I could have been tan in Bintan

Bintan - Indonesia's island of resorts. An hour away from Singapore by ferry.Last weekend was my first time to be in this beautiful island. I was there together with a hundred plus colleagues from around the world for our company jamboree.

We stayed at Angsana Resort & Spa, one of the high end resorts and which I highly recommend for their very good facilities and service, especially the very hospitable staff they have.

The event was elegant as I've expected, actually even more than I imagined --the VIP treatment, the chic accomodations, the posh beach side dinner and party, the sumptous food, the overflowing wine and the fireworks...it could have been almost being in a magical dream but...

Under the ideal circumstances, I will tell you about the girl who enjoyed the ferry ride amidst the swayful motion from the big seawaves, about the girl who danced under the rain on the beach, the girl who looked beautiful in her purple sarong and a flower on her ear, the girl who was asked to dance by gentlemen, the girl who made a few sips of wine and laughed with her colleagues, the girl who felt rejuvinated by having her first full body massage.

But reality comes in, and I will tell you about supertravelgirl who braced and faced her Kryptonite of motionsickness at the sea, about the girl who could only watch the rain fall down and meet the seawaves, the girl who wore a nice dress but should have worn her sarong instead and with a flower that kept falling off from her ear, about the girl who tried to dance away the solitude, about the girl who must have consumed glasses of wine she has had in her whole life, and about the girl who smiled and laughed a little but whose eyes did not shine, and about the girl who, as she stripped naked for her massage, felt she has bared not only her body, but all her insecurities.

It is not at all fair to the warmth of Bintan that I was there, but I was almost not.