Summary: Unless you're travelling on the ship's designated tour excursion, I'd rather not leave the ship for this port of call. Fill your tummies on the ship for free, because I don't see any food that's worth shelling out for, that you can't find in Singapore.
Tender boats (aka rescue boats)
Located at the far, Northern end of Bintan, the Bandar Bentan Telani jetty looks pretty well-furbished. The only main shopping area that I know for Bintan is Tanjung Pinang City, and the city is 1 hour and 20 mins away from the jetty. Back and forth, that will take like 3 hours. Honestly, it'd take much less effort if you took a ferry from Singapore and back.
There're some tents set up along the shore, with complimentary photo-taking sessions, a young girl explaining what we can do on this part of the island, giving out some very well-designed brochures in Chinese, Korean and English. There's a currency exchange counter because you'll need to change money for the hop-on-hop-off shuttle bus which costs IDR100K (SGD10) per person.
Tents set up along the shore
Get your bus tickets here! Or, a private taxi. No haggling allowed!
A receipt is issued after you make payment. Pretty legit huh.
A paper tag around your wrist to show that you're on the shuttle service
The bus is pretty comfortable.
On the recommendation of the young lady at the jetty, we decided to go to Lagoi Bay. As there're supposedly some beaches and shopping I can do at this place. Upon reaching the place, I saw that 70% of the shops were vacant, or were in unkempt conditions. That was when I knew this place is not going to excite us.
The beach... is pretty drab. With lots of algae as well.
Some serious effort went into the performances, but it wasn't enough to save the place.
Shops sold stuff like this... not very cheap as well.
This could pass off as a display stand at Sentosa. But unfortunately, we're not dressed for any sports.
Some tents, which are closed, or closing at 3pm.
You can also take the shuttle bus to Treasure Bay, but make sure you bring your wet attire along. The admission ticket costs IDR120K per pax. Not cheap for a family.
After this place, I went back straight to the ship, disappointedly.
