I didn't quite make it up for the 630am swim. The mattresses there, even though they are about 2 inches thick, are much more comfortable than the rocks we get at school, so I was enjoying a back pain free sleep. Maria had to leave in the morning, as she had class Monday morning, and I decided to get a massage! I walked to the spa, a short 2 minute walk after declining the even shorter 1 minute boat ride up about 20 ft of river. Fazli had mentioned he loved to work here because it wasn't super crowded, so he got to relax too, and I had the feeling the massage ladies felt the same way. Their sister spa, owned by I believe the same Swedish guy who owned the guesthouse and some other places around, was the larger spa at Bintan Resorts. This place was an hour out of the way with less services. But it was perfect for me! The spa was actually a collection of 5 huts, all on stilts connected through stilted walk way over the mangrove river. I picked out an oil to help my sunburn, and went into the room. I was surprised, as I mentioned previously, the Asian massages tend to be no rubbing and conservative. This was oily rubbing in paper underwear, but it was heaven! They washed my feet and back before beginning. Even though we were in the river, the beach was very close and I could hear the waves rolling in during the massage (and in our room when we slept, it was great!). Afterwards, they had a little shower, consisting of a large pot and ladle full of heated water. There was a thermos besides it, which they somehow heated the water up in, as there was no heated water at the guesthouse 20 ft away.
We then asked Fazli to take us in a traditional boat, the sampan, and take us down the river. They made the boats there at the beach. Unfortunately, since the trees took over most of the river, you could only canoe down about 10 minutes, but it was still beautiful. We saw a monitor lizard, which was the size of a small iguana but looked like a miniature komodo dragon. Afterwards, we went down the
towards the kelongs to check out the fishing village that housed the boats. We also happened to pick up 3 bags of sea shells, mostly beautiful conch shells and miniature sand dollars a little bigger than a quarter. Alma and I then rented bikes and rode 15 minutes down the road to another fishing village. It was a nice, slow day!
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