Beachliness Review 5: Bintan, Indonesia (Fauxnesia)

I'm surprised and conflicted by the results of the infallible LiS Beachliness Review 5 of Bintan, Indonesia: a ferry-ride away from Singapore, and normally good for weekend getaways or bike crashes.

I call Bintan Fauxnesia. I have not been a huge fan, given the lack of exoticness, and with the extensive visitors.

However, since our kitchen has burst into a puff of toxic renovation dust and noise, it seemed like a good place to work for the week. 

So, let's measure the Beachliness! First, sandiness. Really quite excellent. Now that I notice such things, I was surprised.

Second is boatiness. Boatiness in Bintan is low, although the small fisher boats are picturesque. Half points.

Third: prettiness. There are nicer and less nice spots, but here it was really quite pretty, so I give full points, again to my surprise.

We even saw one of those big blood moon things for the first time, although we didn't have the neck-breaking machinery to capture it, so here's a boring moon.

Fourth is desertedness. During the week and with many countries not fully travelling still, we had amazing desertedness. I will give full points, noting that in regular times, this would not apply.

Speaking of which, this whole resort was deserted. And creepy.

Fifth: wildlife. I knew there would be half points for the intertidal creatures, but we had surprises. First, froggy friend: a pink tree frog couple, who I failed to species-dentify, hopped around our balcony, impressing me with their acrobatics and cute toes.

Man, I love frogs!

Then, we saw a civet cat at twilight! So, full points!

6 is availability of activities. Bintan's activities are ok, but fairly standard touristy. and normally crowded, so I think half points are due.

Since we were working, the only activity I did was taking pictures of the sunrise.

Here's what the other end of that looked like.

Finally, availability of cocktails. While you can get them, the quality is definitely not as good as the food. So half points, and a picture of some of the delicious sambals that I ate all week.

In the end, this score is much higher than I expected, which demonstrates the LiS Beachliness system's ability to withstand bias.

Bintan Indonesia Beachliness Review

Sandiness: 1

Boatiness: 0.5

Prettiness: 1

Desertedness: 1 (weekday)

Wildlife: 1 (partly luck)

Availability of activities: 0.5

Availability of cocktails: 0.5

Total: 5.5/7

Sidra, Statues, and Koi

In Basque country, I learnt about sidra, or local (unpasteurized?) cider, which you pour like this. It's only a bit stressful.

 It is fabulous, and I would like some more, please, but Aperol spritz is good as a second choice.It may perhaps be the solution to my digestive system, which is sometimes like this.

Anyway, I had a workation, which is where you work from a hotel room, and gaze upon the outdoors. There were bible cowboys and an actual real marching band during my conference call!

I took breaks to stay on top of Asian online shopping, and it remains confusing. While the banana duck statue is tempting, the rest are confusing, and the woman is clearly not using the economical VR headset properly. She's also forgotten her shirt, so there are struggles.

Then, I tried to order a garbage can. I swear that's all that I searched for!

Quick, let's catch up on the news. In Singapore, the otters are still decimating the local outdoor ornamental fish population, but I'm more sad about the dog here. And yes, the otters eat the yummiest fishy bits, and leave the rest.

Ok, back to Europe, where buildings have the cool. This one shows how short people used to be.

Buildings get a statue for supervision

And sometimes they are grumpy

This airport hotel got really excited about adjectives, which is a great idea, since I don't actually need these things. Although, fun fact, I have an actual human friend who uses shower caps, although maybe not retro vintage? I prefer to have ultimately preeminent teeth.

Went to a church to look at the stained glass, but they had a delightful exhibit going on to cheer me up.

Kind of same as my friends, but less diverse.

This is the Guggenheim museum, which is very pretty on the outside. On the inside there is art.

It has the world's most famous spider with very small feet.

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Beachliness Review 4: Sitges, Spain

Barry had a thing called a business trip, which is where one gets covid, which he achieved by the first day of our vacation in Spain.

So it was hot in the car with the windows down, and I left Barry in his own room to maintain my own hygiene, and he emerged once his infectiousness was reduced.

At this point, we were in Sitges, Spain, which calls for another Beachliness Review! Here is the sand in my heavily sanitized hand. It is smooth, but the litter chunks are too high, so half points.

Meanwhile, Barry wore this. To the beach. I pretended not to know knee socks man. Maybe he was worried his feet were still infectious?

Sitges' boatiness is excellent, and they arranged a floatilla on our last night! Full points.

Prettiness: full points. Look how pretty we are!

And the beach is pretty too.

Desertedness, however, not so much. But great people-watching!

Wildlife! Despite the crazed dog look, that's actually just Andrew demonstrating a socially distanced live photo.

Andrew, also known as Case 662, was one of Singapore's earliest cases, so he's an expert, although he got it again. Here, he is giving me a covid-safer hug, although he seems less interested and more ashamed?

Anyway, no, not much wildlife at this beach. But how about cocktails!?

Yup, we got them. Including at Parrots bar, where you sit in rows of mostly middle aged gay men and watch people walk by. That's how they roll, and this is a good thing to do with an Aperol Spritz.

Eats, drinks, and many other activities were available at Sitges, so full points here.

Sitges Beach, Spain Beachliness Review

Sandiness: 0.5

Boatiness: 1

Prettiness: 1

Destertedness: 0

Wildlife: 0

Availability of activities: 1

Availability of cocktails: 1

Total: 4.5/7

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Pink Dot: Celebrating Pride and Love in Singapore

The queue did not start here. In fact, it started 20 minutes before here. But that is a good thing, because thousands of Singaporeans and Permanent Residents like us went to Pink Dot!

We happily waited 40 minutes to get in.

Singapore is not much of a protesting country, but we were at Speaker's Corner, for what was both a celebration of love, and an official protest!

Officially, we are protesting Section 377a of Penal Code 1871, which prohibits sex between consenting men. For context, Canada repealed a similar law in 1969.To make it official, we sent the above picture and note to our Member of Parliament.

We were certainly not the only ones!

Unofficially, we were also here to support the LGBT community, and groups who help in the challenges they face in their lives, including access to benefits, marriage, and housing.

Pink dot is named in reference to "The Little Red Dot", which is how Singapore is often portrayed in maps, given we're small.

The mascot is Pinkie, shown here along with some fabulously dressed ladies in the 30 degree heat! Oh, and Barry. You can show your support locally with a Pinkie pin.

Barry and I were fairly fabulous with our masks, rainbows, and accessories, but next year I'll be getting these rainbow tights! Happy Pride Month, and here's hoping for more freedom to love!

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