No haze on the horizon - Bintan Agro Beach Resort, June 2013 (Part 1)

Entrance to Beach Area at Bintan Agro Beach Resort

Having scored a complimentary 3D2N stay at Bintan Agro Beach resort, the DH and I arranged to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Singapore during the last week of June. Just what we needed, we told ourselves; a few days of peace, quiet and Fresh Air.
And then the haze came, blowing from the forests of Sumatra to the skies of Singapore. And the PSI mounted, hitting the 400 mark a few days before we were set to depart. Bintan is only 40 kilometers away from Singapore. I mentally prepared myself for a vacation holed up inside our hotel room, looking out the window to watch the smog waft over the waves.

Tripadvisor was another source of anxiety. Reviews of Bintan Agro Beach resort are extremely mixed, as reviews usually are on Tripadvisor. But the bad reviews are particularly apocalyptic, especially the ones mentioning the one-hour drive from the ferry terminal to the resort. I was expecting all sorts of horrors: that the resort-provided bus would be old and not quite roadworthy, that the road would be potholed, that the entire ride would be akin to being inside a tumble dryer. I told DH to set our expectations low, so we would run less risk of being disappointed. We were going to "rough it out".

The day of our departure dawned bright and clear. What a relief! We had tickets on the 2 pm ferry and were at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal by 12.30 to avoid queues during check-in. But there was really no crowd to speak of. According to the Bintan Resorts Ferries website, the 11 am ferry was fully sold out and the 9 am ferry was close to being full. I suppose most people take the earlier ferries to maximise their time on the island.

This was our 3rd time in TMFT in the last 18 months and every single time, everything ran like a clockwork. There's something to be said for Singaporean efficiency! Boarding began at 1.20 pm, exactly as indicated on the information screens. The ferry revved up its engine at 2 pm and we were on our way by 2.05 pm.

The ferry was between half and two-thirds full. Everyone gravitated towards the window seats, ourselves included. I wonder why that is. During the journey, most of the people sitting at the windows were seen playing with their mobile phones or dozing off, rather than looking at the sea view outside.

Half an hour in, we passed a familiar sight, seen from the windows on the opposite end of where we were seated.

The MV Leisure World, aka the "casino ship" which is anchored off Batam.

 Last year, we spent a night on board this ship. Note to self: must get around to uploading some pictures from that most interesting of trips.

The sea was calm that day and we arrived a few minutes before the scheduled arrival time of 2.55 pm. There was a queue at Indonesian immigration and customs, but we cleared the process in about 20 minutes. Not exactly the speed of light, but better than our last trip here when the queue snaked out onto the jetty area. Amusingly, there was a very slight hold-up when our bags went through the X-ray machine at customs clearance. Apparently, the ladies manning the checkpoint were very taken with my Lesportsac bag. I heard one of them asking "Apa label?", then another one lifted it to take a closer look before putting it back on the belt. She said to her colleague, "Buatan Lesportsac." Ah,  overpriced brands. They're an international language.

The front hall of Bandar Bentan Telani Ferry Terminal at Bintan.

 Banners by Singapore-owned Bintan Resorts dominate BBTFT's hall. There are a handful of shops selling the usual suspects - kitschy Indonesian souvenirs, Polo brand shirts, snacks and drinks - plus a car rental agency, and rep offices for the higher-end resorts (Club Med and the Banyan Tree group).

The Garuda eagle outside the terminal building.

There is a poster inside explaining the symbolism of the Garuda as Indonesia's national emblem. Interestingly, it is written in what seems to be Malay rather than Bahasa Indonesia. Or maybe my Malay really is that rusty that I can't tell the difference anymore!

Bintan Agro resort had their driver stationed just inside the entrance of the terminal building, carrying a sign saying, "Bintan Agro, Bintan Cabana". Incidentally, Bintan Cabana Beach Resort is a sister resort of Bintan Agro. I was relieved to see the driver and his sign. In my moments of paranoia, I had imagined that nobody would come to pick us up and that we would have to haggle with a taxi driver.

The vehicle provided by the resort turned out to be a newish van, and not the ramshackle lemon I had feared. It was designed to be a 16 seater and for this trip, there were only 9 people including the driver. Apart from DH and myself, there was another traveling party of 6 people. We had plenty of space and the back seats were given over to our luggage.

Bintan Agro is not one of the properties in the Lagoi Bay area of northern Bintan which is operated by the Bintan Resorts consortium, although as I understand it, Bintan Agro is also owned by Singaporean developers. It is located in Teluk Bakau, on the eastern end of Bintan island. The journey there took slightly more than an hour, most of which was spent on roads outside the restricted Bintan Resorts area.

Upon leaving the fenced-off Bintan Resorts area (which involved passing a police-manned checkpoint), we were confronted with "real" Bintan:

Directly outside the Bintan Resorts checkpoint were run-down buildings and dusty paths. The lush greenery and manicured resorts of Lagoi seemed to be from a completely different world, although they are just a few miles away. As we traveled along this road towards the east, I noticed many houses or shops that seemed completely abandoned.

We drove for a while through a succession of small towns punctuating plantations and stretches of jungle. The road was windy and hilly - no sooner were we up an incline that we found ourselves moving down a slope - but well-paved and not at all bumpy. After reading some Tripadvisor reviews, I was expecting far, far worse and it really was a comfortable ride.

We then turned into a coastal road. Hurray, signs of the sea!! There were kelongs all over the place and I tried to take some shots through the van's window. Unfortunately, the van was moving too fast and everything turned out rather blurry.

A slightly less blurry shot, taken from a moving van, of kelongs along Trikora Beach. I think this may be one of the commercial kelongs that rent out rooms to fishing enthusiasts.

Around 20 minutes of driving along the coastal road and we were at Bintan Agro Beach Resort and Spa, to give it its full name.

The driveway leading up to the open-air lobby of Bintan Agro Beach. We were served by an extremely friendly trainee staff. Check-in was a breeze and her supervisor even offered to collect our return ferry boarding passes for us as he was going to BBTFT the next day. Then he instructed the trainee (whose name is Rachel, if I read her name tag correctly) to escort us to our room. This was service above and beyond our expectations.

Room 3306: Where we stayed

We were in room 3306, on the third floor of the Seahorse Building (other buildings had suitably nautical names like Seagull and Mermaid). The numbering system was a little confusing at first, but easy to figure out once we got the lay of the land. The first "3" is the building number. All rooms in the Seahorse building have "3" as the first digit, whichever floor they are on. The second "3" is for the floor number and "06" is the room number. I am guessing that the Seahorse block is the third closest to the lobby, hence the number 3.

 The view from the window of Room 3306. This was a sea-facing room, and as advertised, we could see the sea! More about the room later, because I am all about the views for now.

View from balcony outside our room: The larger of 2 swimming pools in the resort. It's actually rather large. Although it was a weekday, the children were out in relative force.I figure it will be really crowded on weekends. As with many resort pools, there are no lifeguards on duty at any point. Tip for future trips: the resort doesn't provide beach or pool towels, so bring your own or end up having to use the ones provided for bathroom use.

And yet more views from the balcony outside our room. This was taken at around 4 pm Indonesian time, and the tide was in. I had read about the infamous low-tide in the eastern shores of Bintan, and the resort's website also warns of low-tide lasting up to 6 hours. Fortunately for us, we visited in the June period when low tide happens in the early hours of the morning. Based on my shaky understanding of lunar orbits, I suppose that low-tide would be right in the middle of the day during the winter solstice period of November-January. Not great for those visiting during the year-end holidays.

Interior of room 3306, taken on day 2 because I was so engrossed with the views that I forgot to take shots of the room on day 1. Again, reading Tripadvisor reviews had led me to expect much worse than what we got. The room was of good size and was spotlessly clean. This is no mean feat considering the non-carpeted floors. I didn't photograph the bathroom, but it was also spotless. No bath, but a proper shower stall with functioning sliding doors, not a flimsy shower curtain.

After changing into beach friendly clothes (ie shorts), we were off to get some food since I had not eaten since the morning. But before that, we did some exploration of the grounds on our way to the Asiana Bistro for our welcome drinks and a snack.

Ornamental features in the courtyard of the main accommodation section of the resort. The grounds were generally very well-kept. Throughout our stay, we regularly encountered gardeners and cleaners sweeping up fallen leaves along the paths and on the lawns.

Asiana Bistro, where breakfast and simple meals are served. The kitchen here also prepares orders for room service, which is available 24 hours. But the main attraction of the Asiana (apart from the view of the pool and sea) is that it is one of the resort's WiFi hotspots, the other one being the main lobby. I only used the WiFi connection twice; we were on holiday after all. The WiFi signal was pretty strong and connection speed was decent, even during the crowded morning period when every other person was brandishing a smartphone while chowing down breakfast.

The resort provided us with one complimentary welcome drink each, served by a friendly young lady at the Asiana. I downed mine in about two gulps. It was a pink concoction, presumably fruit-based. What fruit exactly, I couldn't tell, but the drink was cold and refreshing, which was good enough for me. To drive away the hunger pangs, we ordered chicken nuggets. 20 pieces set us back SGD9. Expensive by Indonesian standards, but still cheaper than McDonald's in Singapore.

After this refueling pit stop, we explored the beachfront and the grounds of the resort. Photodump coming up in the next post, because this one is already quite long enough. And we're still only halfway through Day 1.