Ivan is a clown, a happy person, talkative, sometimes incredibly absurd with his crazy ideas. Besides, he’s a well positive and futuristic thinker type of man. For him every opportunity is worth trying. On the other hand, Patricia is a crafty-shy-introvert girl. With her persistence, she always make sure everything is safe and sound before her family future destroyed by her impulsive husband ;P
We are the 2 souls behind this blog, Patricia and I were married in Jakarta and moved to Bintan island since then, we are both graphic designers and photographers. So many new things for us to learn in this new place, thats why we write this blog, Bintan Island fun journal from our personal experience!
Ivan grew up in Bali – the paradise island, the beach, the local culture, and all the vibe, I’m sure you know what I’m sayin about. But you know what? Everybody just wants to live there. And from my perspective, now the island is geting too crowded, coz not only the foreign tourist, nowadays many of my Jakarta friends move and live there! No wonder the island now being reclamated, causing tensions among the Balinese people and the government, and that’s sad.
Teenage days in Bali were so memorable. First thing: the culture is so diverse, there are sooo many people from all over the world, playing buggy surf with a bare known kawaii Japanese chick (Reiko-chan where are you now?) I was just 15 years old and played around with my mate, Sylvester ( now he’s a DJ in Bali I think?). And at school we had to take part time job, that’s why I’m having experience as a waiter, roomboy, and a bookstore staff. Until one day, I moved to Jakarta to start college, and met my wife, Patricia.
Meanwhile Patricia was born and grew up in Jakarta, the city with the worst traffic congestion in the world. Her dad is from Jogja, and her mum is a Sundanese from Bandung. She is the youngest of two daughters. Her elder sister, Yohanna, works as a creative director at one of digital creative agency in Jakarta.
Since Patricia’s dad is from Jogja, art runs in their blood. Some of her family on her dad’s side were a painter or antiques & vintage collector, including her dad who had some vintage onthel bikes, to 40’s Italian ‘Ferbedo’ scooter. While her mum loves to be in the kitchen, cooking german dishes and baking cookies.

1. Patricia’s parents | 2. Her sister Yohanna at antique shop | 3. Homemade cookies
Just like a modern artsy & trendy lady, Patricia loves anything about design, fashion, and crafty things. She likes to designing digital paper on etsy (we need extra $$$ so it must be a hobby haha!), making diy pompoms, and reading fashion magazine.
And oh, there are two things she likes to doing recently, cooking and gardening (even though not every food she cooks are edible and her plants starts to dying, lol – hang on there little plants!) One thing for sure, she likes being at home and doing her thing, including watching next top model on TV.
And when my wife doing her own thing, I like doing my own things too: playing my beloved PS4, or dota – hello my fellow angry steam friends out there! Other than games, I love photography. I always seeing myself as master of photography, and always brainwashing all my friends to believe that, haha! Furthermore I got a band called suasanasabtupagi, a collective band consists of a very talented non musician Jakarta youngsters.
Back then, Patricia worked in a jewelry company as creative designer and I helped my family running a japanese food stall. Living amidst the hustle and bustle of Jakarta made us feel like loosing our dreams of living peacefully. That made us pondered on how to get out of this city and gain a new life to start, and then we decided to move to a place faraway, an island with fresh air and no polution, live in breezy & cozy beach hut, with no 24 hours traffic noise. But, where to, was still a BIG questionmark. Until one day when I was from Singapore, I made a stop at Bintan Island and visited my friend Iqbal who lived there. After strolled around at Tanjung Pinang and Trikora Beach, felt the atmosphere and the friendly people, I finally found the paradise we’ve been looking for!
And here we are! Having a peacefully new life with so many dreams to catch on in this island! We are not having our own beach house yet, but hopefully everything goes well here and maybe one day all our dreams will come true! *fingercrossed*
Dear friends & families, how are you now? Moving to an island, leaving our family and friends is never an easy decision and does take courage. We make this blog to share all the island experience from other perspective – you know, sometimes true potential only can be seen from other person, right? That’s what we’re trying to do in this island, giving positive vibes, exploring the potential of this island, making Bintan Island great again, and hopefully our friends & family willing to come here as soon as possible to see us and this beautiful island! Miss you guys all!




1. Our friend Nana and Nia on our last day in Jakarta | 2. Our friend Mul in action | 3. One fine dinner | 4. Ivan’s college friend called The Bangsat | 5. Xmas dinner with Patricia’s friend | 6. Ivan’s mom and her poodle Ben drop us at the airport