As requested, we arrived an hour early to collect our tickets at Tenah Merah Ferry Terminal (TMFT).

Our boarding passes

On the way there, it started to pour! My tummy did a flipflop cause my last experience to Bintan wasn’t very good. I was a “merlion” throughout the journey back due to the rough waves. Good thing the rain started to slow down when we arrived at TMFT.

While waiting for our ferry, what better way to entertain ourselves?

Play PSP of course!

Abang with his PSP

And me with mine

With our great companion, time flew past in a flash! Soon we were ready for boarding!

Walking towards the ferry

And this was our ferry…

Wavemaster 5 by Berlian Ferries
Heading to Tanjong Pinang

Upon arriving at Tanjong Pinang, I was quite shocked to see the heart of Bintain. I thought it’ll be as dead as the other time I was there. Then I realised the other time, our ferry anchored at the other ferry terminal at the other end of the island. Tanjong Pinang is where the people live and it sure looks more fun and lively! Our driver, arranged by the agency we booked the resort with, picked us up in his van (with super powerful aircon!) and we were on our way to Yasin Bungalow at Trikora Beach (the name of the beach sounds like one in Neopets right? LOL!).

On our way there, I snapped some interesting sights…

Colorful houses along the narrow streets

Bright posters on the wall

Not sure what this is but found it interesting

Many people there use motorbikes as their mode of transport. And its not unusual to see more than 2 people on a single bike. The max I saw was a family of 5 on a small scooter!! But this I thought was pretty dangerous considering the kind of traffic and the way the baby was held. Scary!

And there’s this funny looking sign on the road…

It’s a U-turn sign by the way.
Wonders if these people were u-turning and ended up getting stuck there on the sign. o_O

Passing through the busy town area, into the rural kampong area and passing many mini bridges, finally we saw sign of the beach! The journey from the jetty to the bungalow took about an hour. Good thing the air-con was blasting at us, in fact I was almost frozen when we arrived!

The sky was dark and drizzles were falling on our head. Kinda groomy welcome. But we still like the sight of the place. Simple, peaceful and nice! More photos of it in my Day 2 post. I shall end Day 1 with two shots of our little bungalow (more like a hut) for our 3 days at Bintan…

Bed in the room
(The mosquito net hanging on the bed is there for GOOD reasons!)

Two handmade seats outside our balcony
(GREAT view ok!! Photos coming soon!)