Downtown Yangon to downtime in Bintan

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We open the shutter blinds of our hotel room to reveal an idealic island paradise. A sprawling pool before a palm-tree lined cove. In true Tight Arse Tours style I warn the kids "The breakfast is included with our room. Let's make the most of the buffet - there is no such thing as lunch anymore!" They get that I'm half-joking and smash waffles, pancakes, french toast and pastries. I think I had 4-5 eggs and a poor attempt at Canadian Pancakes. Turkey bacon just doesn't cut it! And one day it's called Turkey bacon and the next it's called Beef bacon. What the hell is that stuff anyway?

We explore the many pools on offer and struggle to relax. The kids keep asking "what are we doing next?" and Jules is feeling anxious with nothing to do or plan. Maybe a mocktail and a beer will help us to relax.

It doesn't! We are all still a little highly strung and sit down at Dino's cafe for lunch. We are all still full from breakfast but order lunch for the sake of something to do. The meals look massive and so they should be. Lunch for the four of us costs about $80! This is not how Tight Arse Tours operates and is going to make the food bill for the 5 days will make the Burmese painting seem like pocket change. And if Jules wants that cocktail, she'll have to settle for a kids meal! 😊

We roll out of the cafe and check out the activities list. The activities on offer are endless and a bit intimidating so we opt for a walk around the resort/beach to get our bearings. This place is massive and so spacious. Reception suggests using a shuttle bus to get to the various parts of the resort, but we more the walking kind.

It must be low season. While there are plenty of people at breakfast, the resort seems a little deserted. Not empty but sparcely populated. We are staying in a hotel room in the main complex but there are little clusters of villas and villages of huts spread across various beaches. The house sized villas look new but the beach huts look a little dated.

The kids enjoy a tyre swing and Deaks nearly flattens me as his tyre thumps me in the chest as I try to take an action photo. We walk to the end of the cove and pass some beach soccer and kids playing in the shallows. The beaches looked pristine this morning - clear green water and soft white sand - but the wind has turned onshore and is blowing all the crap from the ocean onto the beach. A team of beach rakers works quickly to clean up the rubbish that marks the receding tidelines.

There's sleeper sized driftwood, bamboo and netting from ships. There's also motorbike helmets, cigarette lighters, toothbrushes, thongs, shoes, crocs, plastic toy guns, endless variety of glass bottle - from medicine to rum bottles and the number of plastic drinking bottles is disturbing.

Compared to the beaches back home, this is a shock. It would be unusual to find a single plastic bottle wash up on a Queensland beach. Diving under a wave here and you'd be lucky not to emerge with someone elses tooth brush in your mouth. If the wind is blowing onshore, stay in the pool.

Another quick dip in the pool and we're off to dinner and ten pin bowling! They have a 20 lane tenpin bowling centre. We ate some more and tried to bowl off our full stomachs.

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