Welcome to Paradise

By Sarah Ann
for Friday, July 26th

In case you wondered what paradise looks like, this is it!

This morning we ate breakfast, packed our bags, and got out the door. We are going on a weekend trip-- to Indonesia! We are taking a one-hour ferry ride from Singapore to the island of Bintan where we are staying at a house on the beach. My dad and Rachel are working this morning but joining us by evening.

We took a Grab to the ferry station. Grab is the Southeast Asian version of Uber. I like talking to the Grab drivers. Since they are almost always locals, they have interesting insights and give us a sense of culture. There are five themes I have noticed keep recurring: (1) cars in Singapore are very expensive, (2) Singapore has changed a lot in the past 5 hears, (3) there are too many people in the small city-state, and (4) thoughts on freedom of speech. Singapore is known for having little room to criticize their government, but our driver yesterday thought you could as long as you were telling the truth. Our driver today said that you have to be very careful about how you criticize and really know what you are talking about. (5) All drivers are all very proud of their native land.

The ferry station was like a mini and less chaotic airport. The ride went pretty smoothly. Once we arrived, we went through customs and got our bags. I was happy to see another stamp in my passport! The ferry landed on the side of the island filled with resorts. We are not staying in a resort. Instead, we are "glamping" which is fancy camping. That means that we are sleeping in a house with beds but without AC or hot water. Our house is much less expensive than the resorts - and it should be much more fun too. We took an hour taxi ride to get to our side of the island. First, though, we were hungry, so our driver took us to a little hawker stand. I ordered fried noodles. They were really good!

eating at the little hawker center near the ferry terminal

Once again, I learned a lot from our driver. He gave us a mini-tour as we drove; he pulled over to show us Durian growing on trees, pointed out the tallest "mountain" in Bintan (really just a hill), and showed us prairies that used to be rain forests. He spoke 5 languages. Everyone in Indonesia speaks at least two: the local one they speak in their village, and the official one that they speak in school. He also said there is basically no crime in Bintan ("Everyone on Bintan has a job which they go to during the day, and at night there aren't bars or anything to go to so they just go home and sleep.") We also read a little about Indonesia and learned that there are 17,000 islands in Indonesia and that it has the 4th largest population in the world. By the time we arrived, I had learned a lot about Indonesia.

When we arrived at Muriata Beach Resort, we were shown to our house. There was a hammock on the porch, which was already a good sign. There was a sign that said, "be careful of falling coconuts and coconut tree leaves." Beware of coconuts? That seemed like another good sign. 

swinging on the hammock on our front porch

sitting on the front porch of our beach house

playing in the sand while a thunderstorm rolled in. We had the beach almost to ourselves the whole weekend

We all headed to the beach. It was the most beautiful beach I have ever been to. The sand was a pretty white, the water was crystal clear, and the palm trees added a nice effect. The picture looked like something off of a postcard-- definitely better than the Sentosa beach.

There weren't big waves, but there was a strong current. Christian and I swam around a bit while my mom and Taylor laid in beach chairs. When we heard thunder, Christian and I switched to playing in the sand where we built sea creatures.

We ordered dinner then. The workers here make your dinner fresh, and so they like an hour or so notice. We headed back to the house and played games while drinking milkshakes. We took a short stroll on the beach and headed to dinner. The food was hot when they brought it out. It was good! My dad and Rachel arrived halfway through the meal, but they had already eaten.

walking on the beach just before sunset

It was starting to get dark. We played games for a bit longer and then headed to the beach one last time for the night. Unlike Singapore, there were a million stars in the sky-- way more than even my home in Wisconsin.

It was bedtime when we got back. Ever since it had gotten dark, our house had attracted bugs because our lights were on. It is an open air roof that keeps the rain out but let in everything else! This meant the bugs had free-access. There were bugs everywhere! Luckily, the beds had bug nets which were quite successful. The beach here is beautiful, our house is cute, and today has been lots of fun. Seems like paradise to me.