Cycling Life!

Bintan Island was made by tectonic earthquake long time ago, it made the island structure upside down, quote by some local geologist professor that i met not so long ago. That was what made Bintan has many hills and upside down road. And also made the most awesome and challenging cycling track i ever had, since i lived in Jakarta for a long time, they dont have any extreme upside down road like here.

Another excitement is the beautiful scenery along the road, fresh air, low traffic (especially outer Tanjung Pinang), and the distance between town isn’t too far (around 20-30km). So you can explore town to town, go to beach, or even go explore the uncharted area around, plus you got a healthier and slimmer body!

Well, guess we keep cyclin then!
Route 1 : Batu 9 Tanjung Pinang – Kijang (22km), really tough route to beat for me. It’s just.. the uphill, is so devastating , but thank god we can survive on the way back LOL.

Route 2 : Batu 8 Tanjung Pinang – Dompak (13km), Favourite route so far, coz is near home and Dompak has a wide stretch of road and clear traffic, images above is us (with Aldo) went cycling in rain, but still yo happiness around.

Route 3 : Batu 9 Tanjung Pinang – Galau Beach Dompak (17km), road is off and it’s time to offroad riding, near the beach we must push our bike because the sand is thick. We go there with our lovely neighbour Iqbal & Mayang. Oh yeah its me pose on that Galau Rocky Beach, cheers!

– Baba –

Aldo The Lone Wanderer

Again, another friend of ours from Jakarta came to visit us in Bintan. And it was Aldo time to explore this island. By the way, this was his first time being on plane, so here’s you can see his awkward relieved face when he finally arrived, lol!

We went to Mama Beach in Trikora (our personal fave spot in Trikora!), and Aldo the city guy was too excited as he ran around everywhere like a four years old never seen a beach.

1-5. The gray cloudy sky didn’t stop him! | 6. Dinner after exploring Mama Beach the whole day

As a coffee addict, it was such a joy for Aldo that he could find coffeeshop nearly everywhere, yeah EVERYWHERE, here in Bintan island. One famous must-try coffeeshop is Kedai Kopi Kawan Lama (if you ever heard about Kopi Hawaii, this actually similiar), located in Kijang, half hour from Tanjungpinang city. Unfortunately, when we came there, the shop was closed, too bad! Then we decided to tried out another coffeeshop randomly near there.

1. Give it up to Mr.Arnold! | 2. The server girl whom Aldo had a crushed on| 3. Caffeine time!

The place is old and rusty, there were plenty of old men sitting there with a cup of coffee and starring blankly at the TV. There was some kind of awkward dark vibes goin on, but surprisingly the coffee was good, not much different than the Kawan Lama. The coffee was strong and thick almost chocolatey in its texture, and the smell was…greattt! If you like strong coffee, you might love the coffee here!

After beach, coffee, and some lazy days at our home, last but not least we went to Dompak for sunset. Sat on the side of the bridge, took some photos, and enjoyed the beautiful evening breeze and sunset.

1,2. Just another scene of  Wong Kar Wai “Takeshi”| 3. One of must do things in Dompak bridge| 4. We both managed some say cheeze smile | 5,6. Enjoy the sunset brah

So after many “Takeshi” moment, FYI Aldo often feel himself transcent into some “Chungking Express” scene as Takeshi Kaneshiro, one of his alpha male role model. that was how we explored the island with Aldo. From 2 nights plan to another extra 3 nights. Finally time to get back to work Aldo! Bye to lazy island life!

Warmest Place / Pizza Casa Italia

Italian pizza restaurant runs by an Italian family in Bintan. It does sound weird yet perfect for me tho, in this tiny far away island. No wonder, all the pizzas here are super yummy. The place is so nice and homey, with raw wooden table and seater in a middle of big trees, and the area is surrounded by beach with a little island not far from there. In the hours around low tide, the beach gets dry and you can walk to the little island.

To do list : Eat pizza – since there is no other option for other food, lol! Taste is awesome, the dough is so thin and crispy, and the topping is always fresh. The perfect humble homemade italian pizza! Our fave is the mushroom & tuna!

Left to right : Ivan baba, Signori Armando, Aronio

The owner Mr Armando is a serious – funny type of guy, he loves Indonesia so much. He’s been living in Indonesia since 1980s, no wonder his Bahasa Indonesia is excellent. “In Italy you must go through winter around half year, such a waste of time you can’t feel the sun! I like being here coz it’s summer  around the yearl, the weather is so great!” he said.

In memoriam : our friend Signori Armando -2017.

photo courtesy : my partner in crime Aronio Tobiaso

Max and The Sand Dunes

Our close friend, Max, is a photographer from J town ( read: it’s a slank word for Jakarta ) who recently came to Bintan coz his client want to do photo session here. As many of our J town friends are clueless about this island, so we cant believe, it’s such a miracle! So when we asked him why his client interested to have photo session here in Bintan, he answered, “It’s bcoz Patricia’s photo on instagram you fool!”. It was a big lol, and then i asked which photo is it, he answered again, “This fuckin sand dunes picture get me ticket to your island man”. So here’s the picture that Patricia posted on IG.

                   

So, the photo session became reality, and of course we became their happy guide to bring them stroll around the island, started out with picked them up at the airport. They all came as a group of six happy people: Max as the photographer, the bride and groom to be Inez and Kevin, their closest friends Flo and Melissa (Max’s wife) as stylist, the eccentric videographer Jay, and the makeup artist Melia who is Patricia’s besties back in college.

1. Welcome to the island! left-right : Pat, Ines, Kevin, Flo| 2. Max the hornet | 3. Flo, Melisa, Inez | 4. Melia & Pat| 5. Dr. Jay

We went to Trikora beach (we have our fave spot called Mama Beach, coz it has no name yet, and the local who lived there is a nice friendly woman whom we call Mama), then through to a rubber forest plantation, and last but not least the not-so-famous-yet Busung sand dunes. Everybody was quite happy and amazed by Bintan Power!!            so…cheers for all of us!

You should check out their work here ( hyperlink ) :

Max / NOT YOUR MOM PHOTOGRAPHER 

Melissa, Ines & Flo / PEA AND PIE & they other project KALA WEDDINGS

The Doctor Jay Nelson / KING MAKER OF CONTENT

Melia / MELIYABI MAKEUP ARTIST

with love, baba