Bintan, Indonesia

  Bintan, Riau, Indonesia
Monday, February 2, 2009

I spent this past weekend in Bintan, Indonesia.

Bintan is about 1.5 hours away from Singapore by ferry.

When we arrived in Bintan we were meet my a mini-bus from our hostel that managed to stall several times on the hour long drive to where we stayed.

Stuffed in the Mini-bus

Our hostel consisted of little bungalows over the water.  The outside of the hostel was adorable, the inside was not. 

Hostel

Not only did my entire room smell of sewage, but it was completely bug infested.  I saw the largest spider that I have ever seen right next to my bed!

One really strange thing about Bintan is that the water changes a lot with the tide.  When we first arrived late in the afternoon, there was no water near our bungalow and we walked out to a small island near the bungalows.  When we woke up in the morning, there was no way that we could get back to the island without swimming.  It was weird to see the boats sitting on the sand at night, and floating in the water in the morning.

Low tide

We spent most of our time lying at the pool a the sister resort of our hostel.  Sadly, I have the sunburn to prove it. 

Pool

On our way back to Singapore, we arrived at the ferry terminal early and decided to walk around the city a little.  While sitting around by a monument in the center of town, I was approached by a woman and her baby.  The women asked if I would take a picture with them, which I did, and then preceded to stand by me for about 10 minutes asking we a bunch of questions. I am not sure why she was so fascinated by me because I was with a bunch of people from Europe, but I am guessing it had to do something with my blonde hair.

The ferry ride back was horrible!  The boat was rocking the entire way, and it was all that I could do not to get sick.  All of the NUS students on the ferry had to tell me stories to distract me! 

Overall, I had a really relaxing weekend, but now I am behind on my school work!

I am off to Borneo next weekend!