Hotel Sadaap Tanjungpinang

... cuisine. We got Big Mama back to Munich safely and then the 12 hour flight to Singapore and a ferry ride to here last night. Needless to say we were mindless heaps by then. This is the typical tropical resort - lush and very hot and steamy. I am off to the pool shortly and then we might go feed the elephants later. W have one last night in Singapore and I expect we will do something different like eating great food. We are back in ...

... that Meaghan and I could never make it there on our own (we had a "falling in fountain" incident last week that they have yet to let go), and I have to admit - we nearly fulfilled their prophecies.

Our ferry was leaving at 8, and we knew we had to be there early so we left campus around six-ish. Little did we realize that we would run into every possible setback on the MRT. We arrived on the other side of Singapore (where the ferry leaves from), with about half an hour to ...

With our passports safely back in our possession we were itching to get back on the road, or on the high sea to be more precise! We decided to take a ferry from Singapore to the Indonesian island of Bintan and find a beach to relax on.

The ferry was about 2 hours and we were plunged into the mayhem of the port town of Tanjung Pinang. It was a bit crazy but we managed to agree a price with a persistent taxi driver and we were off to the other side of the island. The roads were crazy ...

We arrived earlt Friday morning in Singapore with the intent of staying in Sleepy Sam's Hostel Friday night so that we could go to church Sabbath morning. After waiting for two hours outside the hostel, we were tolda that there were no rooms available. So, instead we left earlier than we intended on our ferry to Pulau Bintan, Indonesia. The 45 minute ferry ride lengthened to two hours (maybe the stopping in the middle of the ocean and going ...

So we transited from Melaka through Singapore to take a ferry over to Bintan Island, which is part of the Indonesia Archipelago (specifically the Riau province). The north end of Bintan Island has been converted into resorts of the tropical paradise nature, but around on the west side is the capital city of Riau, Tanjung Penang. And this is where we were headed - to the "real" Indonesia. We arrived at the Ferry Terminal in Singapore direct from the ...

Travel always has inherent challenges. Often these come in form of language or infrastructure, but Singapore showed me that even in a modern, English-speaking country, things don't always come smoothly. In fact, it's probably because Singapore seems so "easy" that we had a little trouble. Our guide book just casually mentioned an Indonesian island near Singapore that we decided we'd check out. We didn't go talk to a travel ...

... Singapore, just a 2-hour ferry ride away. So we packed up and headed for the ferry station. Then the trouble began. They sold us tickets, we crossed through immigration, and then as we sat in the waiting lounge we looked more closely at the destination on our tickets. It was going to the right island, but a different point on the island. You see, the island is sort of split. There's the town where all the locals live on one side, and then the ...

... there were a little shady. The officials at the port charged us an exit tax which our booking agency told us was included. We negotiated the rate with them, then no one even checked to make sure we had the little "ticket" that was supposed be proof we'd paid the tax. Our hotel would accept any currency, but they decided the exchange rate they'd give you...US dollars would generally get you 10,000 Indonesian Ruppiah ...

... A few hours later we were feeling very relaxed and had a very late light lunch and then a nice late afternoon 'siesta'. We ended the night with a late dinner back down by the beach. We didn't get there until 9:30 so we were the only ones there which made for a nice private evening. We definitely enjoyed the little getaway we have our list of final stops when we get back to Singapore and then we have a 6 a.m. start for our first flight back to the U.S. tomorrow.

Hadn't slept too well so didn't get up until 10am and wasn't ready to leave until midday. The first thing I did was to go to Singapore train station so I'd know how to get there for my train to Malaysia on Tuesday. It was pretty easy to find, but looks really different to the MRT stations - old and crumbly. On my way back to the MRT I looked around the area and saw an ornate Hindu temple. I got the MRT to ...