Club Med Bintan Day 1

Writing this post from Bintan!! We've arrived!

Day started early with everyone waking up naturally at about 7am, even P who usually wakes up at 8am. Our ferry is at 11.10am, so we should reach Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (TMFT) at 9.40am (1.5 hours before). We called a cab at 9am, and was was warned by the cab driver that the road leading to TMFT might be crowded with trucks at this timing (do note and plan in advance so as not to miss your ferry). True enough, as we approached that road, we were greeted with a long line of trucks. Taxi driver told us that the wait is at least half an hour based in his experience, but he was smart enough to do a u-turn after the line of trucks, and we got ahead of the queue.

We got our boarding passes from the Bintan Ferries counter, and were asked to fill in the entry cards and customs declaration. Bring along a pen, else it's going to cost you $1.90 at the mama shop next door. We breezed past the customs, and found the waiting area rather empty. First thought that came to mind was that there are few travellers, but it became pretty crowded when close to boarding time.

Let's eat some Yogis before we go.

Off we go!

The boarding gates opened shortly after 10.30am. We had to walk a bit to get to the ferry, and P was super excited about it. She kept pointing to the ferry from a distance and exclaim "Boat! Boat!!!" I've never taught her that word before (seldom see boats in the city/AMK), so I was super surprised when she blurted out that word. Someone must have taught her.

The window seats inside the ferry was fully snapped up by the time we got there, so we could only claim a row of 4 seats fin the centre for ourselves and our luggage. P was so curious and kept fiddling with the meal trays in front of us. Luckily, some 10 min after the ferry started sailing, she conked out. I'm so lucky I didn't have to chase her all over the ferry. Charlotte's Web was the movie played during the ferry ride, and hubby was guffawing at the scenes, lol.

Sooner than expected, the ferry arrived at Bintan Terminal. I think the journey took only 45 min. By the time we went to queue to get pass immigration, P had woken up. From past memory, I thought they took quite long to clear the people, but this time it was fast. I'm quite impressed, haha. After cleaning immigration and customs, we headed to the Club Med office just outside. The staff requested to see our passports and take down some particulars, after which we were escorted to the Club Med Bus outside the terminal. We had to wait for 5 other groups, but it wasn't too long and we were on our way. It was going to be a 15 min drive to the resort.

We arrived to the sights of waving G.Os and a blasting 'tropical' welcome song. After we alighted, the general manager gave a introduction and they allocated personnel from respective countries to take care of the various groups. I think we had a group of Vietnamese and French among us, so a Vietnamese and French was sent to brief them respectively. We belonged to the English group, together with another family. P was super taken with the sight of the main pool downstairs, and couldn't care much about the briefing. Hubby stayed with her, so I was the only one listening.

After the briefing, we were brought to our rooms (luggage will be sent later) by a GO and he told us we are just in time for lunch, yippee! Our room number is R2226, and had to climb a flight of stairs to reach. However, I'm happy they put us up near the main building so we didn't have to walk far each time. The room reminded me of the Downtown East chalets, kind of dim. However, it was good to see that it comes with baby bathtub, Pigeon sterliser, baby bottle warmer and even baby powder and baby oil. We couldn't do any unpacking without our luggage, so we decided to have lunch first.

Lunch was at The Waterfall restaurant on Level 2 (Lobby and Reception are on L4). It's buffet style, but with some live stations where their chefs will whip something up for you. Hubby decided to o Western and came back with yummy looking grilled chicken, fries and fish. I headed for the Chinese section, where you pick out the ingredients (mushrooms, chicken, pork, squid, veggie, baby corn etc), and the chef will whip it up into a zi char kind of dish. I was initially quite skeptical of the taste, but it turned out so good I told hubby I could eat this everyday.

Lunch time

We explored the Petit and Mini Clubs after lunch. Petit Clubs is for children between 2-3 yo while Mini Club is for those between 4-10 yo. P didn't fall in any of these category (she's 20 months). We asked if she could participate in the activities and the GOs said she could if we (parents) and accompanying her. Since it was the first day and already mid day, we didn't proceed with it.

Checking out the Petit Club

We went back to our room to find our luggage outside our door. Hubby was quite shocked and say that anyone could just take it. Well, if you are particular, better stay in the room till the luggage arrives. We didn't lose anything, so this episode didn't matter to me. The unpacking took us awhile, and by the time we were done, it was almost time for P to have her nap. We tried putting her to bed but she seems to know we are on vacation and can get away with it. After an hour of trying, we gave up, changed into our swimming suits and headed for the pool. P got super excited and started chanting "游，游!!!" I have to admit her excitement was quite contagious. It was the first time we are trying the arm floats for her, and she was ok with it, phew!! We stayed in the pool for a good 1.5 hours before heading back to the rooms to bath. Oh yeah, Club Med does free flow of drinks and alcohol (except premium types), so we made full use of it and grabbed some juices before heading back.

Dinner was to be a poolside buffet dinner at 6.30pm with some trapeze/acrobatic show at 8pm. The setting looks like a wedding banquet. We got ourselves seated and hubby went to check out the food, returning with sashimi and some other food. I walked down the buffet line (the length of the pool) and was amazed by the huge variety, and cuisines catered to almost every country. A Taiwanese couple with their 3.5yo girl joined us at our table, followed by 4 other GOs, all speaking mandarin (think they are Taiwanese too). It was a great opportunity to make friends, and we were asked questions/attractions about Singapore. Oh, I think I ought to mention there wasn't any breeze AT ALL, and with spotlights shining down on us, it was a super 'sweaty' dinner. My neighbour commented that it was romantic dining under the moonlight, but the heat was really quite unbearable.

View from L4 bar

See the buffet line spanning the length of the pool?

Beef steak, oh so yummy

At 8pm, P was becoming quite cranky and sleepy. The show started and she wasn't happy at all. To be more exact, she was terrified by the whole thing, especially the loud music. She wailed and cried and clung onto hubby before directing her fears to me. She clung on me and watched the show from the corner of her eyes, every now and then patting her chest to show me she's scared. Halfway through the show, I think she decided to just sleep away the nightmarish music and she conked out. Hubby was quite entertained by the show though, and rounded off the night with a beer from the bar to mark the end of Day 1.

And the show starts...