The Long Weekend Report

Finally finished the SOP and gave it to Khim. actually i gave her the diskette and she printed it out. Which is pretty much like doing it myself only completely the opposite.

I was out of the country and just came back this afternoon. More on that later...

Lyn messaged me to go to church on Sunday. How often does that happen? It is usually the other way around. Problem was i was out of the country (see above and below). Will do it again next Sunday....

Met Nadia on Wednesday. I think she pretty much covered all that we 'did' on her blog (maybe she left out some of the juiciest details?). :P

Niki really beginning to bug me. She talks too much, whines on and on and what does she think I am? Her boyfriend? It is not easy to piss me off or bore me but Niki makes both an art form. I do not see any positive developments stemming from this 'relationship'. Why can't more girls be like Lyn and Nadia? (lol...cheap plug!! Must say that.Otherwise both of them will twist my ears. OUCH!!)

The mystery of the Unseen Pictures deepens. I still can't see the pics but there have been unconfirmed reports of sightings in the area. You will be informed once someone around here knows something.

I sneaked off to Bintan on Sunday with Joyce. This is despite the directive from AVA that we are not to leave Singapore and despite the fact that Indonesia (and Bintan for that matter) is a bird flu affected country. Well I had planned this holiday well in advance, made bookings and paid up in full. Ain't no directive gonna keep me down!
( I think I feel that rebellious streak coming up again)

We took the afternoon ferry from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (TMFT), one of the few government linked places in Singapore without a catchy abbreviation. When we got there we were made to 'wait' in one of those booths where they played soothing music and burnt scented sticks etc. A taste of things to come.

We were then escorted to our resort by a personal driver. Woo-pee doo!! Along the way there was this curious monument to Javanese Rhinoceros. Really cool. Too bad we could not stop to take pictures. Checking in was a breeze. The people are so nice. Not phony nice like in posh restaurants in Singapore, but really nice like 'from-the heart-of my-bottom nice'. Bwaa-hhaaaa-haaa. Either that or they are really convincing liars.

We were supposed to go to the spa initially after we booked in but Joyce was in the throes of her...errmm....'women's issue' so making a reservation was kinda risky. So we left it to chance and made the booking only upon arrival. The nice lady(ies) managed to squeeze us in for the 10.30 spot which suited us fine on condition that the hotel permitted us a later check-out time.

We then went up to check out the room. It was great. It had a view of the sea and overlooked the pool. The stuff of dreams. Even Joyce liked it.:P The funny part was when Joyce entered in and started complaining about the view when she had not even seen it yet. And then retracting her statement when the curtains were drawn and the sliding door opened. Joyce...the eternal optimist! :P

Since we had like the rest of the day free to wander around, the happy campers decided to check out the hotel and what it had to offer. It was nice walking through the grounds. Joyce and I went to the Spa Gallery to look at some swimwear for Joyce as she had not brought along any. The prices were exhorbitant and the designs non-descript. A definite no-go.

The pool was one of those pseudo Jacuzzi ones.One of those that has jet streams of water but without the heater. We took a walk along the beach. The water was so clear and the rock formations made for an interesting landscape. And have I mentioned about the view yet?

After a little walking we both settled down on a couple of beach chairs. We ordered a coconut and pizza. Ahh...such hedonistic bliss....beach...the sun.....pizza...coconuts....Joyce and I..ahhh...wait a minute!! What's that sound?? Oh my...look it is a couple of brats from home! Look at the noise they are making....bah....lets vote them off the island I say! Even the Ang Moh couple a few feet away from us were getting pissed by now. Staring daggers in their direction, the motley trio made their way to a spot where others could be bothered instead of us. We then took another walk and took pictures for keepsakes. I think Joyce is my favourite muse. I love taking pictures of her. This time the photo-taking went well again...

There was this blue flag planted along the beach. It denotes that jelly fish are commonly found this time of year. So we tip toed between the drying and slowly dying ones that washed up along the shoreline.More pictures....*snap*snap*
Then we made our happy way up to our lovenest...i mean...room! We washed up and prepared for dinner.

Dinner was to be at Treetops at the nearby Banyan Tree Bintan. It is a nice place. I ordered lamb cutlet (yummy-yum-yum) and Joyce ordered grilled salmon (double yummy-yum-yum). Treetops is in the treetops literally. It overlooks the South China Sea. Nice view(again). After dinner more pictures....then we made our way back to Angsana.

Back at Angsana, Joyce and I took a walk along the beach again to 'look at stars' and perhaps get some pizza. Apparently the first pizza in the afternoon was so good that we had to have another one. But alas they do not serve pizza at night. So the still-craving-for-pizza-campers took the walk along the moonlit beach. Waves crashing upon the shore.Clouds roll by to reveal the moon and the stars up in the heavens.We both share a beach chair. Joyce snuggles into my arms and we both look in awe of the beauty of God's creation. Feels like old times if only for a moment.

The pools looks enchanting at night. How the light plays upon the water and the sounds of the ocean all come together to make everything seem right...so right.

After star-gazing, we make our way up to the hotel to have our complimentary drinks at the Lotus Cafe hand in hand. Been what seems like forever since we last held hands and made it actually mean something. We had our drinks although Joyce did not finish hers and then made our way up to our room.

On the TV was Spy Kids. We sat on the sofa and ate potato chips. Somewhere in between Joyce wandered away to the bed and there she stayed till the next morning. Poor thing must be tired.

7.30 am and time to wake up. Gonna have breakfast,come back to the room and then go for our spa appointment at 10. Breakfast was basically a pig out in typical Singaporean style. We grabbed anything that was on a plate. Joyce displayed her sadistic streak when she terrorised the omellete guy with her repeated orders of omelettes.Poor guy never knew what hit him.

After that we went back to our room where Joyce took another nap. Must be something in the water or something! Me being the busy bee that I am had to do something to keep myself entertained whilst Joyce napped. There was this Bon Jovi concert on tv. Was cool stuff. Bon Jovi still rocks after all this time.

I love bathtubs.Wish I had one at home.When I have a home of my own some day I want it to have a bath tub. Anyway I filled up the tub in our room with hot water and just soaked in it till I was satisfied. Ahhhh....love how it feels after soaking in a tub. All wrinkled up and fuzzy inside. Joyce awoke and it was now her turn to take her bath in preparation for the spa appointment.

The eager beavers made their way down to the spa at 10 although our appointment was for 10.30. We just signed in,walked around the gift shop and sat down on this huge rattan sofa-thingy. It was so big my feet were off the ground when I sat in it deep.That saying nothing about Joyce. The nice people even served us ginger tea since we were waiting.Who says punctuality does not pay? In hindsight i think the tea may have been leftovers from a previous client since it only had enough for 4 cups but i could be wrong.

Finally it was our turn to go in. We had signed up for the Bliss package which consists of 'complete body pampering session that commences with a 30-minute body scrub to prepare the skin for the nourishing 60-minute body wrap that follows. After that, relax under the healing hands of our skilled therapist as she eases away your tension and stress during the 60-minute body massage.' I was having
second thoughts about the body wrap as it was not a very macho thing to do. But it was too late anyway so I went along with the flow. The massage is done in an outdoor pavillion. We each had our own personal attendant. The problem part was that all of this was to be done whilst completely undressed. I have never been naked in a room with 3 ladies since the day I came into this world. To make matters worse it drizzled in the morning so it made for a chilly spa experience. The girl who attended to me, Murni,was really nice and professional. Never had such good hands run all over my body. Not too hard nor too soft. Just right.

After the spa, we sat down at the pavilion to drink honey ginger tea. A nice touch to end our spa experience.

The receptionist had agreed that we could have a late check out. Due to our ferry leaving at 3.30 and us finishing our spa treatment at 1.30.Usual check out time is 12. After the spa, we went up to the room and got our stuff to the receptionist area.

Thereafter we adjourned to the Pantai Grill for pizza again.We also ordered a seafood on a stick dish. But time has a way of catching up with you when you least expect it. The time came to board the bus to the ferry terminal. We ate like there was no tomorrow and made a mad dash to the waiting bus. Being that everyone else was seemingly on time and waiting for us made it kind of embarrassing. Only thing that was lacking was a round of applause when we sheepishly boarded the bus.

The ferry terminal was packed. Definitely Singaporeans on their way back home after the long weekend. On the ferry Joyce asked for my shoulder to rest on the journey back on the ferry. I was more than happy to oblige. Towards the end of our ride, the ferry stopped. The captain announced that they were experiencing 'technical difficulties'. After about 15 minutes he then announced that one of the engines was 'stubborn'-ly not working. It was then decided to continue to port on one engine only, albeit a lot slower.

At Tanah Merah, we quickly located the car and I drove Joyce home.

~THE END~