Thursday, March 29, 2007

An Escape to Bintan's Trikora.

Going on a short getaway (or even a long vacation, for that matter) with dad (and the rest of the family) usually lands us all a luxurious hotel accommodation. We���d be doing nothing much then except dining great food, swimming in large, blue pools, sleeping in nice, huge beds and shopping at as many shopping malls as possible.

But going on a getaway with Kenji is quite the opposite. It is more of a survival trip where sleepless nights, insect bites, exposures to food poisoning, blackouts, and health and safety risks, are nothing but abundant.

Both forms of getaway though do make great experiences to me and my life. So to both dad and Kenji, I thank you for your separate interests for they have given me the best of both worlds.

I was recently in Bintan with Kenji on a short getaway. We were there for about 4 days (3 nights) where we spent about 3 days on the east coast in a superbly BASIC accommodation before moving southwest to Tanjung Pinang, the island's capital, for a night before we ferried back home to Singapore on Sunday afternoon.

Bintan, for those who have not a single idea of it, is an island of 1,866 square kilometers. It is part of the Riau Islands province of Indonesia and is located only about 48 kilometers from Singapore. For that, I can say Bintan is one place quite well frequented by Singaporeans all along.



For Singaporeans, Bintan is famous for its resort and recreational area. The area is located exactly on its northern tip, also quite commonly referred to as the Bintan Resorts. The resort area has its own ferry and ferry terminal and was developed not too long ago when it was leased to Singapore who invested into it and developed the area mainly for the leisure of its fellow Singaporeans - sounds quite portentous, doesn't it?

For Singaporeans too, the Bintan Resorts seems to be the place of a dream getaway. Not only are the resorts built to a high standard but also the beaches are much better than those in Singapore. However non-Singaporeans like Kenji (and presumably the young Dutch couple staying on the east coast with us, too) think the resorts aren���t quite worth the stay as the beaches lining the area are known to be ridiculously artificial. Besides, it was acknowledged in Wikipedia, too, that the water "turns mite murky especially during the monsoon season".

So coming to a place like Bintan with a non-Singaporean landed me in a place far away from the resort and recreational areas of the island. Kenji and I got ourselves accommodated in one of Shady Shack's hut for not only a taste of authentic Indonesian village lifestyle but also an experience of life living amongst its local residences. But that wasn't all, we were also blessed with one of the best coastal views ever available on the island.

Natalis, a local middle-aged man who picked us up at the arrival gate, once spoke of the northern tip as "high-class" resorts but only commented how more beautiful the ���upper��� east coast is (Trikora Beach was on mid east coast) as he explained to me (in Indonesian language) the geography and economy of Bintan, as he guided us our way to Shady Shack at Trikora Beach on Bintan���s 4WD taxi...

Shady Shack to me seemed not just about another tourist accommodation. Its hand-made huts and very basic lifestyle gave patrons a unique experience of a lifetime. What���s more, its beaches are natural and the land surrounding it pristine. On the other hand, however, Shady Shack was purely simple (see below for picture). From the shack to the facilities, from the bed to the bathroom, even electricity for the night lights was self-generated using water. With such unique features though, one could definitely call it one of a kind.



And because Shady Shack served the purpose of a very basic, traditional Indonesian village lifestyle, there was yet another price we had to pay (though not in monetary form). We were practically not sheltered from a wide range of possible life threatening dangers such as fires from just about anything including lightning and thunderstorms, collapse of the huts (the huts were hand-made, remember?) from very strong wind and/or waves, and even harmful animals such as snakes.

I remember Natalis telling us of the different kinds of animals in Bintan and snakes being occasional visitors. He also told us of the time when the huts had to be moved (human labor I suppose) further inland because of the impact of the monsoon season as well as coastal erosion. Such occurrence and actions, though I prefer to see them as amazing events, could definitely not be seen or carried out at any time in the Bintan Resorts area as proper landscape planning and management have been installed.

Our 3-day stay at Trikora Beach was awesome regardless. The beautiful landscape, the great sea view, the delicious food, and the village lifestyle will always be remembered. Now that I am writing this down on blog and simultaneously looking back at memories of my 4-day stay in Bintan, I thought it seemed all well worth even though I did pretty much nothing there and was out of my comfort zone almost all the time.



The endless pictures (see above) of the ever beautiful natural landscape that I took on Trikora Beach and the observation that I made on Lobo's ���wild��� dogs as well as children from the nearby villages who came to the beach on the weekend for a swim and the mosques calling for prayers daily, were just some of the remarkable things that not only did I enjoy doing but also Kenji, who really loves authentic village Indonesian lifestyle, did.


Reference

Bintan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Available [Online]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bintan

6 comments:

su said...

thanks for coming to visit tok. :) btw, if you're so free, chat me up on msn! i talk a lot of crap! ahahahaha. chocoholic_86@hotmail.com lovelove!

Kenji's housewife said...

I talk crap too! :) See you on msn then.

Anil P said...

There's something about coastal landscapes that runs like a common thread cutting across geographies, as if they share the same culture even if geographical borders separate them.

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Kenji's housewife said...

Hi anil, thanks for visiting my blog. On coastal landscapes running like a common thread across geographies - well yeah, I must say I agree with you no less. But you know what, recently I realized it's not just coastal landscapes that may look like common thread. Most natural landscapes do too. Except perhaps they don't really cut across geographies like coastlines do. :)

Kenji's housewife said...

Hi jena, thanks for the message. Will have a look at your blog soon!

Thank you for visiting this blog!