My Tour Diary: Bintan, Indonesia Trip (Day 2)

25th November 2022, Friday

Woke up around 5 plus, thinking to see the sun rise of the day. However, it was cloudy and the sun was already rising behind the thick clouds. Since it was still early, i tried to walk around the resort to find where the facilities were located. I took a walk around the bench to pass time and walked up to the sports centre. It was located up on a hill and have to climb flights of stairs before reaching the centre (like a warm-up before you start your exercise). There were basketball, tennis, squash and badminton courts available. You can also get to the gym and archery station. Found there was a turtle nursery located at the end where the turtle eggs were nursed and released out to the beach. Too bad, it wasn't time for turtle eggs to get hatched.

Golf Training Ground

Seats available on beach

Morning sun

As it was getting time for breakfast (started on 7 am for the main restaurant), i decided to go for the breakfast first. Just ate some breads and bacons and fruits as wanted to go exercise. Was planning to go for a power walk activity (organised by the resort) but it started to get raining. So i changed my mind to go up to the sports centre instead. Waited for some time before a staff managed to come by and i asked to borrow a squash racket. There were 2 pathetic squash balls available and when i played with it, the ball can't even bounced properly. However, when i asked the staff for another new ball, he said there were the balls available. So i just played with it for half an hour (not bad for a lousy ball and just wearing with sandals...^_^).

After that, i switched to playing basketball (also had to wait for some time before the staff comes back and i could ask for a basketball. But the staff said i could just go in the counter and get whatever equipment if there is no one around...haha). Anyway, i was glad i played basketball (Still my favourite sports). Also, the ball was soooooo much better than the pathetic squash ball. So i just played for 2 hours straight with my sandals. And of cos, my right sandals gave way and started to "open its mouth"..... hahahaa.....After that, i decided to go back to my room to change to my swim suit and went for a swim in the pool. But i still walked around the resort for a breather break. Passed by the spa reception and decided to book a spa package (as there was a promo for 1 for 1). But realised, it was expensive and the cash which i brought along was not enough (can pay by credit card in the spa place later on. Did booked but cancelled it later on). So i ended up going to the boutique to get a pair of slippers to replace my sandals. The slippers cost $150k Indonesia rupees.

Tennis & badminton courts

Basketball Court & Football Pit

Open mouth sandals..😅

Then i saw there were snacks available at the poolside bar, so i went to have some snacks and ordered a glass of orange juice. Omg, the orange juice was sooooo sweet (until i don't dare to order any drinks for the rest of my stay there). Then i went back to my room for a change of clothes and walked back to the pool. Saw the aqua yoga activity was going to get started but there was like no space available to join. They had taken up the 1.2 m space and since i can't go to 1.6m side, i went down to the other pool which had the 1.3m side. There were 4 gals playing there too and the life guard passed them a volleyball to pay with it in the pool (The life guards had all their balls hidden in the tall vase beside them). So i just soaked myself at my side watching other people. Later on, there was a couple who came into the pool but i think they wanted to get passion with each other rather than swim. The gals were still playing with themselves and don't even want to get out of the pool when the father asked them to get out for lunch. Later, there was a young boy coming in to the pool with the mum. The mum did not want to get into the water, so she sat on the edge and tried to get the son to show his swimming skills to her. But the son was trying to bargain with the mum to stay in the water longer and making all those whining sounds (kind of annoying).

Spa packages promotions

Before lunch snacks

I was still thinking if i should go over to the beach and try stand-up canoe (which i had decided to have a try before i get here). In the end, i didn't go for it cos i don't like having all the sands on my feet and don't like water. I headed back to my room to take a shower and then i just rested on the sofa watching out the window. I was waiting for time to pass until 2 pm, then i could go for lunch in the other restaurant (The Terrance) which serve late breakfast, lunch and dinner. Just so the housekeeping arrived to clean my room, i headed out for my lunch. In the other restaurant, the guests has to place ala carte orders. But everything was included inside the package (except those with prices), you can literally order everything off the menu...hahaa...I ordered a coke and a fried rice dish with grilled chicken. The food was much better than the food from the main restaurant. And the view was on the beach, no ac though (natural wind). There was also not many people eating there too cos most of the people will be out doing whatever activities.

Restaurant Entrance

Lunch!! 😁

After lunch, i walked back to the sports centre and went to the archery range. There was some guests playing there. So i joined. There was only 3 arrows for each person, and at the end of the 3rd arrow fired, everyone will walk to the target boards together to retrieve the arrows back. At one time, i pulled the arrow out from the target board too hard and the whole target board fell off. Luckily it didn't fell on me but still brushed against my back...hahaa...later on, the staff need to get some help from some guy guests to help carry the board back up...It was super heavy for one person to carry it. We played for about 4 rounds, then i left even though the staff said we were free to play since there was no people to queue. But i still left and went back to my room for some water (very easy to get drinks from any of the bars around but the drinks were all too sweet). So i rested for some time in the room before going out again. I really love sitting on the seat by the window and just see outside the window cos i could see the spot where the yoga classes will be conducted (It was so funny watching the guests doing aerial yoga...hehhe).

Archery Range

Aerial Yoga Class

When it was about 4:30 pm, i headed out to the bar at the beach and checked out the snacks prepared today. It was satays, bbq wings and sausages and there were a lot of kids and parents around. Seems like there was an activity for the mini club earlier on. So i just walked over and took some food and went to the poolside bar to eat as there wasn't any available tables around at the beach bar. There was a weird taste to the satay sauce and the bbq wings wasn't nice too. Sausages were still ok to eat. So i just went to get a table inside in front of the screen in the poolside bar and watched the first half of the first world cup match of the day. The snacks were brought out at around 6pm for the poolside bar but there weren't much difference from the day before and today. So i didn't eat much snacks today, i went back to my room for some water and waiting for the dinner from the main restaurant to start.

Bar by the beach

All having fun...😀

Teatime Snacks

Afterwards, i just walked back to the main restaurant for dinner. Tried a pasta dish, sashimi, soup and sea brass dish. The food wasn't nice tonight, the sashimi i got wasn't fresh (it was having a bad fishy smell). But i overheard the other guests were commenting the roasted pork was nice (didn't try it though). After dinner, i went down to the theatre and there was a bingo game going on with the kids. So i can't play even i want to..haha...I just sat there and watched the kids playing the bingo. There was one kid wasn't even interested in playing and it was the parents' playing. But when the parent called for Bingo, it was the kid who got out to pick the prize...hahaha...After some time, i walked outside to the poolside bar and sat there watching the world cup match while waiting for the performance to start. There were some mini stalls setup by the pool to sell some local souvenirs tonight too.

Snacks at Poolside Bar

Carrots & chips

Kids' Bingo Game

I made my way to the theatre when it was about time for the performance. Tonight's performance theme was Music Hits (of the 80's and the 90's). But i did not know what to expect from tonight's performance. When it started, the staffs put up an amazing performance by imitating the popular singers and bands from the 80's and 90's. They did not sing but just danced to the music. Everyone got so excited and were having so much fun. I think i really enjoyed their performances and night parties more here...hahaha.....The host introduced all the performers for tonight and the staffs were a mixture of different nationality too. Some were from South Africa, Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, etc and the host introduced one very fit guy - Logan who was their number 1 handsome guy in the resort....hahaa. Of cos, the night party started immediately at the poolside after the performance ended. Tonight party's theme is Bintan (45/88) with neon colours. You can actually buy the tshirts for the daily theme from the boutique. Tonight, the bartenders also did a domino of drinks around the bar with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. The bartenders had mixed the drinks themselves for the party. The host was joking to the bartenders if the domino breaks, the bartenders will have to go into the pool...hahaa...However, when the domino started, there was break in between but the bartenders just continued the flow manually and everyone was very high to bother...Everyone took the drinks and the party continued on.....I stayed on for a little while and then headed back to the room as it was getting late (also starting to feel muscle ache coming).