An Impulsive Trip
First of all let me introduce you, Tanjung Pinang on Pulau Bintan, the capital city of Riau Islands Province (not to be mistaken as Riau Province cos the former attained seperated municipality out of the latter in year 2000). It is one of the few "highly" developed islands among Riau archipelago after Pulau Batam. Owing to our "ambitious" plan ahead, we felt compelled to go for a softcore backpacking trip to a 3rd world country as a rehearsal. Since it's too late to organise trip to any places that require means of transport moving above sea level (yes, plane!) and we are not golden spoon fed child which on rather tight budget saving, so we ought for the most economical place, transport and accommodation. Bintan is only 20+ KM away from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal in Singapore and around 40+ KM away (150 minutes ferry ride) from JB's Zon Ferry Terminal. We opted the latter to bypass Islands of Singapore, burned us RM 154 for a round ticket + Malaysia seaport tax surcharge. We decided to give it a go on the same day we made our move, that's why I called it "impulsive". Initially not planning to stay over night cos we just planned to look around for a day trip, and who knows we forgot the difference of timezone (yes, it is GMT +7, 1 hour behind Malaysian's), missed the last ferry back to JB. Stranded in Tanjung Pinang, we got blackmailed by 2 uninvited Indonesian accosters upon reaching the port and we had not even checked in to Indonesia yet! I've no idea where did they pop out from probably they are a syndicate and in collaboration with the immigration department to ambush around the custom area predating for victims. Mother fucker without testicles! (they are guys) I tell you, that place is full of crooks eyeing on our pocket, sad to say, seriously it is not ideal for tourist visit. The town is dirty, full of motorcycles, shabby buildings and able-men wandering around trying to offer tonnes of bogus deals like prostitution, hotel "services", blackmailing, escort services, charter "mobil"...kononnya. Actually what they want is none other than $. I had an unfavorable arguements with 2 of the accosters which took me RM 20 + Rp 10k to shoo them away, fuck! Lots of profanities exchanged and that 2 men spitted at us (not directly la) but their gestures are plain annoying and sickening. Luckily the local Chinese are helpful and friendly enough, they commonly speak Teo Chew, Bahasa Indonesia with Riau Malay's slang and Chinese, fortunately, I'm fluent in Teo Chew and Chinese (kinda) so I'd spoken to few sundry shop owners there regarding those outs and abouts on the island and sadly only to find out it's as little as none, haha. Oh yeah, I was impressed by my bahasa campur as well when talking to the natives, I mixed Malay with Indonesian haha (the local Chinese were impressed as well haha), but we blown our covers the minute we came out with Bahasa Melayu (slang?) which deemed foreign to them, strange. Malay is so formal/simplified but Indonesian is always full of street slang. Ngapain beda? Apa perbezaaannya?
Anyways, we wanted to charter a car to Trikora Beach which is 38 km away but they charged us like 400K Rp approx. RM 200 for less than a day, so we just tick it off for a no. And so, we checked in a Chinese owned hotel in the middle of the town which cost us only 100k Rp a night SPONTANEOUSLY. Haha just wanted a roof over head for a night that's all regardless of what.
It was really horrible, not only that place got no power supply during day time to our horror (except some shops will use generator instead as a compensation), it takes a long time to get power supply at night! I supposed the place where it's nearest to the the power plant will be supplied with electricity first and so on so forth. Tanjung Pinang could be few kilometers away from the plant, therefore, it takes longer time to get supplied. In the meantime, have to put up with it. Terrible right? So much for a capital city of a province. We waited until around 8-9 pm to get full electricity supply at the town (with streetlights and all, thank god most hotels are using generator). In any case, we dined at a Chinese eatery (serves awful but cheap vegetarian dishes) in the dark with only candle lights. -_- So dead. I wonder how people survive their days over here lackadaisically. That place got practically nothing! Not even a souveneir shop in sight. Good thing is, for RM 100 (300k Rp.) can last you more than a day at this town with bribery/blackmail, accomodation, food, knickknacks and even a full body massage. Yea, we went for 1 hour body massage (dapat gratis 15 menit extra and strangely "percuma" in Indonesian meaning "worthless" super -_- right?) at night out of boredom. Roaches and rats were roaming the streets...gross. It's really nothing special to shout about for that town. We did see a couple of white tourists that's all but I think they were heading to the beach and just made a pit stop over Tanjung Pinang.
We departed that Island early in the morning the next day like 7 am Indonesian time. At the Indonesian immigration, again were being coaxed into paying some suspicious boarding pass fees for 50k Rp (do we even need to pay when we exchange our air ticket for boarding pass?), it's so damn annoying, their custom officers all carrying the kabuki/suspicious faces that waiting for you to fall prey. Apparently, they will only ask for bribery from people holding foreign passports but sometimes even the native passport holders mainly Chinese, to them Chinese = rich regarding which places they are from. What the hell, no wonder the corruption rate in that country is one of the highest in the world, if you were to compare Malaysia with them, trust me we are far more better. I couldn't express how much I feel blessed to be born in Malaysia upon reaching JB land, it makes me love my country more. Those who still think that having born in Malaysia is most unfortunate thing in their life should get their arses over Bintan and take a look themselves. I just don't wanna go on and elaborate, you should know how good it is to live in a place like here at the same time taking lots of things for granted. If you think our Royal Malaysia Police is bad enough, wait till you see their Polisi Militer, totally bunch of useless bums. Alright, my critic is only restricted within the boundary of Pulan Bintan, perhaps it will be a totally different scene over Jakarta. I still love you Jessica, no worries haha! But an interesting fact is the media/entertainment industry in Indonesia is 10000x better than Malaysia's, it's always full of eye candies and nice rock ballads!
All in all, a short, intense, adventurous and eyes opening trip. Bagged home with tonnes of anecdotes, experiences and lessons in just 2 days 1 night.
Just a disclaimer, I won't condone to ethnocentrism or racism (I was once apprenticed with both Sociology and Anthropology ok!) but I can't tolerate bribery and corruption to happen especially most who committed them over that place are able-bodied. Unless they're paralysed or OKU then different story lah! BUT NO. The classic emoticon for Pulau Bintan's immigration officers and crooks would be ($_$).
And.
I heart Malaysia! Malaysia still boleh.
One of the many bustling streets
Antennas
Alley
Jalur merah + putih berkibar di depan of some Istana or Mosque, forgot haha. Was in hurry.
At the monument, forgot the name as well haha. It was 6.30 am (GMT+7) in the morning, eyes were still swollen but we couldn't be happier cos we were heading back to civilization.
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p/s : Btw, I didn't know XiaXue had already blogged about her unpleasant experience in Pulau Bintan, had I know earlier about it I wouldn't even wanna lay my foot on this island I think and I almost booked a hotel room at one of the many beach resorts at Trikora which luckily I didn't, like she said, the photos shown on the brochure all look promising and highly photoshopped to lure your desire. Tanjung Pinang is still not much a tourism spot so things are still mainly charged in Rupiah (except for the lodging where we could choose to pay in SGD alternatively from Rupiah, of cos we gotta spend those Rp. because it's kinda worthless if we were to convert it back to RM afterall) and definitely cheaper if not expensive by all means, I paid only 60k Rp. for the massage which is around 13 SGD only. Finally, somebody share the same sentiment that Bintan is evil, just go Batam for a one day shopping trip will suffice, not worth staying over as we have plenty of sandy beaches back home. Those found on Danga Bay/East Coast Park/Sentosa are highly comparable to those in Bintan/Batam. *roll eyes* But then again, I'd love to go Bali if I have the time cos afterall that's the place to die for, if I'm wrong at this, millions of others will be in denial as well! Bali ftw :D
