Land of Lions... and lambs

Few weeks back, my company provided an oppurtunity for me to get expose in the islands south of Malaysia and I must say, it was a good eye opener experience... both in work and in cultural!


Singapore is great, with their clean and systematic traffic and orderly fashion really make my heart at ease... as much as I hate to admit it, that bloody country really beats the hell out of my pathetic country, they just reported an inflation rate of 7.7% this year as of this month, and I'm really curious what Malaysia's number will come out to... note: Their economy rice in Chai Chee was just SGD2.50, try beat that number dollar to dollar.... and the current political situation in my country is a joke which deserve a standalone entry itself, sigh. Anyway as usual in Singapore there is bound to be shopping, shopping and more shopping.... so Orchard, Bugis and vivo city is the targets of choice.


The bulk of my time were spent in the huge island of Bintan which is a 1.5 hour ferry journey away from Tanah Merah ferry terminal, deployed at Lobam ferry terminal which near to the Bintan Industrial Estate (BIE). The ride wasn't so bad as I didn't feel dizzy or vomity, and clearing the Indonesia customs is a breeze, this is also the 1st time I have step into Indonesia soil ^^


The place resembles the period of time where human had yet to discover musket and uses sling as primary weapon, although the road had been incredibly paved with tar and portholes are still a rare thing, the amount of vehicle is low over here, and 95% of the vehicles here are SUVs like Avanza, Innova and in some rare cases, CRV, Feroza and Frontiers

The night life are pretty scary for foreigners here as there are no emergency payphone around, people retire to home early and you just don't trust people anymore after all the news you listen from all sorts of crime that could happen nowadays.


As seen in the picture, this is one of the most lively town around my area called "Prampanon", might not exactly spelled correctly but this is all there is, 1 street, with shops at both sides until the end of the road.

I forgot to mention that this part of the world is +0700 GMT, that means night comes early, and coupled with no entertainment, it is a really dreadful place to spend your life here, especially people at my age IMHO. But then again, one can actually save alot of money if he stays here just to pass time.


Food here on the other hand is wonderful, nearly every night we ate seafood here, and nearly every lunch we ate nasi goreng ayam. Many of my colleagues have constipation issue, while I have bowel problem every morning.... strange how my ever strong stomach have problem digesting the delicious food here, must take a mental note before flying to the country of stars and stripes..

Nevertheless, its consider ok for an island 3 times the size of Singapore and with just nearly 3 million population (as in contrast with Singapore's 4 million population), one would know why the government doesn't find the need to invest so much in this place, unlike Batam island which is just couple of clicks away, classifed as free trade zone and complete with lots of shopping mall and 'entertainments'

Bintan is generally an ok place, but one need to constantly get in touch back with civilization in order to remind yourself how the world is pacing, maybe thats the reason the people supporting this facility will constantly travel to and fro from Singapore... In a way its a healthy way of sustaining life and continuing the effort to keep one sane.

On the other hand, Singapore is even fabulous in food, their cheap and my stomach accepts their not so 'provoking' food with no problem... Haha. And I didn't know their night city is so vibrant, complete with the shot from the tallest hotel in Asia, it was facinating !

Isin't it pretty?