An Indonesian passport stamp or two

Time for another retrospective post. I’ve visited Indonesia three times over the years. Twice on business and once for pleasure. Both business trips were made to the island of Bintan, while my leisure trip took me to Bali in October 2017.

Bintan was a classic tourist destination. The island is located less than 130km north of the equator. As a result, dozens of tropical retreats and resorts are scattered along its coastline. It’s also easy to reach, thanks to a 45-minute transfer by high-speed ferry from Singapore.

My first visit took place in May 2000. At the time, I was the Managing Director of Text 100’s Australian office. Every year country managers from across Asia Pacific (APAC) came together for an annual offsite. Bintan was chosen for our first gathering of the new millennium.

I flew into Singapore late on 23 May and made my way to the Westin Stamford, the tallest hotel in Singapore (and the world’s tallest when it opened in 1986). Much to my surprise, the hotel upgraded me at check-in. As I recall, the fully booked venue had reassigned my room thanks to my late-night appearance. 

However, the upgrade was spectacular. I was assigned the Presidential Suite at the top of the building. It featured a separate dining room, dressing room, walk-in wardrobe and balcony offering unrivalled views of Singapore. It’s the only time, despite decades of business travel, that I’ve been upgraded to the hotel’s most opulent suite.

We caught an afternoon ferry from Tanah Merah wharf in Singapore the following day. I vividly recall its location, less than 500 metres from the southern threshold of Changi Airport’s eastern runway. You take a road to reach it that skirts around the airport’s perimeter fence. It’s one of those "behind the scenes" routes the locals use, rather than the arterial roads visitors take from the airport into town.

My passport reveals that we docked at Bandar Bentan Telani on the northern coast of Bintan. We spent four days on the island before returning to Singapore on 27 May. The following day I flew home with Singapore Airlines. 

At the time I was a dedicated Star Alliance member. I loyally flew Air New Zealand, United and Ansett Australia whenever I could. However, following the collapse of Ansett in September 2001, I gave up my Gold Status and joined the OneWorld alliance. These days I'm a lifetime Qantas Gold Member and have almost continually held Platinum status for two decades.

I honestly recall very little of my first time in Indonesia beyond a round of golf we played on the final day. We stayed at Angsana Bintan, on the island’s north coast. It features an 18-hole golf course, designed by Greg Norman, that’s popular with day-tripping golfers from Singapore, as well as those seeking a semi-luxurious golf break. 

I returned to Bintan in 2004 for another APAC Country Manager’s offsite. However, this time I was returning as Regional Director. My new HR director, Steven, decided an offsite in Bintan was an ideal way to curry favour with the troops following my promotion.

This time we stayed at Club Med, located on the northeast coast of Bintan. The resort is located next to another of the island’s renowned golf courses, this time designed by Jack Nicholas. Once again, we caught a ferry from Singapore and stayed three nights from 21-24 March 2004. I recall several memorable moments during this second trip to Indonesia. 

For example, I’d recently returned from overseas and found myself battling some kind of bug soon after arriving. Or at least I thought it was a bug. Years later I discovered that I was chronically lactose intolerant. As a result, in hindsight, it was highly likely I was simply suffering from a lactose overload.

On our first day, we gave everyone the afternoon off to rest and recover before we kicked off the event with an evening welcome. I spent much of the afternoon in and out of the resort’s pool. Foolishly I neglected the sunscreen and managed to give myself an appalling dose of sunburn. I spent the next three days sore to touch and looking as red as a beetroot.

I also recall wandering down to the beach several times. On my first visit, I was shocked to find the sand stained by tar-like blobs of heavy oil. These sticky blobs were everywhere and quickly made a mess of anything that came into contact with them. I later discovered that resort staff came down before dawn each day to rake them off the beach before the guests awoke. Of course, the surf soon dumped a fresh load along the shore.

Swimming in the sea inevitably resulted in exiting the water covered in black streaks. Sadly, the resort was prepared for this. It had buckets of chemical wipes in sealed foil mini-packs along the beach ready for swimmers to de-grease themselves. Needless to say, I only swam in the sea once. 

I never discovered the oil’s origin. At a guess, ships purging their ballast tanks before entering Singapore harbour were the likely culprit. Alternatively, the area may have experienced a minor oil spill shortly before our arrival.

My final memory of this trip to Bintan was the team-building activity we enjoyed one afternoon. Club Med offers guests an in-house circus experience. This included an outdoor flying trapeze where you can practice swinging from one trapeze rung to another. Your safety was always assured thanks to training staff, a body harness and an enormous net strung several metres above the ground.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos during either offsite. As a result, I’ve illustrated my Bintan adventures using images ripped from the web.