Weekend Holiday at Bintan Villa 

Unable to contain the excitement for the weekend beach holiday, Mrinal, Satty and I spent the most of the Friday evening mix matching and trying almost our entire wardrobes to pick the right pair of clothes and most importantly hats.. Simultaneously on was the task of cooking aloo mutter ki sabzi contributing to the potluck lunch the following day for the ten of us. Confessed Narcissists, posing in front of the camera for ample pictures, at 2 AM we finally called it a day, and thought it was time we start packing our bags, as we had to leave the house in the next 4 hours.

The ferry, privately owned by the Bintan Lagoon Resort sailed through the South China sea, taking us to the resort in about an hour, leaving some of us terribly sea sick and nauseatic towards the end of it. Standing on the deck through the journey, watching the ferry creating a gushing jet of water propelling forward, and singing our favourite songs at the top of our voices, was a perfect kickstart to the fun-filled weekend holiday. At the resort, we were welcomed by a troupe of beautiful ladies clad in traditional attire with garlands and dancing to Indonesian music beats, giving us the feel of a classical Hawaiian Beach Holiday.

After gorging ourselves with lip smacking home-made food at the resort lounge, we timepassed doing some random activities and chit chatting until it was the time to check-in. Much to our delight, Mrinal and Pratik managed to cast a spell and woo the resort HRs to upgrade our accommodation from individual hotel rooms to a palatial four bedroom villa overlooking the beach. Tastefully furnished to a high standard, the two storey villa looked wondrous with a private swimming pool, surrounded by a beautiful garden with deckchairs and with a provision of everything that we could have ever dreamt of. The kitchen was sumptuously well equipped, attached to the living room provided with a big screen TV -loud speakers in front of warmly cushioned sturdy couches. We also had a 24*7 access to an awesome 8 seater battery charged buggy to commute inside the resort on our own and thus enjoyed the liberty to travel long distances effortlessly. On request, the master bedroom was elegantly decorated with rose petals and a chocolate cake, which pleasantly surprised Aninda-Dipanwita who were celebrating their six years of togetherness. 

                                    

Quickly refreshing ourselves, we all took a plunge into the pool which was the start of ultimate water fun, further taking sips of juices and small bites of Pringles at intervals- felt like living an aristocratic royal life with all the services just a phone call away. Saurabh busied himself sincerely teaching the non-swimmers the fundamentals of floating, breathing and swimming, while Ranjit-Pratik-Dhiren were practicing different swim strokes. Aninda- Dipa enjoyed the anniversary special couple swimming. As the dusk was falling, we decided to hit the beach and indulge in muddy wavy fun. Pratik-Saurabh-Satty-Dhiren and I went inside till permitted water levels, trying to stand upright against the strong water currents- singing, screaming and swinging to our favourite danceable numbers, while the others chose to remain on the shore.

  

Meanwhile, Ranjit and Raunaq got acquainted with riding the buggy and explored the whole resort sprawling over 4000 hectares, memorizing the route and important locations to show us around. Ranjit and Raunaq hit off well in this trip owing to their common interests, majorly buggy riding and cricket! The resort was self sufficient with 10+ restaurants, multiple shopping centres and also offered wide variety of options for water sports and other recreational activities for all ages. We ordered dinner from an Indian restaurant, primarily comprising bread and veggies, daal and soft drinks- it was such a homely feeling to dine on the table with the entire family, random discussions and humour filling in the conversations. Post dinner, we sat listening to music on the veranda, mesmerized by the beautiful moonlight trickling down the cloud veiled sky and peacefully enjoyed the pleasant sea breeze. At midnight, we revisited the deserted beach, sauntering along the shore, looking at the sky and counting the finite stars intermittently twinkling, playing hide and seek with the puffy clouds. Back in the villa at three in the morning, tired and lethargic, most of us went horizontal almost immediately, while Mrinal, Pratik, Saurabh and Dhiren being naturally nocturnal creatures sat by the pool chatting for a while more.

Having barely slept in the past two days, I woke up groggy to a pleasant Sunday morning, and strolled along the beach in solitude.. Took the opportunity to do my breathing practices and meditation by the sea - it was blissful with the sound of the sea waves hitting the shore in background. After everyone was awake, we went to the Breakfast buffet, which  comprised of countless assorted delicacies, breads, fruits, juices etc, that even after stuffing our tummies for 1 ½ hrs, we still couldn’t manage to try some of them. The discussions were so full of Pratik-Dhiren’s one liners that we couldn’t resist splitting our sides the entire brunch. Their influence was substantial enough to induce someone like Mrinal to start being punny-funny and play along, after unsuccessful attempts to ignore. Excited by the prospect of not being penalized for my bad jokes, I too exploited the opportunity to spew up all my puns, bad jokes that have been blocked inside me for a long time now, owing to the recent piggy bank rules.

After going bellyful, Raunaq drove the buggy touring us the resort which fanned out over a lushy green area of land, with a couple of golf courses being a part of it. We constantly swapped our positions in the buggy so as to get a complete picture of the area from different angles on the slopy terrain. There was not a moment when people weren’t laughing or making comments, Saurabh joined Pratik-Dhiren in re-repeating the very versatile yet clichéd Andaaz Apna Apna dialogues in different ways and every possible situation, inspite of us girls showing our annoyance. Raunaq clearly enjoyed the absence of his driving contender Ranjit, and sang along with us the exclusive travel and holiday songs..

 

At noon, we finally relented in our itching urge of playing in the pool and took a dive into the cool water. Pratik-Dhiren–Saurabh crouched in the pool with both their palms close to their nose, mimicking a “crocodile” and would slowly come to us and start splashing water until we were out of breath. I mostly stayed on the periphery, but Satty dared to provoke the guys repeatedly by trying to take revenge and always ended up being the victim, gasping for breath. Mrinal joined us later and bravely went to the middle of the pool only to be the next scapegoat. It was a more gender biased game, with us girls being underdogs not knowing to swim or survive in the water.

Dhiren-Saurabh-Ranjit started playing pool games assessing their swimming skills and under the water breathing proficiency, one of which made them go inside the water, one person would scream a word in the water, and others had to guess the word. Pratik taught me a couple of ballroom dance steps and toured me around the pool with I floating like a dead man, and I did the same with Satty and Mrinal. We were so overwhelmed by the company and fun, that we never realized sun’s scorching heat hitting us straight, until we took a shower. Terribly tanned with sun and chlorine water’s cumulative effect, all of us are ruddy faced with burning and peeling skin, so I call this holiday as “Burntan at Bintan”.

 

Lazing in the lounge with everyone doing arbit things, we had a rushed up dinner at an Italian restaurant in the resort. The gracious resort managers arranged a private bus for our group to reach the ferry terminal, leaving us wondering the reason behind all the special treatment and pampering through these two days. Recapping the events, jokes, new witty one liners still continued during the ferry ride, incessantly targeting our kiddo Satty. Saurabh and Aninda revealed their palmist-self, with everyone pushing each other and queuing to show their hands eagerly. We reached Singapore late on Sunday night and we did not stop talking, punning, or laughing through the immigration line, nor did it stop while we all were waiting for cabs to head back home.

The trip couldn’t have happened with a better company or better timing, with everyone super frustrated with their work lives.  Everything still fresh in our memories and talking about it over and again since we returned, this intoxicating trip has given us such a high, that it has just left us craving for more. Looking forward to some taking more such relaxing fun trips. Cheeers guys!