My apologies for the lack of posts here lately. See, Matt (unfortunately) had to start working on Saturdays which means our weekends have been less exciting...and while we have been keeping busy, we haven't really done anything blog worthy. Well, unless you count sitting on our balcony for 2 hours on Saturday night watching countless Lamborghini's pull into the parking lot of the night club below us, all with the help of our binoculars (and don't worry, if you're reading this and you live in our complex, we definitely don't look through your windows...I mean, that would just be creepy and weird...right? Even if it was only once? Ha! Just kidding, I promise). OK, where am I even going with this? To be honest, I have no idea...but in a sad attempt to appease my blog-loving audience, here's a little glimpse into this past fun filled weekend we had :-)
Saturday night was all about a casual date night - dinner and a movie! We're up to our ears in noodles and rice so we decided to treat ourselves to a good ol' American dinner at Chilis! This is the only one on the island, so yes, taking a picture of their sign was obviously a must.
I guess its not cool to look overly happy about chips and salsa. But trust me, he was totally giddy after the camera was turned off.
I have no shame about expressing my joy over a cheeseburger at Chilis. They serve USDA beef - its a taste of home! Who wouldn't smile over that?!
Sunday night was all about a Mexican fiesta at la casa de Gipson...
...and a fiesta is never fun without friends! That's Lisa on the left and Cara in the middle.
If you pass through our door, you WILL play Guitar Hero. There's no better way to waste 3 hours of your time!
For our second day in Bintan, we had every intention of repeating the first day by spending hours at the beach. However, the day turned out to be quite a bit different than we'd imagined. See, we had heard of this cute little shopping village just a few minutes from the resort (think souvenirs and a good place to get a massage for far less than the resorts will charge you) so as we were headed down to the beach we stopped by the host desk to ask about getting to the village. Our plan was to go there for an hour or so in the afternoon...but one hour turned into NINE well spent hours touring the entire island! The resort host convinced us to hire a car and driver to take us around the island, and since we were both interested in seeing life outside the "resort bubble" we decided to go for it! So at 9:30 a.m., Jemmi, our driver, picked us up at the Angsana and we set off for a day of exploring. To say the least, the day was AMAZING...but to say a lot more (which you know I will!) it was a completely eye-opening experience that made us so very thankful for the things we have. Jemmi started the day by driving us along the coast through an extremely poor village and then to several beaches (Tri Kora 4, 3 and 2...never made it to 1) where the locals hang out. At Tri Kora 4, we drank from a fresh coconut while chatting with the locals, with Jemmi as our translator as they all spoke Bahasa Indo. At Tri Kora 3, we saw the prettiest beach we've ever seen...in fact, it was so pretty that Matt decided to swim in the ocean even though it was pouring rain! At Tri Kora 2 we stopped to have a look at the house boats - literally houses that people live in to fish from the open sea. Once we left the beaches we drove to a small fishing village then made our way to the city of Tanjung Pinang. We ate lunch in TP and then rode in a tiny wooden boat (I swear, I felt like it was going to fall apart right there in the ocean!) to the island of Penyengat which is made up for mostly Muslims. We visited the grave site of Sultan Haji and all of his royal family members. After we left Penyengat, we got back into our water taxi and checked out Serrangang where we looked through a few Buddhist temples and statues. By the time we got back to Tanjung Pinang, we were exhausted and ready to call it a day...so 9 hours after we left the hotel, Jemmi dropped us back off at the Angsana. Though nothing close to the day we originally had planned, we absolutely loved the island tour and feel so grateful for the time we spent with Jemmi and all the friends we met along the way :-)
The first thing Jemmi did on our tour was fill up on gas...but with a modern gas station no where to be found, he did the next best thing! (This is not Jemmi, its just the guy he bought the gas from.)
As Jemmi was getting gas, we noticed several young children giggling at the site of Matt (they weren't used to seeing Americans). We walked over toward them and found out they were actually about to start Sunday school class! We were excited to find out it was a small, one room Christian church. The pastor and his wife invited us in and we sat with the kids as they sang a song. Although the room was not air conditioned, no one seemed to mind at all. They were just the sweetest people and we're so glad to have met them!
As we drove through an extremely poor village, everyone waved and smiled at us from outside their houses. We saw several people brushing their teeth from a public tank filled with water and others just spending time together.
The buckets on the side of the house are for catching rain water to drink. Having always just turned on the faucet for clean, fresh water, seeing the rain water buckets was really eye-opening to us.
The fishermen catch these tiny fish which they air dry and sell. You simply pull the head off and eat them as a snack. A lot like potato chips! Yeah, right...
...and of course, Matt asked Jemmi if we could stop so he could try one. I didn't try one because for some reason, I just didn't feel like eating a dead fish off the side of the road...but that's just me.
There were palm trees for miles!
These small huts are set up on the beach (Tri Kora 4) and the locals use them for picnics and a place to hangout.
Tri Kora 4
These sweet locals gave us a pineapple and coffee. We spent about 20 minutes chatting with them. We taught them a few American words and they giggled when they said them. So cute!
House boat used for fishing. Most of them are anchored out in the ocean, but these ones came close to the shore due to high winds.
Our driver, Jemmi, showing Matt some of the freshly caught fish at the fishing village.
I wouldn't say these docks were the most sturdy things we've ever walked on. They wobbled with each step we took - yikes!
A little street side store where we bought yummy snacks (if you called ground up BBQ fish yummy).
...but I was happy to find Rambutans!! Now these are yummy. They're often referred to as the "hairy fruit" and they're common all over southeast Asia. You just peel off the skin (just like an orange) and you get a mildly sweet fruit that taste like a grape :-)
The not so sturdy boat we took over to Penyengat.
Here we are managing to smile while praying that the boat won't sink!
Selamat Datang means "Welcome" in Bahasa Indo.
We ran into these local tourists visiting from the neighboring island of Batam. They asked if they could take a picture of us and then wanted another picture with us. They were so friendly! Jemmi told us they're not used to seeing Americans which is why they wanted the picture. In fact, the little kids around the island told Jemmi that "Matt was just like Beckham" in reference to David Beckham, ha! We also ran into other locals that wanted to practice their English with us. It was pretty surreal!
The grave site of Sultan Haji and his family members. The yellow indicates royalty.
Many people use this form of transportation on the island.
The island had beautiful flowers all over the place!
Entrance to the Buddhist temple.
Inside the temple.
Buddha was pretty hard to miss!
...as was Buddha's helper.
Jemmi suggested we fly this dragon back to the hotel, but we stuck with the old fashioned car ;-)
The Sunday school kids singing their praise song! :-)
Singapore celebrated its 44th birthday on Sunday (National Day) and since its a public holiday (just like our 4th of July), Matt didn't have to work on Monday...so we took advantage of the long weekend and hopped over to Bintan, Indonesia! Getting over to Bintan couldn't be easier - its just a 45 minute ferry ride over to the island - and once you're there, you're in paradise! The south China Sea is crystal clear and the water is warm, plus the beaches of Bintan have the softest sand either of us have ever stepped foot on! What more could we ask for?! We checked into our hotel, The Angsana, and made a mad dash for the beach :-) It was everything we'd hoped it would be - completely perfect for a weekend of relaxation...and relaxing is all we did on the first day. We read in the sun, swam in the calm waters and spent the afternoon collecting sand dollars along the beach. When the sun started to set, we went back inside and got ready for dinner...and what a yummy dinner it was! An all you can eat buffet with a fabulous selection. We couldn't get enough of the great food! It was a totally perfect way to spend our first day away together from Singapore!
This is an angsana flower which is what our hotel is named for. I love it!
Standing in the hotel lobby looking down at the dining area.
What a good lookin' husband I have :-)
Me under the umbrella...where I stayed most of the day. The sun was really strong!
The beautiful south China sea!
Look at the water behind us...warm and crystal clear!
I can't even begin to explain how excited I was over a REAL Diet Coke instead of the Coke-Light that is all over Singapore. Coke Light tastes completely different to me and does nothing for my obsession over true Diet Coke. I now love Indonesia even more than I did to start!
Detail of one of the (many) sand dollars I collected. How can something picked up right out of the ocean look so completely perfect?! Just one of God's miraculous creations!
...and because I like to pretend I'm artistic, I went for a close up shot of my sand dollars in a glass cup with the blurry palm trees in the distance. Oh I know...you're totally impressed.
Two thumbs up to the Pantai Grill & Bar where we had a totally delicious buffet dinner!
The problem with buffets is that there is always too many options! Thankfully, Matt has a lot of self-discipline and only allowed himself to eat 4 desserts instead of the 7 offered ;-)
This is how I look when I think I'm about to enjoy a delicious bowl of vanilla ice cream only to find out its durian flavored instead.
Saturday night was all about a casual date night - dinner and a movie! We're up to our ears in noodles and rice so we decided to treat ourselves to a good ol' American dinner at Chilis! This is the only one on the island, so yes, taking a picture of their sign was obviously a must.
I guess its not cool to look overly happy about chips and salsa. But trust me, he was totally giddy after the camera was turned off.
I have no shame about expressing my joy over a cheeseburger at Chilis. They serve USDA beef - its a taste of home! Who wouldn't smile over that?! 
Sunday night was all about a Mexican fiesta at la casa de Gipson...
...and a fiesta is never fun without friends! That's Lisa on the left and Cara in the middle.
If you pass through our door, you WILL play Guitar Hero. There's no better way to waste 3 hours of your time! 
