Bintulu Surprises

Flying to Bintulu

I traveled to Bintulu for a meeting recently and managed to catch up with some family members and friends. I have to admit, Bintulu is really a transformed town since my last visit. I remember blogging about this "small" town last year in Gawai Closing Soon.

For the MASWings flight the first thing that surprised me was that they actually serve you food! Free! With 'the other airline' you would have to pay.

The menu is considered quite 'yummy' for a one hour flight. Sandwich, Milo, Kit Kat Chocolate a fruit. Its edible and quite satisfactory for a one hour journey.

Another surprise was when I checked in at Parkcity Everly Hotel! Look closely at what is being offered! Not the discounts on drinks mind you or those lady singers! For an Internet freako like me the most thrilling thing about this hotel is that they provide Free Wi Fi in every room! In Kuala Lumpur I remember you have to pay a bomb for Internet connection.

The other surprise is the newly completed Mall which was just completed this June 2007. Man, Bintuluians have never had it this good. The shops there are more modernistic in design and ambience compared with the old part of town. All those big names like Marry Brown, Watsons, Guardian etc. can be found here.

The Christmas Tree at the Mall stole my heart - the size of it. i was like a kid again. Its been ages since I see a Christmas Tree this size in Kuching and here we have it in Bintulu.

If one is looking for some place to chit chat and hang out, Bintulu has quite a number of fun outlets. That night I was brought to several places. Either my hosts were trying to get me finish the pubs and night spots in Bintulu or this is what a regular Bintulian do on a normal weekday....One example is Reggae and it finds its niche in attracting the State's best dart players. Yeap... I was told Bintulu darters were ranked top in Sarawak. Reggae also has a restaurant below and a bar upstairs with a dedecated area for dart and pool

The food in Bintulu is also - delicous but ermm... expensive (the menu above can reach RM200). Marco Polo Restaurant, the place where we dined provides a very appetizing atmosphere with an organ player singing for you famous tunes (you can request the songs).

"Pirate of Bintulu"

And when you thought that you had enough surprises, I had the honour of having Mr. Frankie joining our group that night. If anyone has seen David Blaine or Street Magic, I believe Frankie can match them by Bintulu standards. He had so many party tricks to last you for the night. We thought that we could go back as early as 1 a.m that night but then he took around to the other parts of town. He has this to say to me and my colleague that night "If people are looking for you, tell them you have been kidnapped by the Pirate of Bintulu!". Of course we hope he was joking but we were really hijacked to the other exciting places around Bintulu. I would have wanted to blog about this in my FUN BLOG but I was not sure if these Bintuluians are ready for Blogger Culture whereby you get one person clicking his digital camera at almost anything that moves or look wierd. So I will just observe first and not make anyone uneasy. But there were two places that I do really hope to blog about one day and that is Baila Me Karaoke Lounge and the Five Star in Bintulu. Baila Me - because of the free space it offers for karaoke singers and Poco Poco dancers and the other is that it has Wi-Fi. The Five Star offers live singing stage for guests with an organ and guitar player on standby.

This is one of Frankie's tricks which I managed to capture on camera as the others were to quick to record. Believe me, his hands were quicker than my camera. How is it done - better meet up with Frankie for more insight - no magician will reveal his secrets. That Malta tin seemed out of place for the night's event.

(From left) Deejay, Dzuren (the Malta drink guy), Mr. Bilin, Mr. Alexander Watson Donald (PRS Bintulu Youth President) and Mr. Palin (will get these guy's name once Alex contact me. We had fun at Baila Me Karaoke.

And finally we get to see footages of Mr. Alexander Watson Donald rendering a song (and unlikely duet with Mr. Frankie).

Thanks for the fun guys and gals - I have to say this... Bintulu is full of surprises. Thanks for the unlimited drinks and pleasant memories.