I needed a short break. So I went to Batam, Indonesia. With a friend, of course.
It happened in February 2006, when a ‘devil’ kept appearing out of nowhere, whispering “you need a break, you need a break” to my ear, provoking and goading me to fill up the Leave Application form. Capitulated, I submitted the form to my boss one day. While I was waiting for her to read through the application form, my eyes wandered around her room and desk. Looked like she was also in dire need of a good holiday. She finally looked up and approved my application. Yeyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
On Friday we took a boat ride to Batam Island from Setulang Port, Johor Bahru. Batam, with its beautiful waterfront marina, golf course resorts, was a captivating and laid-back tropical island. At night, the town was alive and vibrant with its burgeoning nightlife and full-blown entertainment scenes. Since there was nothing much for us to do here in this ‘cowboy’ town, we packed up our things the next day and hailed a taxi. As kind as any other Indonesian drivers would be, he took us around the island for a sightseeing. Barelang Bridge was simply amazing. It was also known to be the most prolific one among all other connecting bridges around the island.
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| The Barelang Bridge, Batam |
Showing a map of Batam to the taxi driver, he suggested that we should check out the nearby island, called Bintan. A boat ferried us to Tanjung Pinang and we stopped at a small restaurant to try out their savory ‘nasi padang’ for lunch. The food was marvelous! Splendid!
Bintan Island was even more pleasant than Batam especially the Northern part of the island. As this part of the island was primely preserved for tourists, one might get mistaken this place for a paradise sent to earth by the Almighty God.
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| Bintan |
It was truely a superb trip to Paradise. I might not want to come here again (as I hate boat rides so much) but I can never forget its cool and refreshing salty air and appealing beaches.
