Bintan Experience

such a pity that the weather wasnt that great in Bintan. unfortunately too that angsana resort was such a letdown. had hope for a good spa massage but alas, too much hype and no substance.

I shld know everything was a bad omen from the minute i lost my hp and missing my ferry. First ever to be stranded at a port and with little else to do, i switched on the laptop and watched my anime.

Upon arrival, heart sinks when i saw the resort, suspiciously looking like my ex-hostel, down to the green railings. The room was alrite but i was stuck with a toilet that couldnt flush very well and green fungus making a humble abode out of the white tiles surrounding the tub.

The bed was alrite but i had suspicions abt the pillows, which wasnt even soft. I suppose the trip was dooomed from the start. But the saving grace was that it was really quiet , so much so that i could hear my elephant neighbors from upstairs everynite and day, stomping ard as if there were mice on the floor. Best of all, i didnt know if someone in that family had perpetual tummy ache coz the flushing seems to be almost always.

Didnt sleep well the first nite since i really truly miss my nice clean fluffy feather pillows back home. Toss and turn the whole nite, feeeling like there’s some smalll insects crawling under the sheets. Thankfully, i lost out to Mr Dreamy and drifted into deep slumber from sheer fatigue and lousy day.

Morn came quickly thankfully and the sun stream thru the gaps of the curtains. Got to the pool and the sun was really warming me up nice and good. Just as i thot i could drift off to a nice snooze, who else but a whole bunch of loud, noisy arrogant singaporeans plunged into the pool, splashed like elephants and screamed their heart out with mouthful of singlish as iif they have been muffled to silence their entire existence back home here in sg that they have to run amok in our neighbor’s soil.

Speaking of singaporeans, Its disgusting. Everytime i go abroad, it absolutely makes me CRINGE when i see a fellow singaporean behaving crudely and rudely, and most of all, their impeccable trait of thinking they are Kings in a land they step their feet on. Just becoz they think they can afford to throw a couple of hundred bucks, they think its justifable for bad behaviour, Its just so characteristic that sometimes i wished i had a different passport.

Dun get me wrong. I love my soil, and wat it represents. There are alot of things i love abt my ctry, but there too are dozens of things i am gradually hating, such as rude arrogant people for one. I dun hate children in general, but i’m begining to extremely dislike the local kids that grates my nerves. They are loud, screaming brats, insensitive with absolutely no manners. Who to blame? Parents. I dread to imagine sg’s future depended on these few running rats.

I was hoping for a quiet dinner in the indoor cafe. The staff were naturallly polite and friendly though apparently struggling to keep up with the surge of visitors over the long weekend. Then we have these bunch of singapore children who absolutely ruin the serenity by screaming and laughing and runing up and down the stairs non stop with no regards to anyone around them, including the staff who were trying to serve food. The Japanese and western families looked on at the uncharming children, while their own children of similar age, sat quietly by the table joking with their siblings like any well mannered kids would.

The waitresses had to watch their way as the children run amok with no parents in sight. I couldnt take it and hence i told the waitress if they could so kindly asked the kids or the parents to put a stop to the running and screaming. It was obviously ruining everyone’s dinner. The waitress was more than happy to oblige and went off the kids. The brats had the gall to push her and run off. She came back and told us how they have been putting up with those brats for the last 3 days and when spoken to, their parents were defensive and all indignant. They were so glad that we gave them an opportunity to stop the kids.

I felt sorry for the staff, i truly do. As visitors to their lands, i felt apologetic whenever i witness such unruly behavior. I couldnt apologise enuff for their behaviour despite that fact that i didnt even know who they are or care to. I could only hope that the gesture would imply to our neighbors that not every sgporean is an ar*sehole. It brought back to memory abt the recent batam toxic waste dispute when they called "singapore being stubborn". While the flow of incidents clearly cite that we werent at fault, and the minister’s behavior was slightly unprofessional, but i certainly think we commoners, have been grating our neighbors’ nerves for a long while…

I asked my fren, "Why is it that the Japanese children that we see are always soo seemingly well behaved? In comparisons, our local kids are so borish and unrefined" The only conclusion we could derive was possibly the Japanese wives mostly do not work and stay home mums. As such, they were able to monitor the behavior and instil the right cultural and society values into their children. Whereas by comparison, we are leaving too much in the hands of the maids, the household, the kids, the cooking. Would the maids care how your kids behave? More imptly, would the kids even listen to the maid who is not seen as a figure of authority?

Anycase back to the trip. It rained and rained and by the time i was ready to head home, the clouds cleared. I had 2 unsatisfying spa but I didnt have an isssue. I even had 3 insect bites while having an outdoor massage. However, I was just happy to head home honestly. I can always head back to amrita once i’m back in town.

As the ferry bobs up and down on the rough waves, I certainly look fwd to my soft fluffy pillows and nice clean sheets for a good nite sleep:)