Indonesia - A Solo Escape To Bintan

Hello there!

Having completed my earlier travel posts on several interesting countries and regions, including Japan, Maldives, Indonesia, US, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and the latest one being United Kingdom, I was going through my past travel photos, and I found this folder called "2011 Bintan".

Looking through the photos brought back special memories because this was the first time I actually travelled solo and as a very young adult, this was both an exciting and scary experience at the same time. Looking back, I was indeed brave and I think the trip was not just a personal milestone, but it made me more independent and was definitely good for my personal growth too.

So let's travel back in time to 2011! Bintan was a ferry ride from where I am from, so I headed to the Singapore Cruise Centre.

Back in those era, it's quite a norm snap photos at random stuff, especially when I was on a solo trip. Heading to the gate!

And here's the ferry that will take us to Bintan!

It was drizzling actually so the windows of the ferry were clouded by all the droplets, and we also had to take in a little splash of water while boarding too.

This was how the interior of the ferry looked like back then.

And after a short while, less than an hour, we reached Bintan, Indonesia!

Bintan is an island that is full of resorts, of varying budgets, so one can definitely find something suitable.

I picked the Nirwana Gardens Resort, which was a decent place but definitely not the high end ones like Banyan Trees or Club Med. This was the resort lobby and the good part about it was there was a complimentary transport from the terminal to the resort.

After checking in, it was already evening time, so I decided to just walked around the resort and explore the surroundings. The blue skies, the neat rows of trees, and the greenery all round, felt like a paradise for sure. Especially for someone like me who lives in a city.

This was what I was staying in, but of course, if one has the means to splurge, I think Bintan definitely has those rooms that are above the waters.

They had many swimming pools and this was one of them. It was probably late so there was no one there.

Another good part of the resort is that it sits just beside the beach. So I also took a walk at the beach. Very peaceful and calming.

I had my dinner at the restaurant in the resort (because there were no other options anyway haha) and after dinner, the sky was already dark. Fortunately the pathways were still lit with some lights and I could make my way around the resort.

And that's pretty much the first day of my stay in Bintan! It was actually fine to do this solo and get some well deserved rest (I recalled it was just after exams), and looking back, I could only chuckle a little and at how after it has been 15 years till now, and I am still pretty much the same, always comfortable to do things solo and enjoying "me time".

And that's all I have today! Have you been to Bintan or Indonesia? Let me know in the comments below!

Finally, thanks for reading my post in the community under World Map Pin!