Weekend Getaway - Bintan

now then can i understand why there're ppl who go Bintan for their honeymoon.. i used to think how can ppl juz settle for Bintan for their honeymoon?? anyway this wasn't our honeymoon la..

the beach din haf huge waves like Bali or endless stretch of gentle coast like Cherating.. but the one thing i like abt Bintan beach is that it isn't as crowded as the one in Bali Kuta Beach.. that one is over-crowded le.. dun like... in fact i dun remember setting foot on Kuta Beach's sand juz because i was so put off by the crowd there..

we haf the beach all to ourselves!

we checked into Mayang Sari Resort quite early that day.. we were there at 10am local time i think but were told that we might haf to wait till 12nn for a room available.. so we juz walked and lounged ard for the time being.. shortly after a while, we were delighted to know that we haf a room! that's quite fast.. so the moral of the story is to always lower ur customer's expectation.

we din think we like that idea of having lunch at the resort restaurant since we might be spending most of our time there.. plus breakfast was already included... we know of this shopping place called Pasar Oleh Oleh from some brochures there so decided to go there to take a look... at least we know that there'll be food there!

there wasn't much to shop there.. the usual things like indonesian fashions, massages, some convenient stalls.. that's it.

We decided to order a starter before our main course come since we were starving... other than the regular salad available, we saw sth interesting... "Crispy Fried Potatoes".. then it came with a small pic of strips of brown-looking things... so we ordered... guess wad came...

it's juz French Fries!! damn we feel dumb.. but it's nice and crispy anyway....!

Istimewa Special Fried Rice and Chicken Curry

somewhere near Oleh Oleh was a mangrove swamp whr they haf small boats that can bring u in for a short cruise. we decided against that idea and waited for the next bus to go back to the resort for a swim in the sea! we din bring our camera out for the swim though...

after the soak in the sea we went back wash up... and juz laze the afternoon away.... hee... nice... we hung ard in the balcony area for some drinks which we brought over ourselves from SG and juz lounge ard with an ipod...

and then it was dinner time! we've decided to go to this place called Kelong Restaurant.. it din sound like it's gg to be a cheap deal... but heck, it's been a long time we had a relaxing trip.. we were told that the bus was delayed, so the hotel staff so kindly sent us there with a buggy! it feels kinda dangerous riding that thing actually... it's whizzing quite fast and we were not even buckled...haha... but it was quite fun la.. juz too short..

behind yb was a drinking place build over water.. looks like quite a gd place for hanging out.. but too bad the both of us dun drink...

we were so delighted to know that we'll be having dinner by the sunset! how romantic is that!! but i think i spent too much time taking photo that by the time we were ordering the sun has almost set...

being undecisive abt our food, we ordered set menu, dinner for 2...things came in relatively small portions, but lotsa variety.. we've got butter prawns, squid, roasted chiken, baby kailan, shark fins soup, free flow chinese tea... and of course chilli crab!!

eating by the sea is really quite an enjoyable experience.. with the sea breeze always in my face (and on yb's hair is always in her face).. and juz sitting there eating slowly without haste... i ended up getting quite stuffed!!

dinner was followed by a peep into Nirwana Resort Hotel, a sister accomodation under the same management of Nirwana Gardens... it's the highest class under Nirwana.. it shares the same beach as Mayang Sari thou some distances away and is complete with a really fancy cafe, big big concierge lobby, a korean restaurant and swimming pools.. i reckon it has everything a country club has, less the golf courses of course.. (but many ppl go Bintan for golf also la..)

we ended the night with a short stroll along the beach, taking photos of our shadows and gazing at the thousands of stars up above... there were a few hammocks along the coast for ppl juz to laze there... the 2.5 of us shared one.. the view we had were the top of the coconuts trees and the stars in the endless night sky....

oh! and both of us spotted a same shooting star!! not enough time to make a wish thou...