Friday, February 07, 2003
I'm back!!!
Before I forget, while we were waiting for our taxis at TMFT, I saw this big burly angmoh guy and he had a white t-shirt on which says, in big bold letters,
"I HAVE A BODY OF A GOD". And in small print below it,
"Unfortunately, it's Buddha's".
Hhahahahahah! :) I want that T-shirt!
Anyway, its good to be back in Singapore. I miss my car. I miss my broadband internet access. I miss my room. I miss my mother. Heh.
It was an excellent 5 days and 4 nights in Bintan. Felt like only a day had passed by. Sofian and me reached the resort on Monday at about 4pm. The moment we reached the ferry terminal we were given the exclusive treatment, different from the other people who stayed at the other villas. You see, Bintan Internation Resorts is huge, its practically the whole northern part of the island, about the size of Punggol, Sengkang and Pasir Ris. Its weird actually, its like Singapore bought over the north of the Island and turned it into a resort. The boundaries are very clear, there's a security post and barbed wires separating the Indonesian part of the Island and the Singaporean part. This is interesting, and I shall get back to that later.
There are a few resorts in that area, Banyan Tree, Club Med, and Nirwana. And inside Nirwana, there's Mayang Sari, Mana-Mana, Banyan Biru, Nirwana Hotel and Indra Maya. We' stayed at Indra Maya, and its the most exclusive of the lot. Private villa with private pool overlooking the sea. Really swank. Mayang Sari has East Coast type of chalets, Mana-mana has cabanas that look a lot like the air-con huts at Sentosa. Nirwana Hotels are just that, 3 storey buildings with hotel rooms. And so guests staying at Indra Maya are treated differently. We're like the District 10 area of the resort.
A guy picked us up from the terminal and drove us in a private bus straight to Mayang Sari, which is about a km away from Indra Maya. Our bags were brought up first in a buggy, and 30mins later the driver came back and drove us up to our unit, Tortoise B. Cool man. Look at the pics and you'll know what I mean
Our very own private pool!
The rooms
The boys' room and the girls' room
My grand room
Sunken bath and entrance
The living room and kitchen
Sofian giving a toast to my new house! I wish.
Since it was only the 2 of us that night, we just chilled out in the master bedroom and watched American Idol. I missed the first 2 episodes but caught up with that encore 2 hours episode. Real funny, esp that Edgar Nova guy who did the Enrique Iglesias song.. "You can run, you can hide, but you cant escape my love.. love.. love". Heh. After that about 8pm we drove the buggy down to Nirwana and took the bus to Pasar Oleh-Oleh. Its still within the Bintan Resort area and its only about 10mins away. Kinda like The Malay Village at Geylang. And just as dead. Two pubs/coffeeshops, 3 supermarkets, a few shops selling cheap clothes, thats it. We had dinner and talked a while. The prices are the same as Singapore's, chicken rice, mee goreng etc at $3.50. Bought some more stuff at the supermarket and was back at the villa at about 1030. Oh and I saw Toni, the Cali Gym instructor while waiting for the bus. She was with a lady friend and was talking to the staff there about getting to the Thai Restaurant for dinner with this commanding voice "But the bus will take us to the Thai Restaurant, NO? We want to eat Thai food tonight!".
When I woke up the next morning Sofian was already cooking toast. Roti Telur. We took the buggy out and I taught him how to drive, we parked at Mayang Sari and walked along the beach to Mana-mana, passed Nirwana and Banyan Biru and found the Wakatobi Trail. Started to walk for about 200m then decided to walk back as he was wearing his slippers and it was muddy after the rain. And guess what, while passing by the Mana-mana beach I saw a girl taking pics of a guy posing topless for her. A pretty girl, she looked like Sharon Tong in SPG attire. She looked at me, and hand signalled, which I instantly recognised as "Would you take a photo of us please?" I smiled, took the camera from her and took a photo of the couple. When I was returning back the camera I looked at the guy and wham! Its Gary Tan! Gary from Gan Eng Seng. We were in the same class in Sec 1 & 2. He used to sit beside me in class and he played the French Horn in the band. A real nice guy, rich. I remembered he stayed at one of those private houses at West Coast. I still remember going out with the gang then, him, me, Daud, Desmond etc. One incident stuck in my mind, we went to Wisma Atria once and the in thing then was the brand [Ix:iz] (Anybody remember that brand?). Gary had the whole collection, the pencil case, the pen, etc. And he wanted to get the wallet too so we all tagged along. We went to Isetan and he pointed out one wallet to the salesgirl, it cost about $40 and he just took one look and paid for it. I was thinking then, wow, I couldnt afford that. If it was me, I would have thought about buying it a million times before finally deciding not to. And I really wanted it. I saved and saved and finally managed to get that wallet when I was Sec 3 or something. After the brand had lost its cool factor. I digress. Anyhoo, I said to him "Hey arent you Gary?". And he smiled and said "Heyyyyyyyy!!! You're from Gan Eng Seng right? You were in the band!". Yeah, and you probably dont remember my name, I thought. His girl extended her hand and introduced herself (I cant remember her name now, Winnie? Wendy?). And she asked "And you are?". I said "Zul" and Gary lighted up... "Yesss Zul". And I quipped to him "Your wife?". And they blushed. Ho ho ho. They looked kinda weird to me. Maybe he's just there to bonk her or something. I said goodbye and walked away.
At about 2pm we drove back to Mayang Sari and waited for the girls to arrive. Wan Theng is 23, a lively, outspoken girl. Always jumping around and really sociable. Her sister, Su Yi, is 25. Reserved and doesnt talk much. And truth be told, less prettier than her sister. I guess it shows in their personalities, the more attractive one will always be more confident. The moment they got to the villa, they changed into their swimming costumes and headed straight for the pool. And they spent about 2 hours just lounging and relaxing. We had to get them out of there to go pick Kian Chai up. Sofian drove the buggy back to Mayang Sari, he drove for almost the entire trip. I guess it was natural, I was already itching to drive my car. And KC came right on time, at 845pm. I was very glad to see him, he is likeable in all situations, non-confrontational, gets along well with everybody. And he got along well with the girls :) And I wanted to prove to Mervin that he'll come, Mervin had said that KC will surely cancel at the last minute. That night we had fried rice for dinner, all of us had a hand in cooking, Sofian cooked the rice, the girls heated up the canned food and made soup, KC set the table and I... I waited for them to finish. We were like the Brady Bunch or the Partridge Family! Chatted and chatted after that and went to bed. The girls took one room (the one with the queen size bed), Sofian and KC took the room with 2 twin beds, and I slept all alone in the master bedroom with the king sized bed, attached sunken bath and TV, overlooking the pool. I felt like the master of the house. Indulge me, if you will :)
Wednesday, KC, Sofian and me decided to rent a car and go to Tanjong Pinang. We were told the ride there will take 3 hours to and fro, and the car rental is $60 for 6 hours, plus driver and petrol. That means we will have 3 hours to spend there. The girls decided not to go and stayed back at the villa to bum around at the pool (Sofian told me later that the real reason is that they are a little tight on money, both of them are not working). We set of at 11am and this is the interesting part... I was in the front seat with the driver and we chatted throughout the entire journey. I didnt know about the border and two separated areas of the island and thought the rest of the island pretty much look the same as what I've seen so far. After driving for about 20mins, we hit a security post, complete with road barriers and serious looking guards. Its really like passing by another Customs to get to another country. The driver said "We are now getting out of the Singaporen area and into the Indonesian area". And once out, the differences betweeen the 2 areas were striking. From well-maintained roads and friendly-looking forests to dangerous looking jungles and roads with potholes so big, its almost impossible to drive straight through some areas. And the houses that line the roads, they looked exactly the same as the ones I saw at Batam. The people look really poor, and most were selling petrol in mineral water bottles and whatever containers they can find. Kok Ching told me that he once worked at the Bintan Management Office and he said that the arrangement between Bintan and Singapore is that Singapore is allowed to take over the northern part of the island and turned it to a resort area, and for the next 99 years, we are allowed to run it and get all the money out of it. After which, the Bintan govt will take over the management of the resorts and whatever it is that has been built. Interesting partnership. Its just funny that the Bintan people are themselves not allowed and to enter a huge part of their own island and kept out of it so that Singaporeans can come and relax and treat it as their own... second island.
The driver looked like he is in his 50s, he told me he's from Sumatra and used to work in Jakarta as a bus driver. He left Jakarta and came to Bintan with his family 4 years ago and has been working at the car rental company ever since. Too much unrest and not safe to live in Jakarta, he said. I asked him whether he's been to Singapore and he said that Singapore is only for the rich and that he cant afford to spend a single day there. I wonder how much of the $60 goes to his salary. He asked a lot of questions on what I do in Singapore (Sofian and KC were already sleeping in the back seat) and what we can do at Tg Pinang. It was raining then and he said "Lots of Singaporeans come to Tg Pinang to look for girls. This kind of weather, good, cool, nice to close-close". Out of curiousity (yes, ONLY out of curiousity) I asked him how much it would cost to get "close-close" to a girl. He said, complete with a room, and young and pretty girls, about $40-$50 an hour. The oldest profession is still the most lucrative and alive, no matter where you go.
The ride was torturous. The roads were winding and went up and down hills every few minutes. It was worst than driving on my own for 5 hours to KL. We finally reached the town at about 1240, and the driver (Sheesh I didnt even ask for his name, so I'll just refer to him as Pak) took us to a seafood restaurant for lunch first. Since Sofian cant eat seafood (and most other food on earth) KC and me shared fried rice, kangkong and butter chicken. As usual, Singapore prices. Then we were driven to the main shopping area near the Tg Pinang Ferry Terminal. Very, very luan. Rows and rows of shophouses and lots of stalls along the already busy roads. A guy followed Sofian for 10 minutes trying to beg money out of him. We walked on for about 20minutes and it started to rain again. By that time we had ventured deeper and I was getting slightly uncomfortable at the stares of the workers near the wharf area, so we u-turned. Found a money changer, changed $50 and walked inside a shop owned by a jolly old Chinese man wearing singlet and pyjamas. He looked like the ah pek that used to tend to the shop at Telok Blangah. I bought 4 packs of Keropok Belinjau for mom and Sofian bought crackers for his mom. Further down the road we found a stall selling a variety of fireworks. Why cant Singapore sell this stuff? We took a box of 25 'Saturn missiles' and 3 mean-looking rocket-type fireworks. Really tempted to buy the huge ones that can probably shoot fireworks that can rival the NDP ones. I bought some oranges and apples for the girls and then went back to the car. Pak hurriedly ran when he saw us and offered to carry the stuff back to the car for us. Everybody looked. I felt funny and went inside the car and told Pak we're looking for chickens. And I meant real chickens. The kind you cook. Not THAT kind of chicken. Sofian and the girls want to cook curry chicken tonight and we couldnt find any wet market or supermarkets. So Pak drove us to Ramayana, a 2 storey shopping centre, similar to .. hmm Katong SC. It had a NTUC type of supermarket, and I bought drumsticks and breasts. KC bought beer, real cheap, about $1.20 per can. We set off at 330pm and reached back Mayang Sari right on the dot at 5pm.
A weird thing I noticed at Tg Pinang. The plastic bag that Ah Pek used to pack my keropok and Sofian's crackers.. they're NTUC's with Singapore addresses printed on it. The plastic bag for the fireworks, have 'Freshmart' printed on it with a Tampines address. Its amazing how those bags travelled from Singapore and found their way to the shops and roadside stalls in Tg Pinang and re-used to pack stuff there. I just hope my mother wont think that I've forgotten about the keropok and bought them at the local NTUC.
We had instant noodles for dinner, the girls cooked for us. After that us guys jumped into the pool for a much needed rest from the ride back and forth in the cramped old Mazda. Sofian got a little brave and jumped in an hour later, and soon he was begging us to teach him how to swim. Me and KC taught him frogstyle, and it was impossible for him to learn in a few hours but he did manage to gain more confidence and swim a few strokes back and forth the breadth of the pool. We got out of the pool at 10pm and watched Charmed and Smallville on TV. I fell asleep during the last 15 minutes of Smallville. Too damn tired so I retired to my grand master bedroom :)
This is getting too long and I've written for about 2 hours already. Its midnight and I'm working tomorrow. Still got a lot to write about Thurs and Fri so I think I'll continue tomorrow. Will upload more pics too. Kriss Kross is on MTV Classic. I wonder what happened to the 2 boys. Anyway, goodnight!
Before I forget, while we were waiting for our taxis at TMFT, I saw this big burly angmoh guy and he had a white t-shirt on which says, in big bold letters,
"I HAVE A BODY OF A GOD". And in small print below it,
"Unfortunately, it's Buddha's".
Hhahahahahah! :) I want that T-shirt!
Anyway, its good to be back in Singapore. I miss my car. I miss my broadband internet access. I miss my room. I miss my mother. Heh.
It was an excellent 5 days and 4 nights in Bintan. Felt like only a day had passed by. Sofian and me reached the resort on Monday at about 4pm. The moment we reached the ferry terminal we were given the exclusive treatment, different from the other people who stayed at the other villas. You see, Bintan Internation Resorts is huge, its practically the whole northern part of the island, about the size of Punggol, Sengkang and Pasir Ris. Its weird actually, its like Singapore bought over the north of the Island and turned it into a resort. The boundaries are very clear, there's a security post and barbed wires separating the Indonesian part of the Island and the Singaporean part. This is interesting, and I shall get back to that later.
There are a few resorts in that area, Banyan Tree, Club Med, and Nirwana. And inside Nirwana, there's Mayang Sari, Mana-Mana, Banyan Biru, Nirwana Hotel and Indra Maya. We' stayed at Indra Maya, and its the most exclusive of the lot. Private villa with private pool overlooking the sea. Really swank. Mayang Sari has East Coast type of chalets, Mana-mana has cabanas that look a lot like the air-con huts at Sentosa. Nirwana Hotels are just that, 3 storey buildings with hotel rooms. And so guests staying at Indra Maya are treated differently. We're like the District 10 area of the resort.
A guy picked us up from the terminal and drove us in a private bus straight to Mayang Sari, which is about a km away from Indra Maya. Our bags were brought up first in a buggy, and 30mins later the driver came back and drove us up to our unit, Tortoise B. Cool man. Look at the pics and you'll know what I mean
Our very own private pool!
The rooms
The boys' room and the girls' room
My grand room
Sunken bath and entrance
The living room and kitchen
Sofian giving a toast to my new house! I wish.
Since it was only the 2 of us that night, we just chilled out in the master bedroom and watched American Idol. I missed the first 2 episodes but caught up with that encore 2 hours episode. Real funny, esp that Edgar Nova guy who did the Enrique Iglesias song.. "You can run, you can hide, but you cant escape my love.. love.. love". Heh. After that about 8pm we drove the buggy down to Nirwana and took the bus to Pasar Oleh-Oleh. Its still within the Bintan Resort area and its only about 10mins away. Kinda like The Malay Village at Geylang. And just as dead. Two pubs/coffeeshops, 3 supermarkets, a few shops selling cheap clothes, thats it. We had dinner and talked a while. The prices are the same as Singapore's, chicken rice, mee goreng etc at $3.50. Bought some more stuff at the supermarket and was back at the villa at about 1030. Oh and I saw Toni, the Cali Gym instructor while waiting for the bus. She was with a lady friend and was talking to the staff there about getting to the Thai Restaurant for dinner with this commanding voice "But the bus will take us to the Thai Restaurant, NO? We want to eat Thai food tonight!".
When I woke up the next morning Sofian was already cooking toast. Roti Telur. We took the buggy out and I taught him how to drive, we parked at Mayang Sari and walked along the beach to Mana-mana, passed Nirwana and Banyan Biru and found the Wakatobi Trail. Started to walk for about 200m then decided to walk back as he was wearing his slippers and it was muddy after the rain. And guess what, while passing by the Mana-mana beach I saw a girl taking pics of a guy posing topless for her. A pretty girl, she looked like Sharon Tong in SPG attire. She looked at me, and hand signalled, which I instantly recognised as "Would you take a photo of us please?" I smiled, took the camera from her and took a photo of the couple. When I was returning back the camera I looked at the guy and wham! Its Gary Tan! Gary from Gan Eng Seng. We were in the same class in Sec 1 & 2. He used to sit beside me in class and he played the French Horn in the band. A real nice guy, rich. I remembered he stayed at one of those private houses at West Coast. I still remember going out with the gang then, him, me, Daud, Desmond etc. One incident stuck in my mind, we went to Wisma Atria once and the in thing then was the brand [Ix:iz] (Anybody remember that brand?). Gary had the whole collection, the pencil case, the pen, etc. And he wanted to get the wallet too so we all tagged along. We went to Isetan and he pointed out one wallet to the salesgirl, it cost about $40 and he just took one look and paid for it. I was thinking then, wow, I couldnt afford that. If it was me, I would have thought about buying it a million times before finally deciding not to. And I really wanted it. I saved and saved and finally managed to get that wallet when I was Sec 3 or something. After the brand had lost its cool factor. I digress. Anyhoo, I said to him "Hey arent you Gary?". And he smiled and said "Heyyyyyyyy!!! You're from Gan Eng Seng right? You were in the band!". Yeah, and you probably dont remember my name, I thought. His girl extended her hand and introduced herself (I cant remember her name now, Winnie? Wendy?). And she asked "And you are?". I said "Zul" and Gary lighted up... "Yesss Zul". And I quipped to him "Your wife?". And they blushed. Ho ho ho. They looked kinda weird to me. Maybe he's just there to bonk her or something. I said goodbye and walked away.
At about 2pm we drove back to Mayang Sari and waited for the girls to arrive. Wan Theng is 23, a lively, outspoken girl. Always jumping around and really sociable. Her sister, Su Yi, is 25. Reserved and doesnt talk much. And truth be told, less prettier than her sister. I guess it shows in their personalities, the more attractive one will always be more confident. The moment they got to the villa, they changed into their swimming costumes and headed straight for the pool. And they spent about 2 hours just lounging and relaxing. We had to get them out of there to go pick Kian Chai up. Sofian drove the buggy back to Mayang Sari, he drove for almost the entire trip. I guess it was natural, I was already itching to drive my car. And KC came right on time, at 845pm. I was very glad to see him, he is likeable in all situations, non-confrontational, gets along well with everybody. And he got along well with the girls :) And I wanted to prove to Mervin that he'll come, Mervin had said that KC will surely cancel at the last minute. That night we had fried rice for dinner, all of us had a hand in cooking, Sofian cooked the rice, the girls heated up the canned food and made soup, KC set the table and I... I waited for them to finish. We were like the Brady Bunch or the Partridge Family! Chatted and chatted after that and went to bed. The girls took one room (the one with the queen size bed), Sofian and KC took the room with 2 twin beds, and I slept all alone in the master bedroom with the king sized bed, attached sunken bath and TV, overlooking the pool. I felt like the master of the house. Indulge me, if you will :)
Wednesday, KC, Sofian and me decided to rent a car and go to Tanjong Pinang. We were told the ride there will take 3 hours to and fro, and the car rental is $60 for 6 hours, plus driver and petrol. That means we will have 3 hours to spend there. The girls decided not to go and stayed back at the villa to bum around at the pool (Sofian told me later that the real reason is that they are a little tight on money, both of them are not working). We set of at 11am and this is the interesting part... I was in the front seat with the driver and we chatted throughout the entire journey. I didnt know about the border and two separated areas of the island and thought the rest of the island pretty much look the same as what I've seen so far. After driving for about 20mins, we hit a security post, complete with road barriers and serious looking guards. Its really like passing by another Customs to get to another country. The driver said "We are now getting out of the Singaporen area and into the Indonesian area". And once out, the differences betweeen the 2 areas were striking. From well-maintained roads and friendly-looking forests to dangerous looking jungles and roads with potholes so big, its almost impossible to drive straight through some areas. And the houses that line the roads, they looked exactly the same as the ones I saw at Batam. The people look really poor, and most were selling petrol in mineral water bottles and whatever containers they can find. Kok Ching told me that he once worked at the Bintan Management Office and he said that the arrangement between Bintan and Singapore is that Singapore is allowed to take over the northern part of the island and turned it to a resort area, and for the next 99 years, we are allowed to run it and get all the money out of it. After which, the Bintan govt will take over the management of the resorts and whatever it is that has been built. Interesting partnership. Its just funny that the Bintan people are themselves not allowed and to enter a huge part of their own island and kept out of it so that Singaporeans can come and relax and treat it as their own... second island.
The driver looked like he is in his 50s, he told me he's from Sumatra and used to work in Jakarta as a bus driver. He left Jakarta and came to Bintan with his family 4 years ago and has been working at the car rental company ever since. Too much unrest and not safe to live in Jakarta, he said. I asked him whether he's been to Singapore and he said that Singapore is only for the rich and that he cant afford to spend a single day there. I wonder how much of the $60 goes to his salary. He asked a lot of questions on what I do in Singapore (Sofian and KC were already sleeping in the back seat) and what we can do at Tg Pinang. It was raining then and he said "Lots of Singaporeans come to Tg Pinang to look for girls. This kind of weather, good, cool, nice to close-close". Out of curiousity (yes, ONLY out of curiousity) I asked him how much it would cost to get "close-close" to a girl. He said, complete with a room, and young and pretty girls, about $40-$50 an hour. The oldest profession is still the most lucrative and alive, no matter where you go.
The ride was torturous. The roads were winding and went up and down hills every few minutes. It was worst than driving on my own for 5 hours to KL. We finally reached the town at about 1240, and the driver (Sheesh I didnt even ask for his name, so I'll just refer to him as Pak) took us to a seafood restaurant for lunch first. Since Sofian cant eat seafood (and most other food on earth) KC and me shared fried rice, kangkong and butter chicken. As usual, Singapore prices. Then we were driven to the main shopping area near the Tg Pinang Ferry Terminal. Very, very luan. Rows and rows of shophouses and lots of stalls along the already busy roads. A guy followed Sofian for 10 minutes trying to beg money out of him. We walked on for about 20minutes and it started to rain again. By that time we had ventured deeper and I was getting slightly uncomfortable at the stares of the workers near the wharf area, so we u-turned. Found a money changer, changed $50 and walked inside a shop owned by a jolly old Chinese man wearing singlet and pyjamas. He looked like the ah pek that used to tend to the shop at Telok Blangah. I bought 4 packs of Keropok Belinjau for mom and Sofian bought crackers for his mom. Further down the road we found a stall selling a variety of fireworks. Why cant Singapore sell this stuff? We took a box of 25 'Saturn missiles' and 3 mean-looking rocket-type fireworks. Really tempted to buy the huge ones that can probably shoot fireworks that can rival the NDP ones. I bought some oranges and apples for the girls and then went back to the car. Pak hurriedly ran when he saw us and offered to carry the stuff back to the car for us. Everybody looked. I felt funny and went inside the car and told Pak we're looking for chickens. And I meant real chickens. The kind you cook. Not THAT kind of chicken. Sofian and the girls want to cook curry chicken tonight and we couldnt find any wet market or supermarkets. So Pak drove us to Ramayana, a 2 storey shopping centre, similar to .. hmm Katong SC. It had a NTUC type of supermarket, and I bought drumsticks and breasts. KC bought beer, real cheap, about $1.20 per can. We set off at 330pm and reached back Mayang Sari right on the dot at 5pm.
A weird thing I noticed at Tg Pinang. The plastic bag that Ah Pek used to pack my keropok and Sofian's crackers.. they're NTUC's with Singapore addresses printed on it. The plastic bag for the fireworks, have 'Freshmart' printed on it with a Tampines address. Its amazing how those bags travelled from Singapore and found their way to the shops and roadside stalls in Tg Pinang and re-used to pack stuff there. I just hope my mother wont think that I've forgotten about the keropok and bought them at the local NTUC.
We had instant noodles for dinner, the girls cooked for us. After that us guys jumped into the pool for a much needed rest from the ride back and forth in the cramped old Mazda. Sofian got a little brave and jumped in an hour later, and soon he was begging us to teach him how to swim. Me and KC taught him frogstyle, and it was impossible for him to learn in a few hours but he did manage to gain more confidence and swim a few strokes back and forth the breadth of the pool. We got out of the pool at 10pm and watched Charmed and Smallville on TV. I fell asleep during the last 15 minutes of Smallville. Too damn tired so I retired to my grand master bedroom :)
This is getting too long and I've written for about 2 hours already. Its midnight and I'm working tomorrow. Still got a lot to write about Thurs and Fri so I think I'll continue tomorrow. Will upload more pics too. Kriss Kross is on MTV Classic. I wonder what happened to the 2 boys. Anyway, goodnight!
