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.

Sailing course

photo credit: Diana 

photo credit: Diana

We finally after YEARS of planning took a sailing course. When we were first looking at moving to Singapore we read all about how "crazy about sailing" Singaporeans are. Of course this article was on some sailing site that was trying to sell yachts to Singapore expats. Since arrival we realized that sailing is really not at all a part of local culture at all! Hardly any wonder, this island is not known for having much wind and of course being a very busy shipping port it's a tricky place to navigate. There are some very small Marinas around the island in various states of disrepair (shockingly Raffles Marina is pretty shabby). The new Keppel Bay Marina is small but brand new and it offers some courses onboard their Beneteau 40s. The competent crew course we took went across to Batam and around the island of Singapore on two weekend overnight excursions.

Bali in Monsoon

We took a short weekend trip to Bali at Chinese New Years with our friends from Victoria who are traveling around SE Asia on their honeymoon. It was my third trip in this past year (and Joel's second) but we were just as excited to go as ever. Heading back to Ubud during monsoon season was interesting. It was less crowded than the July and September trips I'd done. It was also a little hotter at night and there were quite a few mosquitoes likely due to all the puddles of water left after the rain showers. Some things were easier, like finding a place to stay or walking down the mains streets unimpeded by tour groups. There were also a few challenges which were rain related.

We flew on one of the KLM direct flights from Singapore which is what I generally do. It's actually cheaper than Air Asia and you don't have to deal with the gong show of the discount terminal at Changi. So that's my first travel tip.

We booked Saren Indah for the weekend but the first night they were full so I went onto Agoda to look for something nice for a one night deal. On a whim I booked a brand new four star guest house/hotel which hadn't even been added to trip adviser yet. It was a gamble but we were rewarded because this was actually a very beautiful brand new place done in the traditional Balinese style that had only been open for a month. They had built large guest suites with gorgeous carved furniture and nicely appointed bathrooms and the hospitality was impeccable. The temple gardens had just been painted with gold leaf and their pool over-looking the ravine was quiet and pristine. Heaven! The place is called Pondok Pundi Village Inn. I think once they finish building their reception and restaurant building at the street it will be much more expensive then the $75 USD a night we paid.

 

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. 

Our Bali trip album on flickr

Bali - Sept 2011, a set on Flickr.

I'm getting our pictures up today from the iphone and our camera. What a great weekend!

Mozaic and tales from the back of a scooter

Our first day in Bali we took off down an unpaved 'road' through the rice fields. Joel navigated like a pro handling all the potholes like he was cruising on his mountain bike and sometimes giving me fair warning before diving down a particularly bruising embankment.

Back to Bali

On a whim we booked a couple of tickets to Bali this weekend. Joel hadn't been to Indonesia yet and I couldn't wait to get back to Ubud. We arrived late last night to our guest house which is along the rice patties. A cut through took us right onto Monkey Forest Rd where we spent the evening listening to great live music. The local musicians have quite an astonishing repertoire of alternative rock covers. It sure beats the nauseating Justin Bieber/Celine Dion soundtrack of Singapore. We woke at 9 with the roosters and sat out on our deck overlooking The rice patties. Joel has just secured a scooter and is excitedly planning our day of exploring.

More from Ubud, Bali

Bali: where have you been all my life?

I'm sitting on the steps outside our guest house to catch the feeble waves of wifi from the other end of the courtyard. They probably can't quite make it around the shrine of stone statues who are casually guarding us from bad spirits. Stray dogs, crickets and roosters make up a din in the distance reminding me I'm definitely not in Singapore. Throw in the heavy perfume of whatever flower is blooming by night here and you have a perfect night.

The past two days are a blur of temples, iridescent green rice fields, lush jungle and the most warm genuine human beings. Ubud, while full of tourists is also pretty laid back and easy. It reminds me of every single one of my favorite places in the world. It's a little of the tribal atmosphere of Ilha Grande, some of the hippi hold out of Fairfax and a smattering of the off-beat art and surf culture of Venice Beach and Santa Monica all rolled up in one delicious Balinese sandwich. It's the kind of place you want to hold onto, to own a piece of and never let go. Though that's not what's good for Bali which has been experiencing rapid development due to folks who just want to be part of this place. I plan to return and keep supporting the cool places we've discovered so far. Bali might just be the antidote for all the little things that drive me mental in Singapore. Cheers!

Tips: Stay at Tirta Arum Guest House in Ubud for some local cultural immersion. I don't suggest Matahari Cottages which we fled from after one night. Cabins in the woods sounded great until we crawled into damp sheets on a moldy mattress and spent the night with mosquitoes circling our netting. Funky yes, not in the way we were hoping.