The Great Bintan Sale: The Big Picture

The Great Bintan Sale is here and we were invited by Bintan Resorts to experience the 3D2N Family Fun package.

The Family Fun package officially includes the ferry ride and land transfers, accomodation* for 2 nights for 2 adults and 1 child, complimentary breakfast, 1 complimentary lunch or dinner, a mangrove discovery tour, and an elephant ride (or an elephant show, depending on the day of the week).

Upon arrival at the Bintan ferry terminal, we were greeted with a representative from the hotel holding my name plate and chauffeured in a nice car while most other guests took the large hotel coaches. We were also checked in really quickly at a private desk instead of having to queue and felt very much like celebrities indeed!



We were hosted at the very lovely Banyu Biru Villa (more about that in my next post!). Our activities were planned on our second day, allowing us to spend days of arrival and depature at our own pace, which was nice, because rushing on holidays is a big no-no.



First on the list was the mangrove discovery tour. After the warm welcome we received the day before, we were looking forward to an equally seamless journey to the tour. That unfortunately did not happen. There was no one waiting for us, and nobody at the activity desk seemed to have our booking. Finally after 40 minutes and several rounds of checks, a car arrived for us and brought us out for our tour.



Um, actually, a tour that did not happen. See, we got our life jackets on (yes there were adult sizes and kid sizes and even tiny ones for the baby, which was still too big for her), and boarded the boat, but it rocked quite violently at one point and Poppy kind of freaked out. So we made the split second decision to hop off and waved the other guests goodbye.

On hindsight, I think it was a good call. We may have missed out on seeing snakes all bunched up in tree branches, and the various interesting kinds of tree roots found in mangrove swamps, but I would have had my heart in my mouth the entire time holding the hand of a terrified preschooler, and a 16 month-old in an ill-fitting jacket.

See that little patch of sand in the background? The tide rose in the time we were there, and we managed to see the little 'island' disappear! Awesome nature lesson

So, we hung out at the drop off point and waited for everyone to return, only to find out that the boat would be taking them straight to the lunch venue, and they'd be sent back to the hotel from there. Bummer.

But our kind coordinators arranged to have our lunch packed and brought back to us, and hastily cleared up an area for us to have it. For that, we were very grateful.

I have to say though, that while there were life jackets available, I wasn't too crazy about the idea of these boats and their um, choice of seats. Cute, yes, comfortable, maybe, but safe? I'm not so sure. And as a mum of young kids, safety is always my first concern.



After the boat ride that we did not take (correction, kinda took for all of fifteen seconds), Poppy dropped the bomb - "I don't want to go on the elephant", she declared. Uh oh. Where was this holiday headed!

Thankfully, she came 'round, and after the first couple of minutes, announced, "This isn't scary at all, Mama!" :) Mama, on the other hand, clung on with dear life with one hand on the shoulder of the trainer, and the other arm coiled tightly around child. We were about 2 metres off the ground and that's quite a height to potentially fall from!


The elephant ride took us through the jungle where the elephants ate, trampled on tree brunches, pooped ENORMOUS poops that made Poppy laugh. The ride lasted about 20 minutes, but my butt cramp lasted about 2 days. But, it was an experience :) Even Calla went on this one. According to Max, she asked to go on the elephant. She saw Poppy and I on one, then kept pointing at it and tugged on him so he strapped her on the baby carrier, and up they went. But only for a mini 5-minute ride.



For such a large animal, the elephant certainly is very gentle :) And for SGD $1, you can buy a bag of food to feed the elephants, which we did. I've got to say, being so close to the trunk was a little unnerving for me. It felt very much like I was part of Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who movie.


So that's that for now. In my second post, I will share more about the resort we stayed at, and the things that we did that were not part of the package (alot!), so don't change the channel, folks!


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Disclaimer: My family was invited to experience the Family Fun package under the Great Bintan Sale. Our trip was sponsored but I am not being compensated to write this post. All opinions, mosquito bites (just 2, thanks for asking) and sunburnt marks are my own.