Ushering in CNY 2010

This year's CNY was spent in Singapore (versus Shanghai last year) and Ed's parents decided to join the rest of us back in warmer Singapore. In return, we headed to Bintan Lagoon Resorts (which is a really Singaporean hangout) for a quick getaway in the name of golfing and quality time.

Warning: A very biased review of Bintan follows and I acknowledge that I am not the most ardent fan of beach/seaside resorts.

While the resort's amenities do allow sufficient chilling opportunities, there is only so much to do over 3 days when one doesn't play golf. Other than my many hours sitting by the pool reading OR staring out at the sea OR my attempts to distract myself at the gym, this was one island which struggled to hold my attention. The only thing that kept me going was the overarching purpose that I was here for family time.

Not only was the food at the resort appalling, the service also left much to be desired. This was a pity in view that there is potential for this island to be a great getaway (similar to Phuket). For me, this was an excellent example of how there is little incentive to improve or provide good service due to the lack of competition. Just like how my one and only coffeeshop's kopi-c, siu-dai really sucks. But I digress...

Perhaps I went with overly high expectations OR maybe I should have stayed in the hotel (versus the older, less well maintained villa) OR perhaps the staff were having a bad day. Nevertheless, I'm not going back to Bintan for awhile...

As I earlier mentioned, this is a very personal view of Bintan. I know of friends who have been there 3-4 times and don't mind heading back. =)

Arriving at our villa which could accommodate our extended family of 9! The entire resort was also decked out for CNY and I supposed it helped to make this more festive....

One of the few plus-es at the resort - my idyllic strolls along the beach.

The 'best' meal we had at the resort. Sometimes, one really needs some competition.

Nevertheless, it was a nice season of catching up and I always LOVE opportunities to have Yu Sheng.

Lo-ing to a better year...

Working our way through the CNY goodies...