BINTAN ISLAND
BINTAN ISLAND
Your Guide to Vacation AMAZING INDONESIA ( holiday travel guide )
Bintan is the largest island in the Riau Archipelago, which comprises almost 3,000 large and small islands, immediately across Singapore and Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The islands stretch from the Straits of Malacca all the way to the South China Sea. The town of Tanjung Pinang is the capital of this province, located on the south western shore of Bintan.
Bintan’s chief tourist attraction today
is Bintan Resorts, a spectacular beach holiday destination in the north
of the island, covering 23,000 hectares along the entire sandy white
coast that faces the South China Sea. The island itself also has
interesting historic remains in Tanjung Pinang and Penyengat, and offers
plenty opportunities for surfing, adventure and ecotours for schools
and family, but is also ideal for relaxation and wellness.
While, for dive enthusiasts the Anambas
archipelago in the South China Sea offer pristine dive sites, reachable
from Tanjung Pinang airport. Whereas,the Natuna islands are reachable
from Batam.
Strategically located south of the Malay
peninsula at the mouth of the Straits of Malacca, the Riau islands
were, ever since the first century AD, the favourite holding area for
Indian and Chinese trading ships to find shelter and wait out typhoons
that raged in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. Already in 1202
Marco Polo, the famous Venetian world traveller, told of his voyage to
the island of Bintan.
It is small wonder, therefore, that in
the 18th century, European merchants, - the Portuguese, Dutch and the
British - fought each other and the local sultanates as well as the
Malay and Bugis mariners in these waters for hegemony over this
strategic shipping channel.
At the time, this part of the Malay Peninsula was ruled by the Johor-Riau Sultanate, whose seat alternated between Johor – in present day Malaysia - and Bintan Island, in present day Indonesia.
At the time, this part of the Malay Peninsula was ruled by the Johor-Riau Sultanate, whose seat alternated between Johor – in present day Malaysia - and Bintan Island, in present day Indonesia.
In 1884 the British and the Dutch closed
their differences over these islands with the signing of the Treaty of
London, by which all territories north of Singapore were given
suzerainity to the British, while territories south of Singapore were
ceded to Dutch powers.
Since then the fate and history of the
territories north and south of Singapore parted ways. Singapore became
the center of thriving British commerce, whereas, the Dutch who
concentrated on present day Jakarta on Java, left the Bintan islands
isolated and neglected from the central power.
In the past decades, with cordial
relations between Indonesia and Singapore, an agreement was signed
between the two governments to develop the Riau islands cooperatively to
benefit both countries in the designated Free Trade Zone of Batam,
Bintan and Karimun islands.
A first feature of this agreement was
the development of the Bintan Resort, a beach holiday destination,
covering 23,000 hectares along the entire sandy white coast of Bintan
that faces the South China Sea.
Bintan Resorts on Bintan’s north coast
offers top-class hotels, each located in over 300 hectares of land,
featuring world class golf courses designed by internationally renowned
golf architects. Bintan Resorts also offers plenty of beach activities
and luxurious spas and is ideal for meetings away from the hustle and
bustle of busy Singapore but located very close to it. Because of its
wind and waves at years end, Bintan is also suitable for surfing. For
more information please click: www.bintan-resorts.com.
Here are seven international class
hotels and 5 fantastic golf courses, some of the best in Asia. Two
courses are located at Bintan Lagoon Resort, which is world renowned for
its exceptionally designed championship 18-hole golf courses. The Jack
Nicklaus Sea View Golf course and Ian Baker-Finch Woodlands Golf course,
both offering spectacular signature holes, fast greens, undulating
fairways and scenic water hazards. Other courses include the Laguna
Bintan Golf Club, and one located at the Ria Bintan Resort. The 27 hole
Ria Bintan Championship Golf Course was awarded Asia’s Best Golf Course
in 2008.
On the west coast of Bintan lies the
town of Tanjung Pinang, once a quiet town, now the province’s busy
capital. Here you can still find quaint houses built on stilts at
Senggarang. There are Buddhist temples on Senggarang, including an old
temple embraced by the roots of a large banyan tree.
Across the Bay, within 15 minutes boat
ride from Tanjung Pinang is the small island of Penyengat, once the seat
of the Queen of the Johor-Riau kingdom and the place of origin of the
fine Malay language, the base for the Indonesian language. Here the
Sultan Riau Mosque still stands as testimony to the heydays of the
Johor-Riau sultanate. Upon approaching the island, you can see turrets
of the yellow mosque peeking above the greenery like a palace in a fairy
tale. On Penyengat are the royal tombs of the past Sultans of Riau,
while descendents of the Sultan still live on the island until today.
Tanjung Pinang serves some of the most
delicious seafood. At night a road is closed off and all kinds of food
stalls emerge selling sumptuous dishes of chilli crab, steamed prawn,
grilled fish with spicy sauces, and Riau’s favourite gong-gong, a kind
of oysters.
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