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

North Bintan Tour (part1)

My recent trip was such a combination_ of boring tours and amazing experiences. Well, for now let me begin to share with the mediocre ones. This is only because, until this time ( it has been almost a week since I got home) I'm pretty much still on a holiday mode and my blogging enthusiasm seems to be on vacation mode too.



Can you spot me there? This was in a ferry terminal at Bintan, Indonesia. Already looks like one of our local domestic airports, right? Anyways, we kindah arrived earlier, so much earlier for our resort's booking and had to look for things to do to fill-up the hours.

Brother suggested to avail a  tour package, to more or less have a glimpse of the culture of the island. He was very keen on seeing an actual "kampong" (an Indonesian hamlet or village). Bestfriend agreed quickly and in a jiffy we availed the North Bintan Tour from one of the booths in the terminal, not by choice but it was the only one available matching our free time. So for about S$55 per head, our itinerary said : * vegetable farm and fisheries, * Chinese Temple, * Tanjung Uban (second town), *small Malay fishing village, * local beach (Sebong Pereh) and * a shopping center at POO. The package also included a lunch or dinner (Kelong sea food) and fresh coconut water.

Our driver / tour guide had given us the leeway to decide which place would come first. We thought we all needed an early lunch so we headed to our first stop _ Aneka Seafood, a restaurant by the sea. Hmmm, I wasn't feeling it on the first sight as we entered the establishment, I saw household going on in the restaurant. with laundry, baby sitting and the kitchen (yes it was very visible at the entrance) was not a sight to behold. Blame me not, as usual my entry point before this was the sophisticated Singapore and so far no Malaysia nor Indonesia ( and sure may I include my beloved country- Philippines) could come close to the perfectly neat SG.




Aside from the busy entrance, in fairness, the restaurant was airy and clean. The food?_wella, later you could visit my food blog .

Underneath the restaurant was a very clean sea and outside the windows a bonus of an idyllic scenery which was very refreshing.

Brother had this captured by his lens.




Lunch was done and we had our first aroma of the island.

Outside, I noticed an altar_ Buddhist? not sure.




Onwards to our next stop. . may I take a pause here?. .promise just for a short while. .maybe I'll be back as soon as  tomorrow. . see you on my next post.
For now, go check the food here please.