Sponsored Review

This is Part 2 of my two-part series on The Great Bintan Sale. Read Part 1 here.

As part of The Great Bintan Sale Family Fun 3D2N package, our itinerary included a mangrove boat tour, lunch and an elephant ride on Day 2 of the trip. Our transport arrived punctually at the stated time and picked us up from our hotel to the little pier.

For this package, you can either opt for a day mangrove tour or a night one. The former will allow you to see the mangrove trees clearer and many other types of animals such as snakes, iguanas, monkeys etc. For the night tours, you can see fireflies! :) Since I've done the night tour many years ago, I was happy to go for the day tour this time round. Plus, the kids get jittery when it's a night tour. Day tours are definitely more child-friendly.

I love how quiet and peaceful the place was. While waiting for our other companions to arrive, we were just enjoying the sights of the sea.

The kids waited in anticipation for the boat ride. :) It's not everyday they get to hop onto bumboats you know? :)

Finally the time for boarding came! And everyone quickly put on our life jackets.

We had a really jovial female tour guide who explained the sights along the way to us. We saw lots of different mangrove trees with different types of roots. And we also spotted snakes, monkeys and iguanas along the way. The whole ride took about 1 hour.

Jayne might be too young to appreciate the mangrove tour and it was right smack during her nap time, so half the time, she was just very sleepy. But Joey was pretty curious about most of the things we saw along the way.

We passed by this charcoal hill which was used to roast wood into charcoal - Interesting!

Lots of greenery along the way - very soothing for the soul indeed. :)

There! Black snake with yellow stripes!

On the way back from the tour, our bumboat alighted us at Kampoeng Kelong Seafood Restaurant for our lunch which was included in the package. The pre-ordered set lunch includes a soup, a vegetables, 2 meats and hot tea. If you want to order more dishes, you can top up of course. Interesting to have lunch in the middle of the sea. :)

Even though they may not look so, they were very yummy! And the food was enough for my family of 2 adults and 2 kids.

Right after our lunch, they fetched us back to the pier in the bumboat they've prepared for us. The girls were thrilled it was PINK. Girls.

After the boat ride, we went back to the hotel for the girls to nap before we were picked up to go for our elephant ride in the evening.

Frankly, I wasn't expecting much from the elephant ride. I thought it would be very boring, but I was wrong! It turned out to be the most fun part of the trip in my opinion. :)

The elephant park was about 10minutes' drive from my hotel and the 'aroma' filled our noses the moment we alighted from the car. =P

We took the stairs up to a platform so that we can get onto the elephant's back easily. The moment I got on the back, I freaked out! It was so high above the ground, and there was nothing to hold on to except the shoulders of the elephant trainer who was with us! Joey was sitting in front of me, and I was so afraid that either of us would fall off to the ground! Thankfully, it got steadier as we rode along.

I thought it would be a very easy ride on concrete paths, but it turned out to be a jungle trek! The elephant brought us into the jungle and up and down slopes (no kidding - very scary but fun!!). Along the way, they kept pausing for us to take photographs - very nice of them! One of them eventually took my camera and took photos of us along the way so that I could concentrate on holding on to the rider's shoulders. =P

The elephant's really a gentle giant. These are young elephants around 20+ years old, and they are still pretty small in the world of elephants. But very obedient, doesn't make noise and absolutely gentle.

And a final shot orchestrated by the staff. =P

For $1 per pack of bananas, the kids could feed the elephants.

The elephants should be very hungry - they ate fast & furious!

The staff were so friendly and kept urging us to pose with the elephants even though it was the end of a work day for them. :)

This is part 2 of my two-part series on The Great Bintan Sale, which offers different attractive packages for individuals, friends, couples and families. We were sponsored for the 'Family Fun 3D2N' where you can choose between different hotel options at different pricing as follows:

PACKAGE INCLUDES:

• Return Ferry on Economy Class
• Welcome Drink
• 2 Nights Stay with Breakfast
• Elephant Show (Thu-Mon) / Elephant Ride (Tue & Wed)
• Bintan Mangrove Discovery Day Tour
• Family Set Lunch / Dinner @ Café Helo Helo / Kampung Kelong Seafood Restaurant
• Land Transfers

Click on this link: http://bintan-resorts.com/visitors/highlights/great-bintan-sale/ to find out more details of the sale.

P/S: We enjoyed the package as a complimentary for review purposes. No other financial compensation was received and all opinions and photographs are mine.