Bintan, Indonesia

Dan and I went to Bintan Indonesia over the weekend starting on Friday the 20th. We wire transferred money to a man who owned the resort about a week before we left and then shortly after we started receiving emails about our reservation. They sounded very happy to meet us and said that there would be a man at the ferry terminal to give us a ride back to the resort. We left friday afternoon around 130 and started our journey to Indonesia, we had to ride a bus for about a half hour, then the train for about a half hour and then a bus again for about a half hour before we reached the ferry terminal on the eastern side of singapore. Upon waiting to board two ladies came up to us and asked if we were going to Yasin Bungalow Resort, which we were. They were very friendly and happy to meet us and happened to be the weekend manager and one of the workers. They told us there was another 7 visitors on the boat as well and that we should just look for them after we got through customs. We then departed Singapore at 630 bound for Bintan. Two hours later we arrived at the TG Pinang port in Bintan, made it through customs and hopped in to a van with 7 other guys from NUS who were german exchange students, as well as the resort driver, and the two ladies. It was about a 45 minute crazy drive to the resort. The city is packed with motor bikes and everybody weaves in and out of traffic at very high speeds, it was a little bit nerve racking. Upon arriving at the resort we found out that there was about another 20 exchange students there from SMU, another college in Singapore. We then spent the rest of the night and into the wee morning hours hanging out with our peers at the resort bar and diner along the beach. There were students from Germany, Canada, Malaysia, Spain, and France.

We woke up saturday morning to go snorkeling with a our new snorkels that we bought the day before at a Scuba Shop in Singapore. We went out pretty far to where there were rocks in the water, we didn't see anything huge, however did see a bunch of really cool fish and different critters. I dont know what most of the fish were called, but did see the yellow and white striped coral fish. They all seemed so calm and didnt seem to mind us which was neat.

The downside of this adventure was that I underestimated the morning sun and got a pretty burnt back and neck, although after lunch we spent the rest of the day hanging out on different beaches along the coast with sunscreen on. To get to different beaches we were transported for free by the resort in the vehicle to the left. We then hung out with the other exchange students (The night manager is a DJ and had music blasting all night) and then hit the hay. We had lunch sunday and then the resort took us to the port for departure at 130. The ride back was real interesting, since the night we arrived we hadn't seen all the shacks along the road outside of the city. It is definitely a poverty stricken country, although they all had big grins and waved to our driver. The city was packed just as friday night and was interesting watching the driver maneuver around everybody. Our boat left around 140 and we were back at our residence in Singapore by 630. The trip was a good get away, although we were happy to get back through customs in Singapore and then finally back to our rooms. Overall we spent 125 US on the room, visa, transportation, food, and drinks. It was a pretty cheap get away. More pictures can be found if you click here. The pictures at the end are right before we got to the port, they dont really do justice to the craziness, but through them in anyway.

As far as this upcoming week, we start tutorials, which are break away classes. There is alot of homework that I need to get completed before them. On Thursday Dan and I got tickets for the closing ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games, which should be neat. I will let you know how it goes.

Until then,

Brett