Peanuts

I always thought my family was considered well-to-do among my relatives... until I went to visit more relatives then I felt the true meaning of 'Peanuts'.

I went to another rural village for a family gathering for the weekend, it changed my perspective of the word "Rich".

This is part of the family, My family.

In Singapore, an Island City, it is a big deal to own a land. Some own lands they live on, the richer ones own land others depend on for survival. That's about it. Consider Singapore being developed and with the high standard of living, it takes quite some effort to own Something.

Afew years ago, I learnt that the hotel I always live in when I visit Indonesia belongs to a relative. I didn't know they were so loaded. Then again, it's probably quite affordable to own a hotel in Indonesia, not a 5 star, juz a supposedly humble 4 star hotel, which I think juz got demoted to 3 stars when I last visited it during the weekend. This is One family.

Our purpose was to visit another family living in the fishing village(island) of Tanjung Pinang (Bintan). They live in Kelongs stretched from the home on land to the sea.
They shit/pee into a hole on the ground and guess where the excretion is disposed to.... I shall leave the answer to your imagination.
They bathe with well water, pumped from pipes and generators to a Huge Sink/Tub in the toilet. You're suppose to use a pail and splash the water manually.
With such sanitation and profession (fishermen), you might wonder how loaded can this family get.

Wells, they own plantations, which means who knows how many hectres of land. The Patriarch seems determined to conquer Bintan and money is rolling in every second as I type.
Btw, they are the only Chinese on that island. Every1 else is Malay, that explains why they can't take the risk of flaunting their riches, they are out-numbered. Better to make peace, they say.

An Island separated from the main island. This is where we were lodging for the night.

The on-the-sea-side of the house. This is just part of it, the Kelong is quite big, the biggest in the Village, I think...

And you think that's it, that's the richest they can get, I thought so too, until I visited the Islands. Yeps.. the third family owns Islands. They've built 2 resorts on each Island, which are running already. The 3rd resort on the Island I went to is under construction, most probably going in operation by the end of the year.
I freaked out.

This is the Island I visited. It's still under construction, so there's nothing much on the coast.

Because there was no jetty for our bigger boat, we had to take a smaller boat to reach the island.

So in Singapore, the size of your car pretty much shows your status. In Tanjung Pinang, it's the size of your boat that matters. And normally "chauffeurs" are hired, in our case, all the boats had "chauffeurs". If they can afford Islands, why not?