The Eventful Bintan trip

Kind of difficult to get in the groove of blogging again once I lose the momentum. It was at the stage of “Hey, why bother?”, but I know that I would appreciate that in time to come. Like, when I’m old and cranky and couldn’t find a good storybook or movie to relate to, to pass my time.

There is this recent paranoia that gripped hold of me after a convo with a friend – how uploaded pics on the internet can be so rampantly abused elsewhere where you probably do not know exist. Makes me wonder about my own privacy security after hearing what she said about her experience. Guess I have to be real selective with what I upload on the Net now.

Our trip to Bintan in that one week break was great, but fraught with a couple of mishaps. The sky was a bright blue and the sea was sparkly and the slight sea breeze was singing, I swear. Makes you wonder how breathtaking Bora Bora, Maldives and Mauritius will be! Yes, it’s my lifetime resolution to go to those places at least once in my lifetime.

It’s not as if I hadn’t been to Bintan – the last time (maybe, 10 years ago?) was with my girls at Clubmed Bintan. And how the prices soared since then.

1st Day:

- Had a dip in the pool after our arrival and felt a tad awkward in my bikini. Almost flashed myself to all in the swimming pool after I took off my top and my bikini string came undone. JX freaked out obviously.

- Air rifles. I’m good la. I shot down a golf ball at my first attempt, to the shock of the instructor and JX. (JX was bragging about having gone to NS and that he had handled weaponry.) There were videos, but... that story comes later.

- A massage which wasn’t exactly satisfactory because my masseuse was sneezing the whole time. Didn’t hear her wash her hands before she placed/wiped/rubbed her hands on my body.

2nd Day:

- Drizzling. Each of us got a temporary tattoo to humor ourselves. Mine took a helluva long time to dry up. Had to return to our room and watch MTV while checking on the ink. Just had to smudge mine the last minute because I was getting really impatient as the sun had come out. Screamed for JX to fix it up.

- Lazing by the beach with music blasting beside our ears. Played with the crashing waves like kids.

- Big gloomy clouds ruined our play. Had some food and a satisfying massage by the sea.

3rd Day:
- Jet ski! I pointed to the picture of jet skis on their phamplet and said matter-of-factly, “Two!” to the person manning the booth at the beach. The guy raised his brow and JX looked at me questioningly, “Two? We ride separately?” I nodded and proclaimed that I wanted to ride the jet ski myself – doubt he wanted to sit behind me anyway. JX looked away slowly - I know he had that nagging worry about my safety but he knew me too well. And oh gosh... it was exhilarating!! I squeezed the accelerator and went all out to catch up with the guy who showed us the skiing area. Following his weaves through the wave crests and yelling into the wind and tasting the sparkly salty sea water splashing against my face. JX and I raced up and down way out in the sea, trying ignore the niggling thought about the sea's depth beneath us. When we eventually got off, I was actually aching from gripping onto the handles of the Jet Ski as I was flying in midair as the Jet Ski bounced off the waves.

- Frolicked in the sea with the sun beating down on us. The finest sand, the clear waters. Totally felt that I was in a world of our own.

- Dune Buggy. I wasn’t too keen actually. I was videocamming our ride, JX at the wheel, where he lost control of the buggy because we went uphill and hit a different ground consistency, resulting in us crashing into a tree in the middle of the track. The video was rolling all the while. On hindsight, it would have been pretty hilarious - I was chiding him as the reckless driver when the crash happened and I screamed the next moment before the whines in pain, whilst the video was filming my thigh in my momentary paralysis. Due to the sudden hard jolt, I was thrown off my seat but thrown back into my seat because of the loose muddy rusty seat belt which grazed my neck pretty bad. Was in slight shock. I was almost in tears from the sharp burning pain at the side of neck. JX had a nasty scare and was worried about my wound and the possibility of a bad infection. The mood was ruined, basically. And just when we were about to hit the main roads and leave the jungle, I realized, to my horror of all horrors, that JX’s handphone was no longer with me. I had shoved his handphone (which I was holding onto to take the video) into my pocket after the crash, so that I could hold onto the loose filthy seatbelt and that it would not graze my raw wound. Major panic. JX sent me back for first aid before he headed back to the jungle with the instructor to locate his handphone. I was feeling so terrible. ALL of our pictures and videos taken in Bintan were in there! And the special sentimental value of the saved messages to JX. It was such a downer, it ruined the remainder of our trip.

Last Day:

- Picture taking and filming videos. To make up for the lost pictures, though it was obviously not the same. :