Bintan Nirwana Gardens Day 3

The little lady is reading my blog and has requested that I speed up and complete the last entry. Ok lor.

Again, it was a no treadmill day. I had attempted to block out the sun by drawing the "curtain", which in fact was a thin veil that does little to stop the sunlight from coming in. This time, it wasnt Daddy Lim but the little boy who went to bed at 7pm that woke us all up. He was up at 6.30am. Zzzz..

I had thought that maybe we could go for a family run. The idea was strongly objected by the boy and my lazy body was in total agreement to his objections. We ended up watching tv until the kids bugged to go for bfast and then the beach. That reminded me of the nice little seashells that Lil Shauna had lined along the window. Even looking at them made my mood beautiful.

The restuarant was a lot of crowded. We filled our tummies with yummies. The plan was to eat more and have a light lunch, in case of choppy sea on the way home. Scare... very scare.

The original plan was to do sea sports in the morning so that we could still shower in the room before we checked out. The kids knew better and wanted to walk beach instead.

We brought Mr Crabby habitat along... but still no crab (not even a single one) was sighted.

We strolled along the beach to burn off some of the calories. The weather was breezy and cool.

If you are wondering if Bintan really had such clean and new beach, they do not. We saw cleaners spending hours sweeping seaweed off the shore every morning and afternoon. Well, at least it was well maintained.

We strolled along, until we came to the sign to warn against going beyond it. It wasnt dangerous but the part of the beach beyond wasnt taken care by the resort.

From that point onwards, the shore was badly littered with rubbish washed up onshore.

It felt very deserted and we decided to turn back to civilisation when the kids got scared. We saw many interesting stuff though, like this log covered with barnacles.

And this big shell shaped thing that Daddy Lim said is the hind of a squid. I have no idea what.

We didnt see any dead blue button jellyfishes this time. Instead, this round transparent thing that we suspected was a different kind of jellyfish but couldnt tell for sure. Again, we found quite a number of them on the beach.

And there was this dead fish. "So sad!"

By then, Zaky had given up hope of finding his Mr Crabby and torn his habitat apart, using the container to build a sandcastle instead. Haha.

The whole time, Daddy Lim was whining about how hot the weather was.

I also had to mention about this other family that we saw at the beach. They (including their helper) were in pink and white uniform.

They were bravely singing and dancing on the beach while their helper filmed. By the way, I think they didnt change bcos I saw them in the same color code the afternoon before. Hohoho.

The kids were finally willing to leave when Daddy Lim agreed to bring them into the sea after they had changed. I took the time to pack and get ready for check out. I returned to the beach to see the kids enjoying the waves.

Luckily, the jellyfishes had been really kind to us.

While the kids were soaking in the waves, I was happily enjoying the breeze.

And my tiny bit of the sea.

After all the seawater soaking, of course they had to continue with pool soaking.

Then, bathtub soaking to complete the cycle. Lol.

We got an hour late checkout for one of the rooms and I went to return the other room. The hotel had also helped us to get the return ferry tickets ready. Super convenient.

We rest until it was time to check out the room.

Trampoline time!

Then, it was followed by another round of archery.

Lil Shauna got "bulls eye" on her 1st shot! But the rest of the arrows flew everywhere else. Lol.

The kids might have wanted to fish again if we had suggested but Daddy Lim had wanted to turn over a new leaf and protested against more earthworm murders. We ended up exploring the beach beside the fish pool instead. It was more like a mangrove swamp.

The exploration left us perspiring like mad and we spent the remaining time hiding in the aircon Resort Center. The boys played video game while the girls bowled.

With that, our short Bintan holiday has come to an end.

The return ferry ride was a lot more calmer. We wanted to sit at the back of the boat but we were definitely not the only ones seeking to do so and didnt find a seat. We sat in the middle this time. Zaky was tired and took a nap almost the entire ferry. Lil Shauna was feeling queasy most of the time but didnt vomit. Zaky woke up asking if the ride had been bumpy. Lol.

The kids and I disembarked before Daddy Lim and Nainai so that Lil Shauna could have some fresh air. While waiting and looking miserable, we were offered a buggy ride by the Captains. The kids were thrilled. Hehehe, royalty treatment leh.

We were stuck for a long time at the immigration bcos I chose the wrong lane and had to q with the rest of the world. The sign for the q for Singaporeans/ SPRs wasnt clear in the crowd. Then, a big group of Singaporean students came back from their Batam trip and decided to join the passport q before we did. Zzzzzzzzz... it was only at the end that they were asked to use the empty automated Qs. So painful. Sob.

The taxi stand at the ferry terminal had an awfully long q and we wanted to send Nainai out to get a cab. She mistakenly and happily thought that we were sending her home and I waited quietly for Daddy Lim to break the painful news to her. Sorry but we were all so tired and hungry, having gone light/ no lunch and we had to work the next day. Eventually, we dropped her at haborfront taxi stand. The Q was just as long but I hope at least there would more taxis.

It was already 10pm by the time we had dinner and were home. Yawn... would we go to Bintan again? Hmmm.. I would like to plan for a beach resort and snorkeling trip soon but probably not Bintan any sooner. Why? They have jellyfish beach lah. Lol.

Mummy Lim

Bintan Nirwana Gardens Day 2

Bintan is 1 hour behind Singapore. The sun sets early and the sky was dark by 6ish. It was probably the travelling and the gruelling ferry journey and we all called it an early night; we were in bed by 9pm.

I did contemplate hitting the treadmill in the morning but the gym is in the Resort Center and my poor nose had been runny the whole day. I have decided to skip and sleep in. The skipping treadmill part took place as planned but not the sleeping in. Zzzzz. The sun was high up in the sky by 6.30am. I heard sounds coming from Daddy Lim's room and pretended that I didnt and was still sleeping. The next moment, the no longer so little one beside me stirred and woke up. Sob! My beauty sleep! I didnt even have my quiet coffee like how I usually would during resort holidays. Arrgghhh..

Daddy Lim's tummy started rumbling and chased us off for bfast. The bfast spread was good.

The king and queen waiting to be served. Actually they love their pick and choose bfast and was soon off to pick what they like.

While we were enjoying the good food, the kids' little tummies were quickly filled and pleaded to go to the beach. Of course we had to do that before the merciless sun comes on full force.

We were walking along the beach barefooted only to realise that we got tar on our soles and the there were plenty of broken glasses. What was really effective to get the kids to put on their slippers was this.

At 1st, it looked like rubbish and it was a shade of pretty blue. Upon closer inspection, we realised that it was dead jellyfish washed ashore! Lil Shauna educated that dead jellyfishes can still sting and the slippers went on promptly. Lol. We googled after that and this is the blue button jellyfish. We found quite a few dead ones. Scary.

It was a wonderful morning stroll along the beach. Lil Shauna was busy picking seashells and she spotted a mini crab that got Zaky very excited.

They then insisted that we go back to the room to find containers both for the seashell and the crab. We did and Zaky built a fantastic habitat for the crab.

The only problem was that we couldnt find Mr Crabby anymore and there wasnt another crab in sight on the whole stretch of beach. Haha. We had to convince Zaky that it was too hot and the crabs all went into hiding. We promised to come back in the late afternoon, where it would be cooler for the crabs.

Lil Shauna had a windfall and collected many pretty seashells. She is so picky and collect only whole and pretty ones. This is the biggest shell that we found and it was whole! Lil Shauna is only into small pretty one. Nainai benefited from it.

Before we headed back to the room, Lil Shauna painstakingly picked the ones that she would keep. No prize for guessing which ones.

We spent a long time in the room bcos it was so freaking hot. The kids were happily watching cartoon.

It was until the kids were bored that we started part 2 of the day's activities. There were sea sports like kayaking and banana boating but strangely, they were not interested. We did kids fishing instead. The uncle helped us to bait the 1st time and then it all fell on Daddy Lim's noble shoulders.

Fishing starts.

We werent too successful. Daddy Lim started grumbling bcos we kept losing the baits without catching the fish and he had to keep murdering the earthworms. Lol. He is the earthworm serial killer. Then the kids were upset bcos they couldnt get any fishes and the weather was hot.

Eventually, we improvised and went for the mini fishes swimming at the most shallow parts. Those were really hungry for our worms. Tadah! Our 1st very mini fish. See how mini it was. Lol.

That was the only one that really bit onto our hook. The rest of the fishes were hauled onto shore while they were still busy nibbling on our bait. Lol. The innovative methodology earned us quite a number of catch. The kids were so happy.

The fishes arent meant to be eaten (way too small) or brought home and had to be released back into the pond. The kids were happily catching them from the bucket and sending them back to the pond.

While the kids self entertained, so did Daddy Lim. He earned that after murdering all those worms. Lol.

On the way back to the swimming pool, Zaky saw archery and was offered a trial.

We took a session eventually and Lil Shauna joined in the fun. As compared to Zaky, her posture was so much more professional.

Rifle shooting was right beside and we just had to try.

I found it hard. In that 2 shots, I almost went cross-eyed. Lol.

Back at the hotel, the kids headed straight to the pool to cool off.

It was freezing cold and I opted to be the official photographer instead.

Swimming wasnt enough and we had to do round 2 beach. Still no crab. Lol. However, Daddy Lim finally brought them into the sea dispite the jellyfish scare. They were pleading so badly to do so after seeing others entering and exiting the sea fine..

I opted to stay on land bcos I was still so scared. Lol. The kids kept asking me to join them but I told them that I would stay on land so that I could get help if they got stung. They bought my story. Lol.

Finally, the kids were willing to leave the sea and had another round of soaking in the bathtub. It was almost dinner time and the kids asked for room service instead. There were only 2 restaurants in the hotel and limited choices. Room service it was.

Lil Shauna asked to lie down at 7pm Indonesia time. What? The early morning, sun and swimming must have tired them out. They were both knocked out by 7.30pm. Haha. Daddy Lim and I took the chance for a quiet coffee. The warm lighting was too nice and we needed selfies. Hehe.

We too had an early night in prep of little rascals that would be up bright and early. Lol.

Mummy Lim