Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The Bintan Trip

Went to Bintan with La Gioia and NanSee during the weekend. It was somewhat not planned. I forgot how we began. We found out that iL Gatto was going with his girlfriend and what started out as a joke of us stalking him became a real plan which was put into action in a speedy manner. It took us less than 2 weeks to decide where and when we actually wanted to go and made the booking. A lot of spur of the moment. We didn't really think if we could actually go and the days leading to the trip did prove to a be a testing one for me and La Gioia at least. Anyways, so we took the 8 pm ferry on Friday night (060707), arriving in my dear country at night. Got our room and it wasn't bad. Room number 1, my number The lounge / bar was only a few metres away and we went there to check out the happening and lo and behold there was iL Gatto and his girlfriend and the couple they went together with. That was the one and only time we saw him there. Anyway, Friday was somewhat a ladies night and upon approaching the bar, we got drinks. Ah! I don't condone drinking and there it was. We then sat on the seats under the tree and I couldn't believe we made it, considering all the rush. We watched the not-so-happening party and in the end decided to see the beach.

Decided to start our Saturday morning early. The breakfast was good and I love it, however the 070707 day brought strong wind and rain! The wind was so strong that I was rather nervous that a heavy storm was going to ensue. The weather was not good but in the end there was just drizzle and we decided to go to our mangrove trip (yes, people normally go to Bintan for spa and such and we decided to be educational). There was drizzle so we had to wear raincoats and I felt rather moronic taking the trip in such weather, however it was a really good and interesting trip, though we couldn't see much thing because the weather caused the animal to stay in their homes. Still, I liked it and I think it was really cool. Our driver to the mangrove river said we should have taken the night trip for the mangrove tour because you can see fireflies. Yeah, I would want to do that the next time we go there.

After the trip, we had lunch, then back to our beach. We were curious with the beach that was on the turn on the right side of our beach, so we went there. It was during high tide that we actually had to do some kind of horizontal rock climbing, navigating the slippery rocks which at that time seemed like the only way to get to the beach. I had fun doing it, though I had to say, one careless mistake, I could have knocked my head and died. We made it and the small beach was beautiful, it was so private because noone was there and it was just nice with the blue water. We didn't stay long though. Next stop was trying the banana boat, in which NanSee screamed loudly and happily which I think made the guy eager to tease us and they started moving so fast and next thing I knew, I fell into the ocean! I who cannot swim. Was pretty scared but I tried to stayed calm. When I resurfaced I was so elated to see La Gioia and NanSee in the water too. They had fallen as well and I was so glad to see them. Imagine how embarrassing it is to say I fell off a banana boat but we all fell together! So that's not embarrassing. I must say it was purposely done by the guy. We were crazy though, I guess after we saw the 3 of us fell together, we became happy and started laughing even as the guy tried hard to get us back on the banana boat It was so much fun, the day was getting better as it went. Then we decided to try kayaking which we abandoned quite fast because man! it was tiring for the arm and I had so much ache that night.

We had dinner at (according to what people say) the best seafood restaurant in Bintan. One of the dish we chose were snails and I like it! I remember eating it when I was young and my mom was surprised that I remembered that. I do, I remember stuff, hence I guess people should be more careful with me. Anyways, the food was great. I went back to the hotel feeling tired. Not much thing we did that night because we were tired. Back to the lounge / bar and yet the so called party was really a boring one. I guess it's because there's not much people there anyway.

Sunday morning was spent walking by the beach after breakfast. Saw many interesting creatures. Little crabs that were going back to the ocean and oh the way they moved, it's so like spiders and there were many of them, Ronald Weasley gonna have a freak. Since it was low tide, we could walk to the secluded beach we found the day before without having to go through the rocks and to our horror, the low tide showed how not appealing the beach was. We saw rocks and the shore line was so far away. But I still had fun walking there and looking at all the crabs, their amazing holes, the fish, the clear blue greenish water, the calming blue sky and the cloud. It was depressing to know we were leaving. We still managed to spend some time at the water. La Gioia was teaching us to be happy sleeping frogs and apparently I just couldn't relax. Ah, I'm acceptant towards it and I don't even bother to solve this anymore. I just have issue and I don't let go easily, so what. I carry so much baggage and let it be. Trying to tell yourself to relax is the most tense thing ever, I suppose. So everything is not okay, so accept it.

I'm drifting, anyways, so we had a good time there. Then it was time to go home and I guess we finally ran out of luck because apparently our departure time wasn't confirmed. So we tried to negotiate with the "mas" there to help us get on the ferry. They helped us but gave us the wrong timing so we had to struggle again to get the timing that we wanted. We succeeded and we were just relieved. Happy that we got on to the ferry but as I was sitting there, I felt depressed about leaving. Depressed about leaving Indonesia. The same kind of feeling I always have when I have to leave Jakarta for Singapore. I hated it so much and sadness were growing. Back in Singapore, the long taxi ride took the usual route I normally take from Changi, and it gave me the most beautiful Singapore view at night and yet it just added to the sadness.

It was such a good trip. I had so much fun. It was depressing when it ended. The depression carried through Monday and Monday was sucky. I hated Monday and I think I was throwing attitude but I didn't care. Monday lasted quite long for me and I ended up doing something which I didn't like. I just didn't find it calming as promised. Things have not been fun these days, it's been tough and busy and annoying and irritating. There was plan of going home next week, but that's not gonna happen. There are things I do which I don't understand why I do it. Today was a good example of it. It's like a dream in which I feel like I'm just gonna wake up one day and I realize how moronic I have been and I'm gonna stop. It has become less interesting now, but maybe these days it's just hard to amuse me. Ah, let's stop, let's just show you pictures. I made this small, maybe because it's cuter and you can't see the imperfection. As usual, it's photoshop enhanced.

... our place ...


... ah, a lone boat ... me?


... the sand, sea, sky ...






... the other things ...








... lastly ...

:) eKa @ 10:32:00 PM •