Monday, February 16, 2009

Bintan Holiday.

Recently went on a holiday with darling Jasmin! A nice and relaxing 3D2N stay at Nirwana Resort Hotel in Bintan. Nice sandy beaches... actually the beach was nice and picturesque, but the sand was a little hard. Hahaha. Anyways, spent time there just winding down and enjoying ourselves. A good break from the past month of slave work I've been doing. And it cost me $330 in total. Awww man I should do something like this every year. 

Day 1: Ferry to Bintan. Lunch at Pasar Oleh Oleh. The most disgusting Indonesian economic rice I've ever seen. But the food tasted good. Just that most of it was visually disturbing. Like flies all over the food, cow's lungs, heart, liver etc all over the place, and this weird seafood combo that Jasmin ordered which was a mixture of everything that has a shell and lives underwater. 

The hotel room was good, a little beyond my expectations I must say. For the prices we were paying, I kinda expected something a little shabby and well used. Alas that was not the case. Enormous bed, nice wooden furnishings, and large airy bedroom. Almost perfect. Only the bathroom was a little dingy, but really, its a bathroom. 

Spent time at the pool as soon as we could. I liked the way the pool overlooked the sea. Like the end of the pool blended away into the sea line. Those swimming pool which have no boundaries around the side facing the sea. Good stuff. Spent a few days trying to drown Jasmin there but failed. Too fat she displaced too much water when I try to push her underwater. 

Dinner at Pasar Oleh Oleh was a delightful affair. The ambience was just right, with a mini band playing oldies, dim yellow lights, and attentive waiters. As usual Jasmin tried to over order, but I managed to cut down on some dishes she didn't really want. But I must say that it was a very satisfying dinner, the Dong Dong was soooo good, so was my steak. Ooooh loved the coconuts too, thanks to Jasmin. Cost only $49 for the two of us. 

Day 2: This day was mostly spent lazing around the resort. We swam a lot more than on the first day, frolicking in the pool. Man, that was the good life. 

Went to do some air rifle and archery. Both were so fun! Archery took a lot more strength than I imagined, and aiming the arrow was easier than I thought. But I took quite a long while to actually aim the arrow,  and my arm was shaking from the strength I needed to draw the bow. Difficult skill indeed. 

Air rifle was more fun I reckon. Sadly none of my army training shit worked for me. All that breathing crap and slowly pulling on the trigger. That stuff was for rifles with heavy metal bullets and recoils. Air rifle guns were light, did not have any recoil and shot light metal pellets. Better still, they all had telescopic sights. Damn difficult la! Omg I have new found respect for army snipers. The cross-hairs shook and wavered off target every time I breathed, and the targets were so small I could barely keep the cross-hairs steady on them. It felt damn good whenever I hit a target. I love shooting the swinging cans!

Jasmin was born for war I tell you. Xena girl was way better at picking off targets than I was. She could shoot further that I could, and hit more targets than me. Hahaha damn, and I was thinking of challenging her to paint ball. Luckily we had this so I can save myself some painful shots.

Dinner was a exceedingly good. We ate at the coffee shop restaurant at the hotel. The theme buffet of the night was Indian cuisine. Surprisingly, Jasmin agreed to the buffet, and we both had a smashing good time stuffing ourselves! Jasmin tried to flirt with the Indian cook in the hope that he would personally cook and serve her roti-pratas. He did. Poor sucker. But his recipes were excellent, and his dishes were amongst the best I ever tasted. The bill came up to $84, but it was worth every penny! I had an alcoholic milkshake, and tons of scallops and mussels at that. Not forgetting to mention the tandori lamb, which was tasty and tender, as well as that dish with the goat cheese in it. Mmmmmm. Fattening ourselves up in preparation for the hardship in Melbourne. Lol.

Day 3: I love continental buffet breakfasts! Nothing like stuffing yourself with yummy food in the morning, and starting off the day with your stomach bulging. Avoid swimming when very very full. 

Went back for more air rifle. Jasmin owned me again. Shameful. Need to secretly practice and own her back. 

Dinner was rushed, and had we more time, it would have been perfect. I managed to get some crab, my first time ordering by weight kaez! 600 grams was quite a lot of crab. I mean the pincers were huge, and you could like hold the claws and the pincer flesh was like a huge white ice-cream. Then you just bite and bite at the sweet and succulent meat! Oooh the black pepper crab was simply mouth-watering. Ordered a medium Dong Dong! Owned the whole plate. Fed a lot of the little snails to Jasmin. She's a little snail lover at heart but doesn't know it yet. The usual two coconuts and a plate of calamari. Mmmmm, pity we had to rush it all down within 30 minutes. 

After dinner we got shoved into and out of buses and finally onto the ferry back to Singapore. Almost like being deported, but not as jialat, like you won't die on the journey and when you reach the shore they won't put you back into a shittier boat and send you back into sea. Hahaha. 

Very very good stuff, my first self-planned holiday. I hope to start small, and plan bigger holidays! Perhaps next year I might think of actually taking a plane somewhere. If the budget allows for it. Hahaha. Mmmmm bitten by the travel bug. Thanks to my darling who spent the whole holiday with me, so many good memories generated there. Gonna appreciate resorts a lot more from now. 

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