254 330
TRAVEL
254
January14
One Night in Bintan
BOOK
one of the recently renovated Deluxe Premier Rooms
at the
Nirwana Resort Hotel
, a mere ten minutes from Bintan
Ferry Terminal, and you can be sipping a cocktail at the pool
bar by lunchtime. We stayed in a Deluxe Premier Queen
Room for $295. The price includes buffet breakfast for two,
return land transfer from the ferry terminal to the resort and
unlimited Wi-Fi access.
RELAX
with a massage at the
Anindya Beach Spa
in front
of the hotel. The spa has six beachside cabanas, and also
offers in-room treatments. We opted for a beachside hour-long
Balinese rub-down for $70. The cabanas offer little privacy,
but we were lucky – the pool area was not too busy or noisy,
and we could relax into the treatment.
DINE
at RIN, the hotel’s Japanese restaurant. We were
treated to
kaiseki
, a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner,
which included our first taste of
gong gong
(sea snail), a
delicious selection of
sashimi
with lime juice, wasabi and salt,
and
chicken broth with dumplings
, all for $68 per head. RIN
also has a
teppanyaki
griddle in the main restaurant, which
was the source of much entertainment for the children at the
table next to us.
EXPLORE
the
mangroves
at the
Aroma River Spa
, a
50-minute drive from the ferry terminal. Look out for monkeys,
lizards and turtles amongst the mangroves, and if you feel
the need for more relaxation, book yourself in for a massage
in one of the spa’s
attap
and bamboo huts. The mangrove
tour costs $35 for adults, $28 for children; a 70-minute Riau
massage costs $38.
LUNCH
at the
Kelong Restaurant
, a free shuttle ride
away from the resort. As the
kelong
reference suggests, the
restaurant is set up on stilts in the sea, and it serves a blend
of Chinese and Indonesian seafood. We sampled its
Rising
Sun
menu for $34 per person (without drinks), which included
a massive pile of
gong gong
(again!),
fried noodles Malay
style
, and
braised crab with chilli sauce
. The food was
good, but the best bit was the restaurant setting, with beautiful
views across the South China Sea.
For more information about Nirwana Resort, go to
resort.nirwanagardens.com.
AMY BROOK-PARTRIDGE finds out what you can pack
into a two-day, one-night stay in Bintan.
Sunset at Kelong Restaurant
Nirwana Resort Hotel's
deluxe premier room
Seafood speciality at Kelong
Teppanyaki at RIN
RIN's sashimi plate