Are you wondering what it is like on the inside? We take you on a tour through this highly anticipated attraction. Even before the Universal Studios theme park, the country’s first ever casino, and most of the 60 restaurants are open for business, the resort has already amassed a huge crowd on its opening day!

Clearly, the casino is the biggest draw of the resort. Be honest: How many of you are already planning your trip here?

The way to the casino is a route through passageways interconnected with escalators. Attention has been paid to every detail to give the feel of a whole different world. Ambient music plays in the background while lighting effects create dancing patterns and images on the walls.

This place has got some kind of underwater theme going on. A prelude to the controversial upcoming Marine Life Park, perhaps?

Water waves ripple on the arched ceiling and floor. You feel as though the floor MIGHT be moving. Pretty cool!

The eager crowd scrutinises the casino rules and regulations, and that includes a $100 admission fee. Some people were even spotted photographing the rules for future reference! Do you think the $100 fee would turn anyone off?

Here are more information and pictures of the Sentosa casino!

A slender-legged elephant towers over the crowd near Festive Hotel. He totally reminds me of Thailand!

Check out our dining review of Boulangerie at Festive Hotel

The main lobby of Festive Hotel features dozens of colourful lanterns hanging from the tall ceiling. The decoration certainly emanates a festive ambience! You would find a bakery and a bar in the lobby, and a spa up the beautiful staircase.

For the well-heeled shoppers, a whole alley of designer boutiques can be found at Crockfords Tower. No sign of Victoria’s Secret yet. Also missing is Tiger Woods’ face at TAG Heuer.

In between Crockfords Tower Hotel and Hotel Michael lies an eye catching pair of sculptures. Aren’t they adorable? Uncensored, too, they are. Some time back there was a bunch of exhibits here featuring a similar chubby theme. It is probably the same artist who’s also responsible for the cute fat pigeon along Boat Quay.

Check out our dining review of The Dining Room at Crockfords Tower Hotel

This is The Dining Room at Crockfords, a 24-hour restaurant specialising in Chinese/Cantonese cuisines. Ever heard of a bird’s nest egg tart? Well, the one here is exquisite!

When you visit the resort, do pay attention to the chandeliers. Most of them sport ornate and sophisticated designs that look interesting and abstract.

Festive Grande, the 1,600-seater theatre hosts a musical acrobatic performance, Voyage de la Vie. Uh, someone translate?

As you can see, many parts of the resort are still under construction. Universal Studios Singapore has yet to open. Same goes for the two remaining hotels and the casino.

Video Tour

Watch video walkthrough of the Resorts World at Sentosa:

Video by Singapore Casino Insider

Resorts World Sentosa Casino

Lining the casino’s entrance is a long row of gantries with scanners. We notice that a majority of these are reserved for Singaporeans and permanent residents, while only a handful are meant for foreigners.

The casino has opened its doors to the public. Check out our article on the Sentosa casino to find out what it has to offer!

Universal Studios Singapore

Here are some photos to whet your appetite. The theme park looks fabulous and fun!

Resorts World Sentosa restaurants

Check out our reviews of the Chinese restaurant, The Dining Room at Crockfords Tower Hotel, as well as the patisserie, Boulangerie at Festive Hotel.

What do you think of Singapore’s first casino resort so far? Will you be checking it out? Leave your comments!

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Catching an early-morning flight sure was no fun, but at least I got to admire this awesome sight from the plane. The sun was rising then, and the clouds were way below. Whoa!

Anyways, things just went swimmingly well. Our hotel (pre-booked online from Agoda) had sent someone to pick us up at the airport in a nice green van. It ensured that we had a comfortable and hassle-free ride to our hotel.

Welcome to the Borei Angkor Resort & Spa!

By then it was only 7+ in the morning. Since check-in time wasn’t until 2pm, we planned to:

1. leave our luggage at the reception counter.
2. head out, grab some breakfast, maybe do something touristy.
3. return at 2pm to check in.

While we sat at the bar to enjoy our free welcome drink and wet towel, the hotel staff came over with a wonderful surprise: they had arranged for us to check in early. It’s free of charge, too! Boy, were we elated! Most hotels would impose a charge for early check-in, but Borei Angkor just gave it to us without being asked!

Here’s our room. Ta-da!

And with that comes another wonderful surprise: the hotel had upgraded us to a bigger room. Again, free of charge! I was so happy!

Check out the awesome, awesome bathroom. It is, hands-down, the best bathtub I have ever used in a hotel room. There’s even a shower cubicle within the bathroom!

While most hotels provide shampoo and bath gel in little disposable tubes, Borei’s come in quaint bottles that are refilled daily. Not only are those environmental-friendly, they look good too.

The attached balcony is huge! You get a view that depicts a somewhat accurate picture of Siem Reap: trees, shanty houses, low-rise buildings, and more trees. (that probably explains the many crickets we found in our room at night!)

After unpacking, we took the tuk-tuk and hit the downtown area for some brunch. The motorcycle and trailer style of the tuk-tuks makes them different from the tuk-tuks in Bangkok. While there is no fixed price for the tuk-tuk rides in Bangkok, in Siem Reap it costs a standard US$1 per ride. That’s pretty fair, don’t you think? It sure lowers one’s chances of getting ripped off!

Oh yeah, everything is priced in US dollars. Quarters and dimes won’t be of use here though. Any small change owed under a dollar would be paid in Cambodian riels. (2000 riels = US$0.50)

Each time we rode the tuk-tuk, we passed by hotel after hotel. This is a touristy town after all. The ree hotel stood out in particular. See the creature spouting water at the entrance?

Photo by Cambodia Calling

It’s our very own Merlion! Now that’s someone you certainly wouldn’t expect to see in Siem Reap! I later learned that the hotel is run by a Singapore-based firm. Ahh… That explains it.

Upon dropping us off at our destination, Mr. Somart, our tuk-tuk driver, handed us a mobile phone. He assured us that whenever we needed a ride, we could just call him from this phone! We were freakin’ impressed! That’s not all; he said that we could use it to call home too since international calls cost “only 50 cents a minute”. Wow! He trusted us so much!

Right now you might be thinking: ha, there must be a catch somewhere! Well throughout this entire trip, Mr. Somart was nothing but honest and punctual. Not once did he overcharge us or take us anywhere we didn’t ask to go. Each time we called him, he picked us up within 5 minutes.

’til now I still feel that we really lucked out in landing such a reliable driver as our dedicated “chauffeur”. Because of him, we didn’t have to worry about transportation at all! If you’re ever in Siem Reap, I highly recommend Mr. Somart as your tuk-tuk driver. He is stationed at the entrance of Borei Angkor Resort.

So we were at Pub Street, the most happening place in town. Here, you can find dozens of restaurants, cafés and pubs specialising in varied kinds of cuisines. Many of these open as early as 7am, so all your dining needs would be well satiated.

We chose to get our first taste of Cambodian food at Khmer Kitchen Restaurant. Actually we were attracted by their “$1 beer”. Only later did we realise that everywhere in Siem Reap, beers are shockingly cheap. Some places even sell them at 50 cents! And that’s how I ended up having my first can of Angkor beer at 10 in the morning :)

If you notice, the Angkor beer logo features Angkor Wat, the world-famous landmark of Cambodia. The temple image also graces the national flag.

In a typical Khmer meal, people normally have rice accompanied by 3 or 4 dishes. These were our picks:

Amok with chicken
US$3
Rating:

The amok, a curry made with coconut milk and sweet basil leaves, is one traditional Khmer dish that we’re particularly eager to dig into. It comes in a shade of yellow, and is milder than your typical Indian curry.

The taste slants towards the sweet side, and is strangely non-spicy. Aren’t curries supposed to be spicy? But we loved it anyway, so much so that we had it again at other restaurants for our subsequent meals!

Fried minced chicken with chilli and basil
US$3
Rating:

A safe bet would be the fried minced chicken with chilli, basil leaves and red onion. Just like the one at Lerk Thai, the Khmer version is also savoury and bursting with flavour.

And now, for the yummiest omelette I’ve ever had in my life, I present the omelette español!

Omelette Español
US$2.50
Rating:

When you cut open the omelette you would see the little diced cubes of potato and onion. I don’t know what condiments they used to make it taste somewhat sweet, but it’s simply de-leee-cious!

For our first experience of authentic Khmer cuisine, we certainly enjoyed it very much. The prices at the restaurant are pretty fair, and the food is lip smacking good. It’s even recommended by Mick Jagger!

Khmer Kitchen Restaurant
Pub Street
Siem Reap, Cambodia

One thing that I noticed at Pub Street was that the eating establishments tend to be very colourful and creatively-decorated. Our Singapore restaurateurs should totally take a leaf out of their book!

Done with our first Khmer meal, we hit the streets to walk off the calories. Aside from restaurants and bars, this area is also filled with bookstores, massage parlours and souvenir shops.

We did some window-shopping at the Old Market (Phsar Chas). The vendors sold mainly paintings, handicrafts, textiles, Buddha statues and hammocks. Yes, hammocks. I contemplated buying one for snowy but they had it only in human sizes. Bummer.

The only thing that caught my fancy was these wall ornaments. They feature the comic book covers of tintin, my childhood hero. Of course, you would also find the pirated versions of non-existent titles, such as “Tintin in Angkor Wat”. Cute :)

When walking along the streets or even whilst dining in restaurants, we were frequently approached by street peddlers, mostly young children, selling bangles, postcards, shawls, tourist guidebooks and the likes. It’s sad to see that instead of being in school, they are out selling stuff on the streets. But boy can they speak excellent English! Most frequently heard sentence: “please buy this from me so that I can go to school.” when you say no, they would persist and ask “whyyyyy?” aww.

When we were done with exploring the Old Market, Mr. Sohmat drove us back to our hotel for desserts and afternoon tea by the pool.

Dessert buffet
US$5
Buffet rating:
Buffet hours: 2 – 6pm

There’s an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet at just US$5! It seemed like a very good deal. Diners can have their pick from both Western and traditional bite-sized desserts, as well as free-flowing coffee and tea.

Unfortunately though, most of the desserts were not up to par. Okay, I know it’s no ritz-carlton. But the only desserts that I found somewhat decent were the cheesecake and the chocolate spiral thing.

What really piqued my interest was the brightly-coloured ice kacang machine. Before that day, I had seen this antique only in museums and the Singapore sitcom Phua Chu Kang.

I got to operate it, too! See those tiny sharp spokes? They are the little guys that would grind the big ice block into fine shavings. The machine probably needs some greasing though; it takes a really strong man to turn it. The waiter, in our case.

After all the hard work of grinding the ice, the strong man can reward himself with various types of ice kacang toppings and syrups.

Borei Angkor Resort & Spa
National Road 6
0369 Banteay Chas, Slorkram
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Tel: +855 63 964 406
www.boreiangkor.com

That night, determined to get at least some shopping done, we went to the Angkor Night Market. While riding the tuk-tuk also means that you are breathing in polluted air, sometimes you do get to spot some rather amusing sights, such as this:

The guy was riding with a whole bunch of colourful balloons. They were bobbing in the wind! What a cheerful sight :)

The Angkor Night Market is situated near Pub Street.

Like the Old Market that we visited earlier in the day, the vendors mostly sell the same kind of stuff too.

This little pouch with a pink lizard sewn on looks really adorable!

You have to give credit to the Khmer people. From beautifully decorated restaurants to artfully done acrylic paintings such as these, there’s no doubting their creativity.

Within the night market, there are also a couple of pubs and even a fish therapy spa!

Angkor Night Market
Khum Svay Dangkum
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Tel: +855 92 654 315
www.angkornightmarket.com

We then had our dinner at Traditional Khmer Food, a nice little restaurant situated at an alley behind Pub Street.

Amok with chicken
US$3.25
Rating:

Like I said, we were game to try amok again. This time round, it is semi-solid, less gravy-like, and served in a banana leaf cup. Somehow this seems more authentic. Don’t you think?

Lok Lak with chicken
US$3.25
Rating:

Another traditional Khmer dish that we had was the lok lak. The stir-fried meat comes with a little bowl of sauce, a sourish mixture of lime juice and black pepper that teases the palate.

While this dish is usually served with beef, we requested for chicken instead. When it comes to ordering meat dishes in most of the restaurants, you can indicate whether you prefer fish, chicken, pork or beef. I really loved having that option.

Khmer curry with chicken
US$3.25
Rating:

The Khmer curry, not to be confused with amok, comes with a small dollop of coconut cream on top. The curry flavour is nice and strong, although it still isn’t very spicy. Is Khmer food just not meant to be too spicy?

Midway through the meal, a group of children in wigs and costumes came in to play music in exchange for money. Like I mentioned earlier, tourists in Siem Reap would have to get used to this.

Then there’s another group of visitors that will not ask you for money. This little feline friend accompanied us throughout our entire meal. We saw him sneaking into the kitchen once, and checked to make sure he came back out. Meow.

Traditional Khmer Food
Pub Street
Siem Reap, Cambodia

That’s it for the day. Back at our hotel, we arranged with Mr. Sohmat to pick us up the following morning at 5am. We’re going to see the magnificent Angkor Wat at sunrise! Wahoo!

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Anyways, the spread here consists of both Asian and Western food. We wasted no time in filling our plates.

East meets West when you have fried bee hoon (rice vermicelli), sambal belachan (fermented shrimp paste) and Turkey bacon all on the same plate. Colourful huh?

Those with a sweet tooth would probably prefer the pastries and snacks. The kueh lapis (layer cake) here is pretty in pink, similar in taste and texture to our colourful 9-layered version. As a huge fan of waffles, I was ecstatic to have them here too. Unfortunately they were pretty thin and lacked flavour.

Following a sumptuous breakfast, it’s tee off time! We headed to the golf clubhouse (in our buggy of course) with its glorious 18-hole golf courses. There were a few early birds who beat us there in the morning.

Nothing beats having a nice hot cuppa coffee in the cold morning, don’t you think? It’s great that there’s haskell’s, a decent café at the golf club that overlooks the undulating green lands. There’s an old wives’ tale that claims looking at grass in the morning is very good for the eyes. I wonder if there’s any truth in that?

We noticed that out of the 12 eateries at the resort, at least a few of them share a common drinks menu with the same prices and all. We had hot chocolate at miyako Japanese restaurant the previous day, and had the exact same hot chocolate over here too. And by hot chocolate, it’s actually hot Milo at $6 a cup!

Next, we drove our buggy to the resort’s private beach. The buggy sure was a joy to drive around :)

Photo by Nobodyin

At the beach, outdoor massage services are provided at elevated pavilions (in addition to the indoor day spa)! Very rustic and exotic. That’s bound to be a memorable experience.

As there was a slight drizzle, we lounged around the swimming pool instead. The pool features a café, ripples by the pool, that has its own swim-up bar. This concept has gained popularity in many resorts.

Orange Juice
S$6+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

Imagine swimming right up to a bar and be served a luscious piña colada or a freshly squeezed fruit juice!

Vanilla Coco
S$7+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

Here’s another drink that we had tried and loved — the vanilla coco, a glorious blend of banana, vanilla ice cream and coconut milk. I’m so getting a blender to make my own vanilla coco! Let’s hope I perfect the recipe :)

People literally spend half the day at the pool. We were there near noon. By the time we returned for a second round of drinks in the late evening, the same group of people was still frolicking in the pool!

Honey Chicken Wing
S$15+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

Other than the drinks, the pool bar also served surprisingly good food! The honey chicken wings were a delightful snack, with perfectly grilled wings coated in a honey-sweet hoi sin sauce. Yummy! The spicy dip that came with the crinkle-cut fries was very tasty too.

Chicken Quesadillas
S$17+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

The chicken quesadillas gave a sense of déjà vu of my trip to Texas almost two years ago. I so miss the colourful Tex-Mex food and it was a nice surprise to be able to have it at ripples.

The quesadillas were great, with the flavoursome combination of spring onion, sweet pepper and cheese, coupled with the awesome salsa dips.

Aside: if anyone could point me to a good Mexican restaurant in Singapore, I would be so grateful. Although the last time I met a Mexican, he lamented that there’s no decent Mexican restaurant here.

Thai Green Curry
S$17+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

The skilful rendition of foreign cuisines ended when we got to the Thai green curry. It was overly salty and sour. And because it was very watered down, it was akin to drinking Chinese soup rather than a thick curry gravy. At least the chicken meat was soft and tender.

After a very satisfying lunch, we decided it’s time to get out of the resort. A shuttle service that brings guests on a 1.5 hour shopping trip at pasar oleh oleh leaves the resort twice a day. It’s $6 per person for the two-way trip. Too bad we couldn’t drive our buggy there!

The mini shuttle bus picked us up at the main lobby. The ride took about 20 minutes. I was dismayed to see the familiar colourful “bintan resorts” logo at the entrance. It meant that the shops cater specially to resort guests, not locals. Red warning lights immediately flashed in my mind. Tourist trap!

Photo by Almixnuts

Once again, all prices here are in terms of Singapore dollars. Most of the wares sold were those we had already seen at our resort’s shopping galleria. The usual wooden figurines, oil paintings and beachwear. Even while shopping, we had to fend off several locals trying to bring us to other places in Bintan, for a fee of course.

Of course, there are also a few polo ralph lauren shops for good measure.

Photo by createyu

So are these the authentic polo ralph lauren? The prices are in the same range, although the stores seem to have a perpetual 20 to 50 percent storewide discount. After some googling, I learned that the polo ralph lauren stores in Bintan are a special franchise licensed by the label, but with inferior quality and cutting.

Photo by Apricot Cafe

This whole place is laid out like a kampung (traditional Malay village), with the shops housed in small houses. It’s actually a pretty unique place. But the things sold need to be more interesting. You would find almost the same items in shop after shop.

Our transport back to the resort would arrive only after 1.5 hours, and we had an hour left to kill. So we went to kampoeng lagoi on the opposite side of the road.

Photo by Nobodyin

This is a smaller and quieter area with massage parlours, cafés (including a haagen dazs) and — you guessed it — yet another polo ralph lauren store. We also noticed that the shops didn’t have air-conditioning, perhaps to save on electricity due to the low traffic?

Photo by Apricot Cafe

This beautiful building houses a spa salon. Doesn’t it look zen?

Eventually we got back to the resort, feeling like we had been stiffed of $12 visiting a tourist trap. Sweet relief followed at horizons café in the main lobby.

Photo by Bintan Lagoon Resort

You can sit on bright orange bar stools and enjoy a slice of cake. We had ourselves some slices of creamy goodness. See?

Tiramisu! I love that the name of the cake is ON the cake. Cute!

Mango smoothie! Nice transparent stirrer, eh? I brought home a couple of these as small memory keepsakes!

Well, that’s it for our 2D1N trip in Bintan. Most good things come to an end, and it ended way too soon! I’d like to thank all the people who made this trip possible. It was a much needed break that we really needed.

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Following a 60-minute ferry ride from tanah merah, we arrived at Bintan ferry terminal and met nasir, a guide from the resort who would drive us there. He even held up a white placard with my name “veron” written in block letters! It’s the first time I had been identified this way at airports, or ferry terminals for that matter. It made me feel all important!

The car ride was a short 15 minutes along roads that seemed well-maintained, flanked by greenery on both sides. In some ways it looked like Singapore! Upon arriving at Bintan lagoon resort, we were greeted by a group of dancers performing their traditional dance. There were even music performers banging their drums and playing festive/celebratory music, the whole shebang! Boy, did we feel invited! That’s a really nice way to welcome guests :)

Welcome to tropical paradise!

Checking in was a breeze. Yet another welcome gesture came in the form of wet towels and fruit punch. Do all resorts offer these? I enjoyed the same welcome treatment at Contiki Resort Bali too! Very nice!

Public relations manager sari then gave us a quick briefing and assured us that all meals were on the house and we should just enjoy our stay! Woohoo!

We were allocated a sea-facing room on the fifth level. Yay!

Ta-da! That’s our deluxe room! My first thought was: wow, this room is huge! It even had a large traditional day bed which was unexpected! It’s like having two big beds in one room!

Photo by Bintan Lagoon Resort

One thing that I judge a hotel room by is the cleanliness of its bathroom, especially since I have a phobia of dirty bathrooms. Ours was clean enough, and even came with a large full-length mirror on one side of the wall! I liked the shower too. Too bad the ceiling vent was really dusty and, at one point, dropped a furry ball of dust into the bathtub.

Basic toiletries were adequate, with toothbrush sets and a hairdryer provided.

Yay for the flat-screen television too! To our surprise, it had all the Singapore channels… Channel 5, 8, u, suria, you name it. Boy, does this resort cater to Singaporeans! Of course, we stuck to espn and hbo most of the time.

Our balcony had a sea view (and these rattan chairs). Unfortunately, the sea view was a tiny one as it was blocked by all the tall trees. As a matter of fact, the whole resort is shrouded in greenery, with the beach just a couple of minutes’ walk away. Pretty nice don’t you think? But it’s also due to this very fact that you’re surrounded by nature, you would notice many creepy crawlies around, though we didn’t get any within our room.

After finishing our oohing and ahhing at our nice deluxe room, we met sari again for a tour of the resort. She drove us around in a golf buggy (we got one for ourselves later too!) to check out all the facilities.

Besides hotel rooms, bigger (or perhaps richer) groups can opt to stay in villas. This one above is an angsoka villa, the biggest range of villas you would find at the resort. It’s double-storey, with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a mini pool at the back, a barbeque pit and comes with a cute golf buggy for convenient transportation!

Speaking of that golf buggy, we reviewers got one too! Haha! Otherwise, it’s $20 to loan it by the hour. Certainly not a cheap form of transportation!

I might as well mention it now. The currency in use here is Singapore dollars. We were a little shocked when we learned this for the first time. Last I checked, Bintan was still part of Indonesia. And now all the rupiah we had exchanged for this trip had been effectively rendered useless. Can anyone verify if Singapore currency is used throughout Bintan, or just at the resort?

Beware! Raptors inside! Doesn’t that remind you of jurassic park? This is the entrance to the laser quest arena, a fun activity for bigger groups. There’s paintball too!

Various facilities include golf courses, spa, sea sports such as banana boat and jet ski, and even activities catered to kids (face painting). So there’s really something for everybody! One catch is that most of these things come at a price. A good rule of thumb to follow is that as long as it’s something you can play with or use, you’d probably have to fork out money for it.

By the time we finished our tour, it’s 2:30pm in Bintan, or 3:30pm Singapore time as our bodies were accustomed to. To cut the long story short: we were famished! So lunch was at miyako Japanese restaurant.

An aquarium of lobsters welcomed us as we walked through the door, so that’s what we had.

Our $180 jo course consisted of a half lobster, sashimi and wagyu beef, served with appetiser, salad, steamed rice, miso soup and dessert. When you bring a food blogger to a nice fancy restaurant, she’s obviously gonna review the food right?

Salad and Appetiser
Part of $180 Jo Course+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

The salad and appetisers were fine, especially since my friend’s a fan of seasoned baby octopus. I’m not so sure what the yellow thing was. It tasted like agar agar.

Sashimi
Part of $180 Jo Course+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

The sashimi was swimmingly good! These thick slices of fresh fish were so tender, they seemed to melt in the mouth. oishi desu (yummy)!

Wagyu Beef
Part of $180 Jo Course+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

Another melt-in-your-mouth sensation came when we tasted the wagyu beef. Now, beef is one thing I never thought could be described as such. But what we had was the tenderest beef we’ve ever had in our entire lives! Excellent stuff!

Half Lobster
Part of $180 Jo Course+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

The half lobster was a generous portion. Unfortunately, it was served with so much fried egg (???) that its natural seafood taste was masked. But it’s been such a long time since I had oodles of lobster meat. too long! So no further complaints there! I also loved that it came with three different sauces to add flavour.

Ebi (Prawn) Tempura
S$25+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

In the mood for something deep fried, we ordered soft-shell crab. But unfortunately it wasn’t available then so we had the ebi (prawn) tempura instead. It was a good choice, as the prawns were plump and juicy, and the batter light and non-oily. I thought the origami crane was cute too. I can just imagine the kitchen staff sitting at one table folding origami! Haha!

Unagi Kabayaki (Grilled eel)
S$30+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

I have a weakness for unagi kabayaki (grilled eel) and it’s one of my staples at any Japanese restaurant. The one here is perfectly grilled and doused in a nice sauce.

Chicken Teriyaki
Rating:

The chicken teriyaki on the other hand was quite average. The meat was a tad tougher than I would have liked too.

Matcha (Green Tea) Ice Cream
Part of $180 Jo Course+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

We ended our extravagant Japanese meal with matcha (green tea) ice cream. Overall, the food was fresh and service was great. Prices were very steep though, and would probably not appeal to the average Singaporean.

After the hearty meal, we relaxed at the main lobby. The lobby is characterised by the high ceiling of intersecting wood beams. Here you can rest on the sofas and day beds and read the day’s papers (local papers and the Straits Times from Singapore!).

Photo by Bintan Lagoon Resort

You would also find a few lounge areas with these comfy rattan furniture.

A row of shops beside the lobby offers some relief to the shopaholics. There’s a snack shop as well as a big store selling beachwear, sundresses, souvenirs and crafts.

Photo by tan.jenna

Ralph lauren seemed to have found his way here too. The polo ralph lauren shop at the resort is but one of the many on the island. Is this the real thing, you ask? Well, I have the answer which I’ll post in my day 2 entry. Stay tuned!

And for now, more foodie goodies! Okay, I’m well aware that there is a ton of food pictures here when a resort vacation should be more about the sun, the sand and the sea. But honestly, it was raining throughout our entire trip. (damn the monsoon season!) what else could we do but eat right? Indulge me please!

Dinner was settled at orzo, a European/mediterranean restaurant.

From the looks of it, this was a fine-dining restaurant. How do I tell? Why, by the amount of cutlery on the table of course. Immediately I got self-conscious about the fact that I was wearing a spaghetti-strap top and shorts amidst a few tables of well-dressed caucasians and locals! Eventually, it was my countrymen that saved me when a group of equally sloppily dressed Singaporeans clad in bermudas and flip-flops came in for a meal. Phew!

Crab and Mozzarella
S$16+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

We ordered the crab and mozzarella appetiser. I’m not as big a fan of cheese as I am of crab. So this dish doesn’t get many drumsticks from me given the ample portions of mozzarella and minute amounts of crabmeat. Full marks though, for the artful presentation, especially with the surrounding saffron mayonnaise as a finishing touch. (this being a dark restaurant, my camera failed me as it always does in dark places. But rest assured, the food did look good.)

On the other hand, the lobster bisque tasted divine and boasted a rich seafood taste. Yum!

Chicken Kebab
S$35+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

The main course of lobster ravioli was a disappointment. The pasta wrapping around the ingredients was way too thick while the filling was way too little. We weren’t exactly expecting full-on lobster flesh (although that would have been nice) but there was no way we could tell there’s lobster in this; it could have easily passed off as chicken!

Chicken Kebab
S$28+ + 10% Government Tax
Rating:

Speaking of chicken, my chicken kebab definitely made an entrance. It turned heads as the waiter brought it out, skewer and meat rack and all. The skewer had chicken chunks alternating with onion, tomato and pepper, served with baked potato and robust dips. Our waiter obligingly waited for me to take a picture before helpfully getting all the edibles off the skewer and onto my plate. The meat was good, with that slight burnt taste.

To close the night, we were invited for a few rounds of drinks at silk, the resort’s club. Sari said that this is the most happening nightspot in Bintan. They have a deejay, a live band performing English songs, and a dance floor too.

And that’s it for our first day at Bintan lagoon resort! We felt extremely relaxed, pampered and well taken care of by all the friendly people working at the resort :)

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i spent some time around the duty free zone, sampling cosmetics and perfume. After trying out like a hundred of them, I opted for britney spears’ fantasy.

the sweet fragrance includes jasmine, white chocolate orchid, lychee, kiwi, etc. I never really like those strong floral fragrances so the light refreshing scent from fantasy is perfect. The packaging just looks so pretty!

the bottle itself is gorgeous too!

what a pretty and sweet ending to a beautiful vacation! Once again I would like to thank stefan, editor of funkygrad.com for trusting me enough to send me on this trip. Great thanks go to Contiki obviously, for sponsoring the trip. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It’s been one dream ride! Now all that’s left to do is hold the memories close to my heart, and write an ass kickin’ review article on Contiki Resort Bali.

so here endeth the Bali trip.

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the bungy van picked me up at the resort. After a bumpy ride, we arrived at the aj hackett bungy site at the double six club. It was right by the beach at sunset.

The first thing I did before the jump was to sign a disclaimer form. It basically frees aj hackett of any responsibility should my death result from the jump.

Next, my weight was taken to decide the bungy cord I would use. When I got onto the weighing machine, I was alarmed to see that my weight was over 60 kilograms! I immediately knew that the machine wasn’t working correctly; it looked pretty old and all. The guys asked me to get onto it again, and it still showed 60 kilograms! Finally on my third attempt, it showed my true weight. One of the guys probably had his foot on the machine!

I put on the harness and emptied my pockets of everything. Took a photograph that might well be my last! Finally, I went up to the top of the tower along with four of the crew. The elevator ride was a long one, during which I got an incredibly beautiful view of Bali at sunset.

Up there, everything in the surrounding looks so tiny. The 45-metre tower definitely seems taller when you get up there. I sat on top of a platform while one of the guys wrapped my legs in a towel. Yeah, a towel! It looks exactly like the one I have at home. I had some serious douBTS about this whole thing when I saw the towel. A leather cord was tied around the towel. A metal contraption then linked this leather cord and my harness to the real bungy cord that would plunge me down to earth. Should the towel or the leather cord come free, I would die an instant death!

By then I was seriously freaked and almost chickened out. But the guys were egging me on to jump when two of them hadn’t even bungy jumped before!

I had to stand right on the edge of the ledge. Right beneath my toes I could feel cold air.

Everything looked so small! My heart was pumping real fast. I said a silent prayer, took a giant leap, and left it all to fate.

During the first few seconds of the jump I was in total free fall. It felt ten times more freakish than any thrill ride I had been on at any amusement park! Total free fall! Totally free! When the bungy cord finally extended to its full length, I felt a series of rapid violent tugs which I feared would break the cord free. Thank god nothing of that sort happened.

I don’t know how long I was in the air for, but up there, I managed to get a good dizzy view of everything around. I was spinned in circles so many times! Up there in the air, all I had was a sense of exhilaration I had never felt before. It was a mixture of incredible adrenalin rush, total freedom, and outright fear.

Eventually I was slowly lowered to the ground. I had survived the first bungy jump in my life! Back on the ground, they asked me if I was ready for my second jump. Second jump? Did I even sign up for that? I then realised that the bungy package included two jumps, one forward, one backward.

The first jump really freaked me and I thought I would never do it again! But it also gave me more confidence. I deliberated for quite a while before deciding that yeah, I was game for my second jump!

The backward jump was even freakier than the first! You have to stand with your back facing outwards, and lean backward with the guy holding on to your harness. On the count 5-4-3-2-1, the guy lets go and you are on your way down! This time I very nearly chickened out. It is a lot harder and scarier jumping off backward, because your eyes don’t see where you are jumping off to.

I did it anyway!

Many people would be curious how they get you down after the jump. You are lowered down far enough where there would be a guy on the ground holding on to a long pole. You try your best to reach the pole and the guy pulls you onto the ground.

There. I have survived two bungy jumps, and lived to talk about it!

For my bravery, I received a certificate. I have joined the worldwide bungy fellowship and confronted the natural fear of heights!

I also paid for some photos taken of my bungy jumps, burnt onto a disc.

T-shirts to remember my first bungy experience!

After the jump, I had the luxury to see Bali’s sunset on the beach. Beach sunsets are always beautiful and magnificent.

On the wet sand, there were so many crab holes. And for the first time, I could actually see a couple of crabs scurrying into their holes.

I had wanted to get back to the resort for the theme dinner. But along the way I saw so many nice-looking beach restaurants that I decided to have our dinner there instead. Dinner was at café the sand. Competition seemed stiff as they let me in even though I wasn’t dressed very appropriately.

I had a blue lagoon cocktail and grilled seafood platter.

The seafood platter was not good. The squid, the prawns, even the fish fillet was so stiff I had trouble chewing. What’s up with Balinese food? I haven’t had any decent food so far!

The dinner setting was pretty nice. I had creamed mushroom soup, grilled fish and finished off with a chocolate brownie dessert.

Later on, I spotted a couple of Singaporeans at the CAPs central. Finally, the first non-indonesian, non-australian, non-german, and non-korean people in Contiki! I then came back to my room, wondering what to do for my last night. We decided to go to the hard rock hotel at kuta beach.

So yeah we went on our way — without helmets on! We stopped by ground zero, the site of the 2002 Bali bombing. There is now a memorial erected in place with the names of all the victims from 22 countries.

Went into a surf shop that had brands like roxy and billabong, but prices weren’t necessarily cheaper than in Singapore. Then later on we got pulled over by the corrupt traffic policeman who demanded money for us for not wearing helmets, even though many others were doing the same thing.

Well so that was my last night in Bali, but at least it was an exciting one. I did the things I wanted to do — spa and bungy jump, and I had just witnessed police corruption at its best!

I felt quite sad as it was too short a trip. I had enjoyed it immensely, and I had to leave the following morning.

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View the original article and join the discussion at:
http://sparklette.net/travel/indonesia/bali/ | 10 comments

Like on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Download free iPhone app

© 2011 Sparklette.net