Club Med Bintan Pt 1 (Pictures and Captions)

Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal

Melancholy of Travel

Bintan Resort Pool

Bintan Resort Pool View 2

Outstretched Pavilion and Boundless Ocean

Watering Hole (Beers, Cocktails and Mocktails)

Pathway to Room

Our Room!!!

Simple and all encompassing

Seaview Bed

Television, Stereo and a Relax Coach

Coach with Seaview

Balcony

Flying trapeze (Yes, you can do it too)

The charming night view

Pre Buffet Buffet

Buffet with Singaporeans all around

Ocean

Spent hours just lazing around....seriously

Layang Layang (Malaysia)

Recently, i went over to Malaysia for a short trip to meet my fiance's grandmother during her birthday. The small village/town is located about 3 hours train ride from Singapore if there are no delays during the transition. Train tickets cost the in the general vicinity of $6- $10 depending on the class of train you take and usually, its not that big of a difference.

The small town is called "Layang Layang" and unlike another location with the same name, its a close knit village with the majority of the Chinese inhabitants sharing a common dialect, hakka. Its located much inland with no view of the sea and definitely no diving activities can be had here.

"Fu" (Prosperity)

Guard Dogs

Raw Pepper

Stone triceratops

Duck or Goose?

Bountiful Harvest

View

View

Indoor Fountain

The 3 Little Kids

Breakfast, Lunch, Tea Break, Dinner, Supper

Truth be told, this is not one of the places you'll visit for a holiday. If you have no relatives of family here, there's little reason to visit it. There are no activities or excitment to be had, its a laid back, rustic and quiet town with nice people as far as i know.

For the most part, we had 6 meals a day, breakfast, tea, lunch, tea break, dinner and supper in one day. And each meal was like the one you see above. Filled with meat, traditional hakka food such as "Lei Cha" (literally thunder tea) and home made yong tau foo. The best item i had over here was her grandmother's fried pork. Its a little like shrimp paste chicken except that its pork and certainly tastes better. I could have it all day and never get sick of it.
The "Lei Cha" (thunder tea rice) is a rather acquired taste and its safe to say that if its your first try, prepare to cringe at the taste. There's no meat in that concoction and everything is made from vegetables including the greenish tea thats supposed to be had with the rice. The tea has a strong taste reminiscent of basil so you should be well prepared before pouring it all into the rice.

We also had a fun time watching the elder generation gather rambutans grown in their very own plantation. Unlike the packed and pre prepared rambutans you see in the market, these were crawling with red ants and commando mosquitoes which are only afraid of burning cardboard smoke. Overall, its interesting but equally irritating with all the insects.

Everything else was food and sleeping and television programs. There's a beauty to that though. Time slows down. Life is simple and happy and generally, i forgot the hustle and bustle of daily life back in old Singapore.

The last interesting bit i experienced here was the darn train. It was terribly packed, late by 3 hours and filled with inconsiderate people. There were good people too but the inconsiderate ones took precedence.

Otherwise, this trip was wonderful for me cause it let me forget my daily struggles and just put me back on track. I had a pretty good rest there.

Taiwan Day 7

The day that we would inevitably take the plane back to Singapore after a week short break in Taiwan. Its not as difficult as my trip to Australia but its still not pleasant. After all, i know Singapore can't beat the service in Taiwan at this time for sure and the nightlife and such will disappear the moment i set foot in Singapore. So no, it wasn't pleasant at all but life goes on.

This morning, being the last, we went for our usual breakfast and then proceeded to the underground mall to do some quick pickings. There, we discovered a Japanese Bento stall that has been right under our noses and bought some back to taste....along with sweets and biscuits from the friendly neighborhood convenience stall.

Sushi, candy and biscuits for the snack crazy

Handroll

Sushi Close Up

The sushi is actually pretty darn good. Everything was just fresh off the hands of the sushi master so it was all fresh and very tasty. In fact, we regret not having found this earlier since it was also pretty cheap, less then sgd 10 for everything here. The snacks were so-so in the end.

Departure Lounge

Live Flowers

Upon arriving at the airport and checking in our overloaded luggage, its time to explore. The lounge is pretty boring where we were at but venture further and you'll find more things to see and do. Be warned that its huge so it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to walk end to end. It took us quite a long walk to finally come to the food lounge to try, of all things, oyster mee sua and oyster pancake.

Airport Food Lounge

Oyster Mee Sua

Oyster Pan Cake

Conclusion? Never eat local food at an airport. The mee sua was terrible and lacked taste. The waiting time took about 10 minutes and we were rushing off to catch our flight by the time the pancake was ready. Also, the pancake was oooiiiilllyyyy and covered with something like ketchup. It also has this terribly soggy texture that made me nauseous after a few bites. A bad taste to leave Taiwan with for sure.

The following will be some of the stuff we brought back from Taiwan. All are gone by now.

Last thoughts about Taiwan: If you take away the problem of the warm weather, Taiwan is a beautiful place to visit with alot to do and alot to enjoy. In fact, i'm more then delighted to return again for another short trip. This is scheduled for next March at the moment and i simply can't wait to return again. In the meantime, i'll work on a better figure so i can eat more when i'm there again. Taiwan Rocks!