south-east asia → malay peninsula → indonesia → bintan island
to make the most out of the holiday, and take advantage of where i am geographically, i try to go out of singapore whenever i can. it was destination indonesia last weekend with some friends and flatmates. just like i mentioned previously i might have a problem with my passport, but it turned out i needlessly worried because there was not a single issue from getting out of singapore, to getting in indonesia, and coming back to singapore. of course i was tensed during my short encounters with immigrations, but things went smooth, and i had enough luck to get by. we left singapore from tenah merah around 6ish pm on a saturday, a full-hour delayed from our original departure time. i know it’s a waste of time already ’cause we could have taken an earlier ferry but everything was sold out when i booked nearly a month ago. that is how things work out with singaporeans, they are fast, vigilant, and make sure they’re not left out. so, for next chinese new year, i’ll book my destination as early as this coming christmas.
tanjung pinang, indonesia is separated by a 3-hour ferry ride from singapore. it may not be calmest water, but its still manageable. the good (and weird thing) is that bintan indonesia is an hour late of singapore time, so we got there around 8pm indo time, or 9pm sg time. it’s weird because geographically, we moved to east by sea, and moving to east for as long as not crossing the dateline normally means going ahead of time, just like how tokyo is an hour ahead of manila, or auckland is 4 or 5 hours ahead. in this case it’s the opposite, bintan, is an hour late of singapore time. i didn’t care adjusting my time, and i don’t own a recent enough mobile phone that will adjust it’s time automatically.
there were 9 of us total, and i’m not really used to traveling with as many as this, but it’s a nice change and more fun. it’s also cheaper ’cause we’re able to split all expenses significantly. our main destination is nostalgia resort, inside agro beach in trikora, bintan. this is 45 minutes by land from tanjung pinang port. after looking for our pick-up for a few minutes, we were on the minibus snaking roads so familiar i would have guessed it’s somewhere in the philippines if only i don’t have a clue. the biggest difference is that traffic comes from the left, just like in malaysia, and traffic is on the right back home.
we availed 2 family rooms. 1 room with 5 person, and another with 4. rooms are big enough, actually i think we could all fit in 1 room, but they have rules on capacity. nostalgia is just a cheap accommodation, and it’s far from your typical holiday beach hotel. the good thing though is that we get the chance to visit other nearby resorts for free, which appears to be more decent and have more facilities we could use. first night was karaoke night after dinner. we brought some food with us (complete with rice cooker) to save money. most of us were millionaires in indonesia. i own exactly 1,000,000 rupiahs when i entered in the country, but it didn’t take a long time to finish it because a glass of fruit juice is 20,000, i got a souvenir for my mom for another 50,000, flying fish ride was 65,000, and on our last day, we tasted the local food, and i bought a meal for about 40,000.
after the karaoke was the ubiquitous pinoy henyo game back in the girls room where we finished a liter of vodka before getting some sleep. we still have another bottle of baileys left, and this proved to be no problem for the next night. early the next day was breakfast of hotdog, rice, and adobo. we were all geared for food that it was really funny it looks like we were going to some relief operations rather than a beach outing. we have uncooked rice, fresh eggs, boiled eggs, instant noodles, salted eggs, hotdogs, tomatoes and onions, adobo, caldereta, fried fish, and we even planned to buy some meat for barbeque! then finally to the beach in cabana, it’s 8-km from where we are staying, but it was a short ride and free shuttle. we didn’t stay really long because we plan to do some water activities back in agro resort. after some swimming and pictures, we head back for lunch, again our own food, and was a bit disappointed because it was extremely low tide so not possible for banana boat, kayak or flying fish. it was amazing, however, that we literally walked dry towards a small island in front of the shore that it’s not possible to do without getting at least up to your waist wet in the early mornings when the tide is high. several sets of volleyball occupied our time, and with 2 of my teammates obviously better than myself, i saved my face having to crawl underneath wide open legs of our opponents. they also having swimming pools so it was good i didn’t miss our swimming lessons. dinner time back at the base, then outside to the beach because there’s supposed to be a party. it was valentine’s day, but i don’t have to say that i don’t really observe this. the party was a blast! not! no one was dancing despite the tremendous effort of the lady dj to produce hip-hop techno pop music, i think even the sand refused to dance. the event poster says it starts 8pm (i think?) until drop, but apparently, it dropped after half an hour. anyway, we continued the fun again in the girls room, gulping the last bottle of alcohol we brought. all the girls are fastened on their beds, so sorry they missed baileys. 
as for the next day, it was fast after having breakfast, and finally getting on the flying fish we were suppose to take the day before. no one has tried this before among us, so we don’t have any idea how thrilling it is. i tried banana boat with my family before, but it was tad boring until the banana capsized. it appears we’ve underestimated the ride. i would say it’s more of a challenge than an actual enjoyable ride. you have to cling yourself not to fall down as the inflatable vessel is going vertical, skidding, and sometimes lifting from the water surface. it’s like carrying your own body weight solely relying on your arms, and with the salty water splashing everywhere, it’s slippery wet. all of us managed to survive without major injury and all of us were just thinking that it would look shameful to just let go. at this moment, we still have a few hours for swimming, some did sea kayak, more pictures and then get back to the inn to prepare for 12 o’clock check-out. we won’t be leaving indonesia until 6 in the evening, but we have to travel by land to the port which is 45-minutes away. we had lunch, and i easily spent some 40,000 on a plate of squid kebabs, 2 bowls of rice, and a chocolate drink.
going back to singapore was uneventful except for the extra bumpy ferry ride that brought some fear to passengers. i heard several puked but i endured the trip closing my eyes and trying to relax, although it’s perverse they have final destination on tv showing all fatal happenings while we were in the middle of the sea being cradled mightily by nature.
back to singapore, immigration didn’t give me a hard time at all i was even able to sneak in 2 packs of cigarettes (thanks to mark for bringing in 1). just for statistics, the expense for each of us is about $130 SGD including all transport, accommodation for 2 nights, food, booze, and some activities. traveling and getting out doesn’t really need to be glamorous or expensive, you just be more appreciative of the local scene and set aside things you think you can survive without, such as an air-conditioned room.
the moral lesson of this story is: one, make sure your passport is at least six months valid at all times. most countries in asia require this, and you might not be able to get in even for just a few days vacation. two, if you’re passport happened to be invalid for at least 6 months, take the risk.
i will get my new machine-readable passport next month.
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