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To Sunny Island @ Bintan

We went to Bintan island during the Chinese New Year as we have a long weekend. Even though the island is just 45min away from Singapore, I'm still happy to get away for a short trip. I'm loving the sun, sand and sea!
 
It was my 3rd visit to Bintan island. The first visit was with my friends, 2nd visit with my then boyfriend and the 3rd visit was with my hubby and Alfred. The ferry terminal at Bintan remained the same as it was some 10 years ago. However, I observed that there were many China tourists at Bintan, something that I didn't quite saw it 10 years back. Nonetheless, I was hoping for a relaxing and quite chill out at the island.
 
Aboard bintan Lagoon ferry to Bintan

 
 
The check in at the custom was terribly slow due to the overwhelming crowd of China tourist. I'm praying hard that I'll get to enjoy my holiday at Bintan. We then took the free shuttle bus to our resort @ Bintan Lagoon Resort.
 
I was looking forward to my room because I had booked a floral suite for my staycation. The pictures of the suite looked grand and pretty online and hence I had certain expectation on how the actual suit would be like. After all, this suit is not that cheap and I would expect a luxury stay at the resort.
 
The staff at the reception told us that the room was ready for check in. I was quite surprised because the booking slip stated that check in would be after 2pm. It turned out that they have made a mistake and we were brought to the forest suite instead of the floral suite. I informed the staff that they had checked us into the wrong room and was then told that my room was not ready and that the check in would be after 2pm.
 
I was not feeling good at the blunder made by the staff. In fact, they shouldn't have made this mistake at all. Reluctantly, we had no choice but to have our lunch at the beach side restaurant, Rice while waiting for the room to be ready.
 
Rice was a new restaurant of Bintan Lagoon Resort. The restaurant had a modern exterior and interior design. It had glass doors and windows and the entire restaurant was kept cool with the afternoon sea breeze. However, the price of the food was not cheap at this restaurant. The  restaurant served fusion, both Asian and Western food. Food was not really fantastic and for a simple meal consisting of seafood fried rice and club sandwich, it cost us over  SGD70 dollar. I would say we were only paying for the ambience but not the food.
 



 
 


 
 









 




 
We checked in only at 2.30pm as they needed some time to tidy the room. The suite was located on the 4th floor and I didn't quite like the dim and dark corridor to our room. It was sort of eerie.
 
The suite was huge with a spacious living room, bedroom and balcony as well as a spacious toilet with a huge bathtub. Well, the suite didn't look as beautiful as the picture online when I did the booking. The room was not up to my expectation. I didn't find the suite grand at all. Instead, I find it quite antique.(i.e. old) 
 










 
After all, this was the 1st resort built in Bintan in 1996. Therefore, the furnishing was aging and I would imagine how grand the suite must have been 20 years ago. I felt cheated.
 
We decided to have our dinner at the Keelung. The staff arranged for a cab that took us to the pier for a short boat ride to the mangrove swamp where the Keelung was located. The ferry ride was free if you spent above SGD100 dollars at the Keelung. The mangrove swamp was quite a pretty sight especially when the sun was setting. Within 5 mins, we arrived at the Keelung. This was Alfred's first time at the Keelung and   he was quite excited about it.
 

great sunset at the pier while waiting for the boat











 
Having dinner at the Keelung feels great with the cooling breeze and beautiful sunset before us. We ordered a seafood feast for 2 and were served dishes like kalian with mini abalones, shark fin, steamed grouper, fish maw with chicken, pepper crab and cereal prawns. The food was great but I was a little disappointed with the steamed fish which  we had waited too long and was over-cooked. It cost us SGD128 for the seafood meal. Slightly expensive but it was quite a satisfying meal for us.
 









 
It was pitch dark when we finished the dinner. I would say to take a small boat back to the pier was exciting. I feel like we were migrants trying to smuggle into a country.
 
The next morning, after having our breakfast, we hit the beach. I had a great time basking myself under the sun, enjoying the sea breeze and dip myself in the cooling South China Sea. By the way, the beach was well maintained by the resort, very clean without any litters. Also, the sea water was crystal clear with turquoise blue. I couldn't tell the difference between this beach and the ones that I've visited in Mauritius.
 
Alfred had a great time building his sand castle with his dad. It was such a lovely day to waste our time away at the beach.
 














 
Overall we had fun except for the small disappointment in the floral suite.

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