[Travel] Bintan - One day Spa Trip @ Mutiara Beach

Hihi Readers!!!

Recently, I went for a one day Spa Trip to Bintan Island with a group of friends. And I was really excited about this trip... Are you interested to know more about my experiences there?? Well, I suppose if you read until here, it means YES you are definitely interested! So... Here goes my first travel experience documented in this blog....

Ferry to Bintan
All of us reach Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal by 7.20am. Upon collection of our boarding passes, we went for a quick breakfast at Killiney Kopitiam. After our breakfast, we proceeded to check in. Our high speed ferry left Singapore at 8am (Singapore Time), and reach Bintan at 9am (Singapore Time).

Note: Bintan is an hour behind Singapore.

Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal



Killiney Kopitiam



Boarding Passes

Oh!!! Our Ferry!!!

 

Bintan Ferry Terminal
We were all very excited when we reach Bintan. However, my mood was dampened by a brusque Custom Officer who insisted that I wrote an address in Bintan. At that time, I wasn't sure about the exact name of the Resort, thus I wrote "Resort" and to my dismay, his reply was to toss my passport onto the counter. I was quite peeved as it was only the beginning of my trip.

We made our way to the entrance of the Ferry Terminal, but there was no sign of our driver. One of us have to make a call back to the tour agency in Singapore who promised to call us back. We waited for about 30mins for our driver to appear.



Bintan Ferry Terminal

Journey to the Resort
Mutiara Beach, Bintan (the name of the resort - which I finally learnt) is about an hour drive from the Ferry Terminal. The most fascinating part of the journey was that our driver had to pump petrol. It's really an eye-opener... Here's a picture of how they pump the petrol. Interesting ~

Pumping Petrol

Resort
Finally, we reach the Resort =)

We were greeted by their village dog, Toby. One of the staff offered us a few packets of Lavender Insect Repellant. Apparently, it was raining in the morning, thus there were a lot of mosqitoes. The Lavender Insect Repellant was to keep these irritating mosqitoes away.

Lavender Insect Repellent

Toilet
Very interesting Kampong style toilet...

Toilet anyone?

Massage
We were whisked away to the other end of the Resort. Preparation was made for our body scrub and massage. The body scrub and massage lasted for 100 mins.


Making our way to the "room"

The room is not air-conditioned

Sampan
After massage, we tried out their sampan ride. The little sampan was not steady at all, and many a time it threatened to capsize, which was met with our squealings. I did not dare to move once I sat down, for fear that the little sampan will capsize.

Small Sampan

The Staffs taking a Sampan ride


Lunch
We had our kampong lunch there. *Hungry*


Kampong Nasi Lemak

Coconut

Pineapple -> It's sweet!!



Beach
We walked around the Mutiara Beach... Enjoying the breeze and the sea water...


Lotsa fun at the beach!

Ketupat
As we still have some time to spare, they offered to teach us have to tie 2 ribbons together to form a Ketupat.

Semi DIY Ketupat


Ferry to Singapore
At last, it was time to journey back to the Ferry Terminal. Once we reach the Ferry Terminal, I brought a packet of Snoppy Potato Chips. And... its time to say bye bye to Bintan.....


Snoopy Potato Chips!!! Cute!!!

Overall Verdict?
It started out badly with the Custom Officer showing attitude and the driver being 30 mins late, but towards the end, we had lots of fun.

Tips:
- Bintan uses SGD. Hence, there's no need to change money.
- Ensure that you fill in your destination in Bintan.

This spa package can be obtained from JA Travel, details as follows :-

JA Travel
Website: http://www.ja-travel.com/indonesia/bintan_SpadaytripWD.html

Smilez ^.^

Tiny Pea