Zg and I joined our friends for a trip to Bintan in July 2014. Indeed, this post is severely overdue and I have to admit that I am majorly distracted by my food posts and have been neglecting my travel posts. Before I share more about our trip to Bintan Spa Villa, let me first thank Yida for organising this getaway and doing all the planning for us. It was a fuss-free trip for us and we did not have to worry about anything because you did all the fussing, planning, and worrying for us :)
We took the ferry from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and reached Bintan at about 10 am plus. A staff from Bintan Spa Villa was waiting for us at the ferry terminal and packed us into a minivan. I kind of expected a short drive to the resort since Bintan Lagoon Resort was pretty near to the ferry terminal. To our utmost surprise, we took almost an hour to reach Bintan Spa Villa. One hour on a bumpy rocky road. Thankfully, Mr Bean was screening on a small television in the van and I laughed myself to sleep, woke up, watched Mr Bean through heavy eye lids, and slept again.
Our rooms were not ready when we reached so we had lunch at the dining area. Unlike Bintan Lagoon Resort with several restaurants in the resort, Bintan Spa Villa had only one dining area served by one kitchen. I ordered Seafood Spaghetti (SGD 8) and a bottle of beer (SGD 6.50). Was not very good. The sauce was way too sweet and tasted like watered down ketchup.The spaghetti was kind of soggy and the seafood was rather bland. But I finished it anyway because I was that hungry.
We wanted to kayak but the wind was too strong so we ended up playing frisbee instead. It was a nice lazy afternoon, warm sunshine on our faces, and we ran around tossing the frisbee at each other happily. The short stretch of private beach was mostly deserted and I saw nobody else when we played around on the beach. The beach chairs were also unoccupied the whole afternoon. The water in this area is kind of murky though so I would not recommend swimming in the sea.
When our rooms were ready, we retrieved our keys and headed upstairs. The room was clean, spacious, and bright. We went about unpacking, changing, and doing all our random stuff before heading off to the Trikora Spa for our massage.
The boyfriend and I went for a full body traditional massage (SGD 40 for 60 minutes) and it was really good! Our massage room offered a fantastic view of the sea and it was just so calming to enjoy this nice view after a relaxing massage. We were led to the balcony outside when our massage was over and given two cups of steaming ginger tea. Perfect.
It was dinner time after our massage and we decided to have the Seafood BBQ dinner outdoors on the grass patch. It was lovely sitting under a dark sky filled with stars, watching bats fly in large groups, and eating delicious barbecued food and steam boat. However, there were just so many mosquitoes and insects flying around that we spent most of our time swatting them. The resort handed us some insect repellant which was unfortunately rather useless.
That said, the food was pretty decent. The steamboat was okay with a herbal soup base and a generous serving of food items.
The Seafood BBQ was good! I would recommend going for the Seafood BBQ if you are in Bintan Spa Villa. There was a list of seafood items on the menu and we could pick the ones we wanted. The boyfriend and I chose the set for 2 at SGD 39 and picked satay, chicken wings, otah, baked potato, crayfish, and Grouper fish. I really liked the satay and crayfish!
We went back to our rooms after dinner to wash up and started our drinking party. We had to buy ice and soft drinks from the resort to prepare our drinks and oh boy were they exorbitant. We asked the resort staff if there were any convenience shop nearby where we could buy ice and soft drinks and they said no. It was getting dark outside and we had no idea where to head to in search of ice and drinks. Eventually we decided to suck it up and shell out an incredible sum for the ice and soft drinks. We discovered the next day that there was a small local provision shop less than 400m to the left of the resort. Now you know.
After a few rounds of drinks, we said good night and went to sleep. The sunrise was apparently splendid the next morning but I was sleeping like a pig and missed it completely. Thankfully my boyfriend woke up early and snapped a shot of the beautiful sunrise.
Breakfast was included so we headed to the dining area for our breakfast. Selection was limited and most of the food was not hot so we flocked to the waffle station instead. I had a nice fluffy waffle with maple syrup and that kept me happy.
The boyfriend and I went back to our room and grabbed a short nap before lunch. We returned to the dining area with our friends and I had the Chicken Chop for lunch. The Chicken Chop was much better than the Spaghetti Seafood. Well-grilled, juicy, and tender. The fries were a little limp though, like they sat out in the open for an hour before coming to me.
We had Magnum Gold before it was time to pile into the minivan and take the hour long ride back to the ferry terminal. This short getaway was a much needed break and I was thankful to be in the company of my boyfriend and our cheerful friends.
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