, dried fish??? I didn't get here to do my marketing for my kitchen, helow!!!

But our next and last stop was the Chinese temple, that's why I got confused. I should have had asked the guide, I know right. But I had lost my interest in this tour early on our first stop that I almost slept all the way through.

Our final stop was a Chinese Temple. Again, this one was so disappointing. Try to take the Dora (pink and red) paints of this flat structure and you get what? a rectangular structure! Forgive me, it's just that we all see how grand Chinese temples are and this one was surprisingly very flat compared to those I've seen.

In fairness it had the necessary elements which are usually present in a big temple. Only, here were small versions.

This would pass as an altar (?, don't know how is it being called in a Chinese temple) of a usual temple, even though the Buddha is of small version. .

. .  but on a bigger picture, this is how it looks. Set-up in a hall. Always, the kindness of the Indonesians struck me most.Never without a sincere smile, the staff of this temple pointed to us the back door towards another temple.

Surprisingly, there was another temple on a higher ground.

This seemed to be the main temple. Not sure. No one spoke English there and neither we could understand the Chinese characters written around.

Buddhas here were larger and seemed to be more permanently looking than the first temple which at this point I assumed was a reception temple, if there's such a thing:))

Outside I saw another temple. .

. .still under construction, across two roads away and it's definitely not a Chinese temple. Most probably a Muslim mosque and definitely not included in our itinerary.




Here ends my North Bintan tour. So boring in many ways but it was still an experience I would surely have fun looking back. At the very least, I was able to collect some glimpses of this Bintan Island in Indonesia.

Elephants

Wtfuss? At Singapore Changi Airport, a photo with a replica of an elephant commenced a couple of my mini encounters with the real ones. What the fuss about elephant???
Me defensive of my naiveness : Coming from my country where elephants are considered endangered species if not already extinct. I mean_ relatively speaking. I heard we don't even have elephants anymore in our national zoo ( which was the only place where I  representing my generation was able to see them ). I pity our little children. They have to be brought out of the country just to see these beautiful creatures.
Holy elephant!! I'm not even talking about dinosaurs!!! I know right! haha.

Anyway, the next morning I woke-up in a beach resort in Indonesia with these giants playing at my back. Alright_  sure they were not real too! haha.

So I walked around and found an elephant park in the resort. Yes, the real ones!

I would have been ok-ed already with  a photo standing beside one. .




But the man said : no, you have to hold the tusk, horn? whatever!
So that's the story behind this photo of me looking silly while not even holding but touching the white thingy of this kind heart giant.

Now, I needed to experience riding one right? But for a first timer like me ( who doesn't even frequent a simple horse riding ) I thought adult huge elephant was freakin' high for a possible fall! haha. Coward me! haha.

North Bintan Tour (part 2)

Remember my little Indonesia trip? Lemme continue boring you with a Part 2 :)) That is if you're like me who hails from almost the same environment, being that my own country is in the same continent (Asia) and this North Bintan Tour package actually has reminded me so much of my own province.. . if  you could relate _ well, I'm warning you : this post could be one boring ride. On the contrary, if you're coming from a tiring city life, this may refresh you and if you're one nature lover _so why not? Go green!

Our second stop was a local beach - Sebong Pereh. Quite like one of our coves in my country. Zero crowd, totally non-commercialized_ which is pure love.




Prestine sea, neat creamy sand beach. In another time, I would love to beach around in this cove. But not that day  cos we didn't have time other than take a photo or two.




I went back to our package itinerary  and now I realized our guide didn't bring us to a *small Malay fishing village*, or maybe this beach was also the fishing village?? One thing thu', I didn't remember seeing a fishing boat here. . .

. .or just slipped from  my memory, cos I found this photo from my brother's personal collection of the place. Oh, I'm not really sure if this one belonged here. Whatever! haha. 

On our way to our third stop, signs on the road in local language were quite interesting. Thanks for the English translations.

Our third stop brought us to a farm. All the works - rice paddy, tiny fish pond, et., etc.. . and coconut trees!! Omg! I slept half of the ride to this place and woke-up wondering if  I were home! So much like my province in my country.

Sungka to us. I remember asking the guide how do they call this. . my memory gap works so well, I can't remember now, haha.

Just one look and I knew so well what's going on in this place. I almost suggested to my company to skip this one and went on to the next stop. Just almost but did not!

First of all we paid for this and secondly, the in- house guide was so enthusiastic to show us around even though his English was better pronounced in sign  language. His sincere smile was enough thu'. So out of politeness, we play along, just like real tourists with wide-open eyes.  

Under this wooden bridge, the guide said : fish! We took a look and saw tiny, tiny fishes, haha. What's this a joke? haha. But the guide was so kind so we replied : nice!

We went on tagging along behind our gentleman farm guide under the scorching heat of Indonesian sun.




Until, I had to cut this small rice paddy tour, really for real! At this point the guide was already on foot the muddy part of the paddy. Hey!! could we stop here? already?

We politely said goodbye to our guide and he smiled so sincerely backed to us. I guess we understood each other then, haha.

We were served freshly harvested coconuts from the trees around the farm. So sweet.

So there, the part two. Later, I'll share the rest of the tour ( we also visited Chinese temples and a local town). I'll see you in my next post, okey:D