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Published: July 12th 2012
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Day 1 The Nikoi Island Resort is a small private island off of Bintan in Indonesia. We first took the ferry to Bintan which took 45 minutes. Then we rode a van that took us to the Nikoi island jetty. The ride there was roughly 60 minutes, we drove for 15 minutes and we reached the police post that separates the free trade zone and the zone where most of the people live. We drove through a town and then we drove through a rainforest. After 25 minutes, we entered a hilly area where they grew palm oil trees, but there was not as many palm oil trees as in Malaysia.
We drove through this hilly and curvy area for roughly 30 minutes and then we saw the sea. We took a boat from the jetty for 20 minutes until we reached Nikoi island. On Nikoi island, they gave us a tour of the main part of the resort and told us where everything was and the activities they offered.
The island was roughly 15 hectares and we could go anywhere we wanted on the small island. The island was bought by some Singapore expats who decided to develop this eco-resort on
it. One side of the island had some bungalows and the main restaurant and bar. The other side had the swimming pool, one bar, a bunch of big rocks, a Mangrove swamp, and a rainforest. The bungalows were traditional Indonesian stilt houses and were made of driftwood and had alang-alang roofing. The roofing provided a natural ventilation system that used the wind coming off the ocean. The hot water and the lighting used energy from solar panels on the roof.
After the tour, we drank our welcome drinks. Then we went to play on the beach and I built a city. Then we had our lunch and they showed us our bungalow and I built another city on the beach near our bungalow. My brother got a bow and arrow and a wood sword from the wood carver guy which he really liked and played with the whole time. Then we had dinner and after we went to the bonfire on the beach and toasted marshmallows with really long sticks.
Day 2 We got up early in the morning because of the time change and we went outside and I expanded the city on the beach
outside our bungalow. After we ate breakfast, I went and built another city on the beach for a while. Then we went rock climbing on a sheer granite boulder overlooking the ocean that didn't have a lot of nooks to grab onto so it was hard to climb. Still, I was the only kid to make it to the top of the large rock in that session. The view from the top was nice!
After that we went to the pool and swam. My Dad and I hiked back to our bungalow through the mangrove swamp and the rainforest. In one part, we had to climb up ropes in the jungle. After lunch, we paddleboarded and kayaked all the way around the island, it took roughly 60 minutes and we stopped half way at the pool and swam. There were big waves while I was on the paddleboard and I thought I was going to capsize! But luckily, I didn't.
When we got back we discovered that we were the first kids to paddle all the way around the island in our age group! Then we had dinner and went to the bonfire again and watched a movie
a quarter of the way through before we realized it was cheesy.
Day 3 On day three I woke up and built a bunch of dams on these rivers I found on the beach that are only around during the morning. After breakfast, I built a bigger city near the dam. Then it started raining and after it stopped we went to the pool. I discovered that the tide had covered the dams and it was still there under the water! In the afternoon we went sailing and this time, my boat capsized. But it wasn't my fault, my instructor was busy fixing up the sails and we suddenly capsized. After that we got ready to leave the island. We went to the jetty to board the speedboat to the mainland. During the drive from the jetty to the ferry terminal, we played I-spy.
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