/ beyond/DISPATCH
32 MAY 2017 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM
to the custom-made fans, to the straws in the
cocktails, to the record player at Dodo Bar.
Dixon holds up his iPhone case, also made of
bamboo. “It is almost becomes too much,
doesn’t it?”
Though wildly versatile, there are some
drawbacks to building with bamboo. “It doesn’t
like to get wet, it doesn’t like beetles, it doesn’t
like the sun,” Dixon says. “It is a bit sensitive.”
The next day I tour the island with a few other
guests and get to see the different species of
bamboo in its many incarnations, from tiny
tubes to 45-meter-long behemoths that take 35
people to carry. Only the low-lying villas (Nos.
1 to 6) on one side of the island are currently
complete. All the other villas, including the
ones up the hill with broader views over the
ocean, are in various stages of construction.
Running around the island would be like
seeing a flipbook of a villa being made.
At the end of the tour, which includes a stop
at the tennis court and soon-to-open spa, we
find ourselves stranded on Dead Man’s Beach.
Nobody knows why it is called Dead Man’s
Beach, but everybody likes to speculate. “They
probably found a dead body here when they
first surveyed the island,” says Lauryn, the
photographer traveling with me, in a macabre
and inaccurate guess. “It is the shallow reef out
front. Big boats would run aground,” ventures
Frank, of Frank and Carolyn, a Texas couple
vacationing here for the past few days. It was
Carolyn who insisted we find Dead Man’s
Beach, against the advice of our patient and
beleaguered guide who followed us barefoot as
we scrambled down hills and over rocks in
search of these forbidden shores.
While we managed to shimmy down a giant
boulder, we couldn’t climb back up, so now we
have to wait for a speedboat to rescue us. With
time to kill, our guide cracks an oyster off of a
rock, and sucks down the soft morsel within.
Lauryn sits waist deep in the ocean and lets the
current wash over her. I stroll the perfect
white-sand beach collecting shells, of which
there is a beautiful and bountiful variety. I
hope the dinghy never arrives.
FROM TOP: Breakfast is a
medley of fresh fruit, hot
eggs and Indonesian
pastries; rum pairs
beautifully with tropical bliss
at the Dodo Bar; every villa
comes with a private pool
and paradisiacal view.Cempedak Private Island: cempedak.com; from
S$450 a night, two-night minimum; daily board
is S$95 per adult and includes activities. The
one-hour ferry ride from Singapore to Bintan
starts at S$58 round-trip; the one-hour drive
from the ferry to the jetty and the 30-minute
boat ride to Cempedak is S$90 round-trip.