On your way to work, either you are on your car, listening to that radio FM or on that bus/train ride listening to your mp3 on that hip gadget you’ve just got from Funan IT mall, or reading “Today” or “My Paper”. The routine sometimes makes you sick and tired. How you wish you can get away from it, at least for a while.

Work-life in Singapore is filled with stress and competition. I meet many people who are frantically busy. They wear their diaries and Blackberries as badges of honour, proud to be indispensable and wanted by everyone. If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, you may be running on stress a good portion of the time—launching into emergency mode with every traffic jam, phone call from the in-laws, or segment of the evening news. But the problem with the stress response is that the more it’s activated, the harder it is to shut off. Instead of leveling off once the crisis has passed, your stress hormones, heart rate, and blood pressure remain elevated. When the going gets too tough and life’s demands exceed your ability to cope, stress becomes a threat to both your physical and emotional well-being.

Your fantasise yourself on a beautiful beach with sugar white fine sand, a tropical cooling refreshing cocktail - ICE COLD by your side. You are well-treated like a prince / princess. You are enjoying nice scenery formed by swaying palms trees, nice azure blue sky and sparkling ocean water. You get a very nice massage to relieve all that tension accumulated from all that hard work. Relax in a beach chair watch the sun fade away and listen to the surf. Then you imagine a very nice dinner on a golf course facing the sea, with nice breeze and soft white curtains and soothing candle-light. The feeling of relaxation and calmness, away from that heavy-hassled city. You love it, don’t you?

You must be thinking, it must be difficult to achieve that fantasy. Have to travel all the way to Hawaii. Just the thought of the expensive air fare escalates the stress levels.

Don’t think too far, think near! Just a 55 minutes high speed ferry ride will bring you to Bintan Lagoon Resort which allows your fantasy to come true - with the added convenience of an award-winning staff at your beck and call. Set among lush landscaping, the peaceful intimate setting nestles you into the tropical getaway you’ve been dreaming of. As the premier beachside destination near Singapore, Bintan Lagoon Resort is devoted to a relaxed, tropical lifestyle…and we can help you enjoy every moment of it.

What more should I say? Start planning today.

Your beautiful picture on our resort.

 

 Our sugar white fine sands beach.

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A pool is one of the any resort’s architectural focal points as well as a place to exercise, unwind or work on a tan after a hard day of business meetings or sightseeing. While a pool does not generate revenue directly, poolside cafes and bars do.

Pools have become the “modern version of singles bars.” There’s a ‘beautiful people’s association. Instead of going to the bar, you go out to the pool.

There’s nothing worse than finding yourself at the wrong resort pool. You’re expecting to spend a sunny weekend splayed out on a lounge chair with nothing but a Sudoku puzzle book and your iPod. But what if, when you arrive at your resort pool, you discover it’s crawling with kids doing cannonballs? Or on the flip side, maybe your family is embarking on a long-awaited resort vacation, anticipating waterslides and lazy rivers but you mistakenly end up at an all-hours over-21 party scene, complete with teeny bikinis and free-flowing piña coladas?

Your vacation by the pool could go horribly, horribly wrong.

But it doesn’t have to.

We have got two pools - one of them with slides and kiddy pools.  This pool is a huge family draw and can keep both kids and parents occupied for hours–as well as cooled off. The other is a lagoon-sized pool with a swim up pool bar which makes a splash with our guests. It’s an oasis retreat with its unique design and breath taking views.

Pack your flip-flops and your goggles and check out the preferred pools in Bintan. Don’t forget your movie stars shades… someone just might mistake you for a famous sun-worshiper while you take in the Bintan island rays.

 

 

The name changes depending on where you are. In Goa, they are called shacks. In Mexico, palapas. In France, clubs. In Greece, beach tavernas. In Bintan, simply beach bars. But their function is the same, to provide their clientele with sufficient food and drink to get them through a long hard day on the beach, while at the same time acting as the beach’s social focus and mood setter.

Our Pasir Panjang Beach bar boasts a large terrace on which you can relax and enjoy the panoramic views of the most beautiful and unspoilt beach in Bintan. People-watching, peanuts and pitchers of Bintang make this longtime dive a splash. Sip mai tais and watch the sunset from the Bintan sand.

After spending millions revamping bedding, bars and lobby, Bintan Lagoon Resort has started to tackle guest bathrooms.

The bathroom upgrades — part of a broad improvement program — come as The Hotel enjoys record occupancy levels. At present 63 new bathrooms and bedrooms have been opened for booking and we are working on our next 40 rooms and bathrooms.

Spiffier bathrooms can distinguish a hotel from rivals and please guests accustomed to showcase bathrooms at home. The bathroom is so key, that it can “make or break” a guest’s stay. We are replacing man-made countertops with granite, installing curved shower rods and upgrading showerheads in existing bathtub showers.

We recently realized the need to invest in bathrooms because guests had “a better experience at home than what we were delivering in the hotel room.”

For couples in love, the Blissful Moment package is right up your alley for throwing on a snorkel and diving mask momentarily and coming up with a diamond for proposing.

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Recently, we organized a familiarization trip for our clients. The main objective of the familiarization trip was to let our clients and the media learn about the newly refurbished rooms in a relaxing and fun way.

“Very tasteful decor”, “practical furnitures”, “great bathroom”

The upgrade has been defined by “bright colours, mod-style furniture, and iconic artwork.” Below are the photos for the garden terrace, deluxe room.

 

 

Here are some photos for the lovely bathroom which was so nicely renovated I guess you would love to stay in there for hours soaking up a bubble bath before that romantic dinner or sweet dreams night.

 

A reflection of the whole bathroom on the the full length mirror, (my apologies for having the photographer in it, it was the best way to capture the whole bath room by the reflection.) The idea of the full length big mirror is perfect, it brightens up the whole bathroom and the feeling was spacious but yet cozy. Whatever we do, we take into consideration what our guests want, as we want our guests to have the best.

 

Dinner was supposed to be the highly-rated Lagoon Dining - a private dinner on our signature hole #12 on the Jack Nicklaus course fronting the South China Sea; but for uncompromising Mother Nature. The weather was wet and though we’d have dinner with goggles and flippers, it wouldn’t have been fun. Below, a beautiful view from Haskell’s cafe at the Golf Club House on the Jack Nicklaus golf course. As you can see from the photo, the sky was filled with big cumulonimbus clouds.

 

It stopped raining at 6pm, and at the 11th hour, the food and beverage team expertly arranged a pre-cocktail at the Lagoon Dining venue.
Everyone was hugely impressed with the gorgeous set-up and enjoyed the calming breeze blowing in from the South China Sea. The silver lining?

 

Our charming bartender, concocting his house specialty.

 

Dinner was arranged at the Golf Club House!

 Everybody was anticipating a pleasurable gastronomic experience. The flower petals on the carpet… the lovely music the strollers played…the gentle, soft lighting…makes the overall ambience lovely and romantic. We believe the dining ultimate experience is one in which all our senses are stimulated - the ambience and the surroundings are imperative to our enjoying the dinner. Our expert catering staff designed a special theme dinner with a tailored-made menu ensuring only one outcome -  our guests will be at ease and enjoy the sumptuous spread of dinner.

 

Our guest enjoying themselves while waiting for the first course of the dinner to be served.

Upcoming will be a series of photos of the mouth-watering dinner courses. Get yourself prepared!

The appetizer was Crab and Buffalo Mozzarella. A combination of citrines tossed crab meat with asparagus on bed of buffalo mozzarella served with saffron mayonnaise. The placing of the food was so artistic it was a masterpiece.  

 

The taste of the clear ripe plum tomato in our tomato consomme made the soup refreshing. After finish the whole bowl of it, it just opens up our appetite and made us crave for more.

Here’s Helen with her garlic bread. Her bat-woman pose! She’s just so cool.

 

Our thirst was quenched with the next refreshing course; it was Orange & Vodka Sorbet, another elegant course from the chef.

 

 

The main course was a brilliant combination of grilled prawn stuff into the tender chicken served with lemongrass scented broth and butter vegetable rice, topped with seared lobster flesh.

 

For dessert, we had Lemon Mousse. The content was grand marnier marinated ripe papaya on lemon mousse served with lime and champagne sorbet. See that curvy stick on top of the sorbet, it’s cashew nut caramel! Can you believe it? The chef definitely puts his heart into making some cashew nut into a waving ribbon. Lastly drizzled with raspberry coulisse, the sourly taste just balance so well with the sweet taste.

 

However that did not end the day, as the night was still young. At least some ladies wanted to burn off the calories consumed during dinner and let their hair loose for this special occasion.

 

 

 

 Yeah! And that completes the night at our last stop for the day - Silk, our disco/club.

 

The 2nd day was “activities day”. First of all was the the site inspection that was held at the earlier part of the morning. Then we wanted to let our guest have some fun - so we trooped for some LASER QUEST!

Here are the teams, all geared up and ready to “fight” for their team! Don’t you think they look like Arnold Schwarzenegger/Sarah Connors in Terminator?

 It was a session filled with laughter, screams and fun!

For those of you who haven’t played before, it is all the fun of paintball (i.e., you get to shoot people) but with none of the pain or mess. Just ask anyone who tried this for the first time and is now hooked.
Laser Quest combines the classic games of tag and hide & seek with a high-tech twist. Donning the most sophisticated laser tag equipment available, the game is played in a large, multi-level arena featuring specialty lighting and swirling fog.
Players wear laser receptors and use “guns” that project harmless laser beams — when you hit your opponents’ receptors, you get points. If you are hit, you lose points. High score wins. Everyone has fun.

This can be a strenuous activity… or not — lurking in the dark corners and shooting passersby is a great strategy, enhanced by the dark playing room.
Sorry, this event is not wheelchair accessible.

 

One squatting and one standing, but both of them have the same aim which is - to get the other party down!

 

 

The next activity was the All-Terrain-Vehicle (ATV).

Everybody was listening so attentively and giving their 110% attention to the instructor while he explains about the vehicle.

All terrain vehicles, known as ATVs, are amazing machines that people use for recreational purposes and also for work on rough terrain. They’re vehicles that have been specially designed to run off-road, in areas where the land is exceptionally rough, uneven, gravelly, muddy, or otherwise inconsistent.  ATVs is extremely fun and help bring the driver closer to nature.

 

The participants rolled up their pants and got ready for the exciting and adventurous ride to the “jungle!”

 

 

 

 

The ride, I believe was the best thing for some of our guests, memorable and filled with surprises.  During the ride, they come across a mini monitor lizard, nobody freak out, but it just made the whole experience even more thrilling.

Here is a video, their warm-up before really heading out. And coincidentally some commotion was caught on the short-clip. Do check it out.

 

After the whole breath-taking experience on the ATV, it was lunch time!

 It was Underwater Theme Lunch, as the whole conference room was decorated in such a way that made all of us felt like merfolks under the sea. Wall-to-wall was silky blue and when the blue spot light shone on it, it sparkled like water. Our own Underwater World was wonderful and special.

 

 

The mouth-savoring spread of food was an array of roasted potatoes, grilled beef, prawn fritters, black pepper crab, barbeque tender chicken, salads and appetizers and a well-spread of desserts.  

 

After lunch was free & easy session for our guests to explore around the whole resort before heading back to Singapore.

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The wait is finally over.

We are delighted to present the new look for our deluxe rooms. Luxurious beds, spacious living area and designer furniture pieces are just some of the features designed to enhance our brand and to provide more comfort to our guests. The new Bintan Lagoon Resort deluxe room merges modern local Indonesian touches seamlessly with latest contemporary requirements of modern business and leisure travelers, created by an in-house team spearheaded by designer, Richard Ho.

Kevin Rozario, a freelance travel and aviation journalist, who visited the mock up new room left the resort saying, “The design revamp brings a fresh contemporary feel to Bintan Lagoon Resort and adds a touch of modernity to the rooms without losing their charm. Thanks to the subtle, muted colour scheme, and dark woods for the furniture, the feeling is warm and inviting, not stark and sterile like many hotel rooms we see today.”

The management and staff are very encouraged by the positive and encouraging responses we received so far. We are confident that our new rooms will offer a fantastic stay for our visiting guests.