Tour de Bintan year two

Joel is just finishing up the final stage of the Tour de Bintan which has been running for the past two days. We have been staying at the host resort, Nirawana Gardens this year. Not as clean or as comfortable as the Bintan Lagoon Resort we stayed at last year but much easier to deal with all the race stuff staying right at the location of registration etc.

Joel has been riding with his team here and despite the incredible heat, everyone is holding up ok! He was ecstatic about nearly getting the KOM this morning... If only he hadn't dropped his chain at the last second. Ah the lament of cyclists. Anyway, final short race is starting around now. Then we are racing back to Singapore to see how Kopi-o is managing. He didn't spend the whole weekend alone, our helper went over yesterday to feed him but he's sure to put on a good show of displeasure when we get back.

Bintan Islands Indonesia

Bintan Islands Indonesia, a set on Flickr.

We just got home from spending a weekend on Bintan for the Tour de Bintan stage race and the "go get some sun" part of the Doctor's orders for me. As my fellow Singapore residents already know, this island is not a cultural hot spot, nor is it the most amazing place to hit up a resort but it is a 45 minute ferry ride from Singapore and an opportunity to escape the city noise for a weekend.

We actually happened upon a great spot this trip. We stayed at Bintan Lagoon Resort which is a 700 acre golf resort set back from the water so the beach is quite peaceful with just one beach side restaurant visible from the shore. Given that it's a huge piece of land there's no light pollution at night and we loved just being able to walk around and see stars. It's very quiet and there are no other resorts on this stretch of coast. The cost of this place cuts down on the large families and groups of partiers so most other guests are couples who would prefer to play cards and read in a lounger than scream and listen to loud pop music. Overall the service was quite decent, our room was pretty nice and as clean as things get in this part of the world. Food at the buffet was better than other resort buffets we've seen, a-la-carte was better and the beach bar/restaurant was on par with a Singaporean tapas bar. Not excellent but we weren't suffering a bit. 

Weekend getaway options

Well we are moving into our apartment next weekend and then our next project is to take take a weekend excursion to one of the popular vacation spots close by. The decision might be a tough one so why don't you tell us where to go!

courtesy of www.mynetbizz.com

Bintan
45 minutes from Singapore by ferry. An indonesian island with great beaches, some old growth jungle and lots of resorts to wile away an weekend at.

Batam
The more industrialized and less touristy neighbour to Bintan. Known for night life and shopping but still has some nice places to stay.

courtesy of wikimedia.com

Melaka
A historic Malaysian town, about a 4 hour bus ride away.  Shopping, dining and new cultural things to poke around at.