the thought of saying goodbye to impromptu weekends at a random beach paradise was one of the hardest things i had to accept before leaving. or so i thought.
once i learned that Mike, Ben and Karon were going off to a weekend at Bintan, Indonesia, i swear to God, there was no thinking involved — I’M IN! never mind that the ferry ticket cost more than the accommodations; i was going to hit the beach! A REAL BEACH! At Indonesia, no less; the new stamp on my passport was a plus. 🙂
i had to take a ferry an hour earlier than the others, since theirs was already full. at the break of dawn, i scurried over to the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, a dock which could easily trample over our MIA. bintan was just an hour away by ferry; i slept through the trip like i was just going for a trip to Batangas.
i met up with the others to board the bus at the Bintan pier. we were greeted by a welcome dance at the Nirwana Hotel and then proceeded to our rooms at Nirwana Beach Club. proud as i may be of our own, the crystalline waters at bintan could not be easily overlooked. if boracay was a 5 and anawangin (at its earlier days) was a 3, then bintan was a 4. the pristine coastline seemed to go on and on and on…
if you weren’t planning to go out of the resort grounds, then there wasn’t so much you can do save for swimming. despite this, we had our fare of sports, from table tennis to multi-cultural beach volleyball.
another plus was the discovery of another beer to our hall of fame — Bintang. closest to red horse so far. it’s been confirmed — sobriety just wasn’t for me.
i got to meet Karon’s sister, Karen, who played badminton as well. YEY! we made plans for weekly games, as well as our future weekend getaways. so there’s life for me after all. To the Man upstairs, you’re amazing. here’s to old and new friends.
pics galore:
http://infobuilder.multiply.com/photos/album/108/KL_Weekend
http://karonmae.multiply.com/photos/album/82/Bintan_Weekend
.: ishcapades 