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| The Residence first view |
During my one week stay in Singapore, I took a short 3 day break and went off to Bintan, a small Indonesian island nearby, just to be away from civilisation for a bit. We stayed at The Residence Bintan on the south east coast of the island and I must say, I was blown away by the experience. With the resort, the service and most importantly the relaxed vibe the place exudes. I had plans to explore the island a bit but we ended up barely able to get off our hammocks the whole time 😂. It was a great experience and I can't recommend the place enough, especially for people living in Singapore for whom the place is just a rock's throw away.
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| The Bintan beach |
I had heard about Bintan more than a decade earlier as a lot of my friends from Singapore spoke about it. It's an Indonesian island very near Singapore which is easily accessible via a short ferry ride. It's a huge island (double of Netherlands I realised) which is mostly forested, and has loads of beach resorts for Singaporeans. So without boarding a flight, you can go from a busy city to a remote place and have a peaceful and relaxed holiday.
So we also took the ferry to reach Bintan. The ferry terminal and check-in process is very well managed. And the ride was smooth too, only about an hour or so. You initially pass by ships going to the Singapore port and then it's just the empty seas and views of green islands far off. I got into a relaxed mode on the ferry itself 😂. Once we reached Bintan, we had to get an Indonesian on arrival visa and then take a 1 hour bus ride to The Residence which is on the other end of the island. I think this is the only drawback of that place, it was much farther from the ferry terminal than a lot of other resorts on the island.
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| Island of Bintan |
It was definitely a long bus ride but the beautiful landscape partially made up for it. There were lush green forests all around, till wherever the eyes could see. We passed by rivers and hills and mangroves and other such tropical landscapes on the way. It was such a difference from where we had been a few hours ago, the concrete jungle of Singapore. Such a different way of life. We drove through some small villages too, with small houses, livestock, small shops, beautiful masjids and people just going about their life in their own slow sweet way. It was such a pleasure just looking out of the window throughout the journey.
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| Pool villas |
And once at the resort, it was pure bliss. We checked in at the lobby which was a huge open area overlooking the sea. And I think that was the moment all our plans of exploring the island went to the sea. The place has some 130 villas all along the sea - some terraced, some beach villas, some pool villas and so on. They are spread out all along the beach far off from each other, so it gives a feeling of privacy and having your own space.
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| My hammock view |
We had taken a first floor room which was huge with lot of indoor and outdoor space. Everything was made of wood, and had a tropical and rustic feel to it. There was a lot of space and light everywhere. Though the highlight was the hammock on the terrace - I think I spent more than half my time on it only 😊.
There were loads of activities to do within the resort itself - spa, yoga, cycling, ocean walk, watersports and so on. And they also organise boat and other tours to explore the island.
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| Low tide on the beach |
In the mornings we did yoga. I did a bit of cycling within the resort from one end to the other. It was all green along the beach and had some internals lanes too. The tides here were quite drastic. When the tides went back, you had to walk some 200-300 metres on the sand to get to the sea. You had to avoid the crabs on the sand though, 100s of them! So we mostly walked along the beach. We also ran into the local monkeys on the beach which looked dangerous. You can also see a few islands in the water from here. Which at night become twinkling lights.
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| The pool view |
There are many water-sports offered by the resort - kayaking, SUP, snorkeling, jet-ski, boating and so on. And they also have daily ocean walks which we couldn't go on as we were too lazy. One morning I did go kayaking in the water, and was hard at it, till I realised it was still shallow till where I had gone. But at least I felt like I had done some exercise. There was also an infinity pool with a lounging area. Which was absolutely stunning in the evenings. We spent both our evenings there, enjoying the sea breeze, with the far off twinkling lights of the islands providing the place a great ambience.
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| The restaurant view |
The resort had a dining area where we had our breakfasts and lunches. It was an open air place, made of wood and surrounded by vegetation. It felt like we were close to nature there. And the food was extremely yummy. I only ate Indonesian food for all my meals, it was so tasty and spicy. I tried out the Indonesian tea also for the first time. It was thick and heavy. And so tasty too. The service at the resort was exceptional too. Everyone was chatty and helped us with any questions. But they were also non intrusive, so we felt we had all the privacy we needed.
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| The Grill restaurant |
For dinner we went to either the pool where we enjoyed the sea breeze and the sound of the waves while lounging on the chairs. One of the evenings, we tried out the Grill restaurant. It was an outdoor restaurant, with tables put up outside under the trees, with lot of decoration around, candles on the tables and the sound of waves providing the perfect ambience. It was quite nice to eat there, though the mosquitos made it tough to start there for long.
Over the two days, that's all we managed to do though - eat, sleep and walk on the beach. It was so tough to do anything else though. I blame the weather for it - it was quite hot, humid and unpredictable too. It rained anytime of the day without any warning. It was hot in the afternoons but the humidity made it difficult to be active anytime during the day. And I think I loved it, being able to just 'be'.
The holiday finished too soon though. The drive back was as gorgeous as before - the fresh green trees, with people going about their slow life. Pure serenity. And that's what I remember of this holiday - Serenity everywhere on the island. And the slow life. Loved it.
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