Saturday, April 12, 2008
Bintan Recce Trip
So here it is, the reccee trip for the regional Asia Finance Conference in June. Before you guys go 'ooohs' and 'aaahhhs', this is mostly a work related trip lor, so not as 'ooohs and aaahhhs' as you all think.
Boss was a bit reluctant to make this reccee a full day event, so well, we'll just have to cramp the site visits in one afternoon then.
Arriving at the Tanah Merah Terminal:
Our first job is to check out the accomodation. Besides the big bosses who will most probably be having suite rooms, us small fries will have make do with twin sharing rooms, not bad for a night's stay, actually. Quite cosy.
They have chalet style accomodation too but we thought that's more suitable for holiday makers. It's by the beach and really nice. I can show you guys the pix, if any of you are interested.
One good thing about Nirwana is that there are many eating places, so planning for meals is easier. Since we have people of different nationalities, we can play around with the menus and make sure there's something for everyone.
There's al fresco dining, normal restaurants, pool side dining and most interestingly, kelong dining. Think that will be a smash for our regional peers
On our way to the kelong on the buggy (yes the type that golfers sat on), we saw this giant monitor lizard 'crossing the road'. We 2 山龟 (sua ku) were fascninated but the guide told us this is a common sight there >__<
The Kelong, this shall be our dinner place
Follow by drinks at the beach. The ambience is a little like our own Sunset Bay in Sentosa.
Ok, this is where the actual conference is gonna be. We absolutely dig this conference room cuz it's big enough to house all of us, plus there's washrooms and we can have a small corner for coffee/ tea breaks.
Got balcony also lor, so that we can get some sunlight. How cool is that? Oh, that's Cheryl and our guide in the background.
For team building events, we can get an instructor to conduct a obstacle course for us. Hmm save us the headache of planning for games and the potential logistical nightmare of preparing our own equipment.
We next went to Angsana but the guide was very 敷衍, plus it's more meant for leisure getaway, so din bother to take pix.
And so, the 2 site visits took up most of the afternoon and we were kinda hot and tired by then. Decided to splurge a little on a nice dinner which after all, is on the tabs of the company... hahahah...
The Jap food is a little ex but definitely worth the price tag =)
流口水 oredi or not? Muuuhahahha
One amazing thing happened on our way back when we were clearing the Bintan custom, we actually mixed up our passport, but the Immigration Officer actually stamped our passports and let us through lor!!! WTF??? We were both stunned and amused, so much for security.
And also, the ferry docked 4 times during the trip...
5:26 PM
My one and only committee member. This usually chirpy gal was all serious and tensed up just before boarding the ferry. Turned out that she will get seasick de wor...
One hour later, arriving at Nirwana Gardens, our first reccee site.
The main lobby, there's a nice bar so that guests can have a drink while waiting to check in or for the shuttle bus
