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Located just 3 hours away from Singapore by sea, is a beautiful place called Telunas Resorts. Our family just came back from a super relaxing vacation there, and my first post can be found here.
If you are looking for a place away from the hustle of city life, Telunas Resorts could well be the perfect place for you. There is no consistent mobile network on the island, not to mention wifi or internet access. In fact, they celebrate this fact on the island and all the guests are encouraged to put down their gadgets, engage in meaningful conversations with their family and friends, and enjoy simple activities together. What’s not to love about that? In our day-to-day lives, we have been preoccupied enough. Leaving all those behind and escaping to Telunas Resort for a necessary ‘rebooting’ of the mind is legit and therapeutic.
Having said that though, I admit I had my reservations. On every holiday, I bring along the electronic gaming devices for my kids for those, you know, “incase-they-get-bored” situations, because my kids are hyperactive and constantly need some form of .entertainment. However, even though it may be slow paced at Telunas Resorts, everyone enjoyed being disconnected. And that’s because there were more than enough activities on the island to keep all of us entertained. Here’s a list of 12 fun activities suitable for families when you visit the resort:
1. FISHING & PRAWNING
Our friendly host taught us how to put the bait onto the hook and drop the fishing line into the sea. At Telunas Resort, you can fish anywhere and everywhere, as long as you can drop in a line. To city kids like mine, all these were very new to them. It was their first time fishing with a line!
We didn’t catch that many fishes in the 3D2N we were there but if you asked my kids, they would be proud to tell you that their daddy caught this triangular fish, which was deep fried by the staff at Telunas Resorts that night for our dinner. =)
All the kids at the resort love to fish, and they would spend a lot of time doing that every day. It may be a simple activity but it trains their level of patience and perseverance, and I thought that’s awesome.
2. WATCH THE HAULING UP OF NETS AT NIGHT
No, the resort does not depend on the haul for the guests’ meals everyday, so don’t freak out. :) Since the resort is built above the sea, they have a huge net beneath the stilts and the staff would haul up the net every evening to see what was caught in the net. Apart from fishes, they would sometimes find squids and crabs! To city dwellers like us, it was so interesting to watch.
3. INDOOR GAMES
There is a wooden cabinet full of board games and card games for the guests to have fun with, especially at night when it gets too dark to do anything else outdoors. We’ve spent many hours lingering in this communal hall with other guests, playing cards, jenga and Monopoly. It was a nice feeling, going back to the basics when we didn’t need to depend on gadgets to keep us occupied.
4. POTTERY
We stumbled upon a wooden shed near the beach on our first day at the resort, and it turned out to be a potter’s shed. The husband and Jayne tried their hand at pottery – Not easy but fun! There was no formal classes or anything like that, but whoever wanted to try, the potter was more than happy to teach.
The potter even built a furnace and had fired it up twice before. His vision was actually to develop a feasible business plan for pottery, so that he may pass it on to the local villagers and help them make a living for themselves. That was one of the reasons why I left Telunas Resorts feeling impacted by the vision of the owners of the place – Apart from profit-making, they have a more noble social impact vision, which is to empower the locals to solve their own problems, get out of poverty, impact their community and build long-lasting relationships. In fact, most of their staff come from nearby villages and it is with the hope that they would bring what they have learnt back to their villages. They are touching people one at a time, and through that, hope to bring about a positive change in the society. I truly admire that.
5. SWIMMING IN THE OPEN SEAS
My girls don’t have many chances to swim in the seas because I don’t bring them frequently. Both of them can’t swim, so they won’t venture far and would stay close to the shore. They love the waves though, and would screech with delight whenever the high tide comes in. City kids, very obviously. =P
6. SAND PLAY
They can play with sand all day long if I let them! Don’t worry if you didn’t pack your sand play tools because they are provided at the resort.
7. STAND-UP PADDLING & KAYAKING
I was pretty excited to try this when I heard that they have it at the resort. My conclusion is that…… IT’S WAY TOO DIFFICULT TO BALANCE PLEASE!
We fell 50% of the time, and the other 49%, we were attempting to just stand up on the board. We laughed a lot at each other though – Clumsy couple we were!
8. HUNT FOR TERMITES & CRABS
It was our first encounter with termites – We’ve never seen them so upclose before. According to Paul, the Potter, termites are active and busy working away on wood at night and by early morning, they would be making their way back to their nest with wood particles on them. That was when we spotted the whole lot of them marching back to their nest in neat lines. Fascinating!
During the low tide, we went digging around for hermit crabs and tiny prawns. There were so many of them and they moved so fast that we had to be quick in order to get hold of them. Jayne is the bolder one between the two and she had no qualms having the little creatures crawl on her. Braver than me.
This has got to be my most favorite activity on the island. Getting in touch with nature and discovering new things every minute. LOVE IT.
There is a sense of liberation and freedom at Telunas Resorts!
9. HANG OUT ON A HAMMOCK
This is a no-brainer. Nothing comes quite close to relaxing on a hammock and reading a book while listening to the waves beat at the shore.
Hanging out on our own hammock in the comfort of our private balcony was also nice, of course. I sneaked back from the beach on one of the days while the kids were still playing on the beach, just to score 15 minutes of me-time on this hammock. It was so rejuvenating! No wonder the kids kept fighting over it. Was very, very tempted to buy one back from the resorts, but reckoned that the window view from my bedroom would look NOTHING like this, and decided to drop the ingenious idea. =P
10. JETTY JUMP
One of things that adventurous guests like to do here is jetty jump. You can either jump off from the platform that my hubby was sitting on above, or from a higher platform like the one below. I did none of those of course – I really don’t have the guts.
But whenever anyone tries to do jetty jumps, some of us would gather around and cheer them on. How brave were these kids! It was pretty inspiring to see how their parents coaxed and encouraged them to make the jump. The girl, especially, hesitated for very long before she finally dared to jump off that high platform. Her mother told her that she could decide for herself if she wanted to jump, and whether she would regret it if she didn’t do it. Quite frankly, I would have gotten very impatient if my own kids hesitated that long, but that mum was so patient and assuring. I’ve got much to learn from fellow parents. :)
11. LOCAL VILLAGE TOUR & LUNCH
One of the highlights of our trip was to visit a local village, located about 15 minutes’ boat ride from Telunas Resorts. It was a typical Indonesian village with self-built houses and very few amenities. The villagers helped each other build new houses, and they mostly fish for a living. I personally thought it was an eye-opener for my kids. They were quiet as we walked along, probably wondering to themselves how different the life of those children was compared to theirs. They saw the sea filled with rubbish floating on it, the wooden houses of all shapes and sizes and the little children running around with no shoes on their feet. I took the chance to tell my kids that even though these villagers may not have as many material possessions as we have, and they live simple lives with no luxuries, many of them had big smiles on their faces and looked happy and contented. They may not be as rich as us in terms of material things, but many of them may be richer than us emotionally. It is a profound concept, and I don’t know how much the kids understood, but I am sure it left a deep impression on them.
This hyperactive monkey was a pet in our host’s house and it wasn’t very friendly towards us. Then again, wild animals like them wouldn’t be too happy to be tied up that way, I’m sure.
It was in this humble-looking kitchen that our host (the lovely lady in red) and her daughter cooked us a sumptuous meal. Love them simple folks. :)
If I may say so, the meal in our host’s house was one of the best we’ve had on that trip. It was no expensive fare, but every bite was bursting with flavors and goodness. Our host didn’t speak English but our guide translated for us, and we couldn’t stop telling her how good the food was. She looked really happy to hear that.
After our lunch, we continued our tour in the village, and we passed by many locals, walked into their Primary School and saw locals going about their daily routines and chores.
A photo with our host before we left. What a great experience it was for us, and I recommend it as an activity you really need to do when you are at Telunas Resorts.
12. BONFIRE & MARSHMALLOW TOASTING
Our highlight of every evening was the bonfire that the resort staff would set up, specially for guests who were leaving the next day. None of us kept to the rules though – Everyone just makes our way there every evening just to have some fun and sweet treats after dinner.
Needless to say, the kids loved it. It was their first bonfire experience and Jayne, especially, would never say no to marshmallows. This time round, she discovered the beauty of toasted marshmallows and couldn’t stop eating them!
Truly, Telunas Resorts has given us the space to recharge, rejuvenate and reconnect as a family. In a short span of three days, we talked and laughed as we did simple activities together 24/7 and built amazing memories that would stay with us for a very long time. It was simply wonderful and blissful and we would love to go back again soon.
If you wish to visit Telunas Resorts as well, check out details on their website:
http://www.telunasresorts.com/
Disclosure: We were sponsored a 3D2N stay with Telunas Resorts for review purposes including local transfers and meals. We paid for our own international transfer from Singapore to Batam. All photographs and opinions expressed in this post are my mine.
