All good things come to an end, but at least we had until the afternoon on Bintan before being dragged kicking and screaming to the Singapore Ferry. No longer will we have waiters who keep coming around to pour your drink for you, place your napkin on your lap, or fold your towels if you go for a swim. There’s even a mini culture shock back in Singapore when nobody smiles sweetly and says hello when you pass. In short, we liked Bintan, if you’re passing through Singapore at any point, make sure you visit!
Our next hotel, whilst not a touch on the Angsana in Bintan, is in the middle of Chinatown. We also arrived at the best time to experience Chinatown – dinner time! Our first call was to the food street, deftly avoiding the “pig liver” stall we made for the Thai stall and had spicy chilli chicken, the even hotter Mee Goreng noodles and pineapple rice – served in a pineapple! So simple and so nice.
Next was of course the markets, so cheap yet so full of useless tat, like silk tissue box covers, I mean who has a need for that? So we only bought three.