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| Just a few of the participants of Sail Indonesia |
Salamat tinggal (farewell) Indonesia
Three incredible months have come and
gone and, in that time, we fell in love with the people and all
things Indonesian. Sadly, it's time to say goodbye.
We're currently sitting in an anchorage
off the north coast of the island of Bintan directly across the
Singaporean channel just a hop, skip and a jump from Singapore having
gone through the checking out process and officialdom.
This is a huge resort complex with no
similarity to the rest of Indonesia at all – we're back in a
western culture which is a bit of shock to the system especially when
it comes to the prices. An average meal costing us $2 to $3 has
suddenly jumped to $30 to $40. Guess we won't be rushing to shore
for any of those. But.....it does have a super swimming pool, clean
soft towels for the asking, showers and comfy chaise loungers to
while away the day. Heaven and a touch of luxury but we'll stick to
eating aboard and a glass of water, thanks very much.
After leaving Kalimantan, we sailed (or
should I say motored due to lack of winds) over to Belitung but we'd
missed all the festivities in Manggar, East Belitung so went on
straight to Tanjung Kelayang in West Belitung. This was a gorgeous
little spot with white sandy beaches and fabulous food but we only
spent 24 hours before feeling that we had to move on if we were to
get to the next venue – we were definitely behind schedule at this
stage. Here we said farewell to the boats we'd travelled with to
Java and Kumai as their visas were up forcing them to depart
Indonesia ahead of us. We hope to meet up with some of them again
later on in Malaysia.
Next stop was Batu Beriga on the island
of Bangka, a tiny village where the local villagers looked after us
by inviting us into their homes; there were no eating establishments
of any description but we were extremely well fed by the residents.
Their kindness knows no bounds.
We were taken on a tour of the island
to the last remaining forest where there is some attempt to save some
trees for future generations – the rest of the island has been
totally denuded due to tin mining and the removal of silica sand. In
the forest, we were treated to honey nectar and watched as an entire
hive was smoked to give us all fresh honey in the comb. A few stings
were in the offing but none too serious. A certain amount of
reforestation is taking place but between the mining and planting of
palms for the palm oil industry, rubber trees for their rubber and
the general increase in population, there really is very little in
the way of natural forest or space to create one.
A fabulous lunch out in the rice
paddies followed the forest tour and we were treated to all things
organic grown on the land surrounding the restaurant.
Entertainment that evening was in the
form of their style of music and traditional dancing and we were
invited to the mass wedding which was to take place the following
day. A few of the boats remained behind for this and said it was
quite amazing but we had over 300nm to go with no hope of much wind
so decided to move on. Sounds as though we missed a great day
though.
We've never motored as much as we did
on this last leg. The only sailing we managed was on the last day
and even that was nothing to shout about. We dropped anchor here
in Lagoi, Bintan at eight o'clock on the fourth night. When we woke
in the morning, we realised how lucky we were by narrowly missing an
uncharted rock close to our anchoring position. We also woke to the
clatter of someone's rigging which sounded decidedly like that of
Troutbridge and, lo and behold, there he was, right beside us
after having made it into the anchorage at 4 in the morning. We last
saw him in Bali and he had the usual list of 'things that went
wrong' but he made it albeit with no engine this time.
Our final farewell gala dinner took
place last night under the stars and we had to admit, was the
absolute best meal to date. We sat in style at tables set with first
class linen and tableware and were treated to a variety of
traditional Indonesian fare which was incredible, delicious and
plentiful. And, of course, the usual traditional music and dancing
followed by a great modern band with some great music to dance to.
The only little sour taste we left with
was the fact that we ordered fuel which was advertised on the welcome
board at one price but increased considerably once it was
delivered. No amount of bargaining or reasoning would get them to
honour the advertised price so most of us left with a fraction of
what we had ordered. The advertised price was already double the
pump price so an increase on that figure was totally unacceptable.
However, we had far too many terrific
memories to let that get to us. Indonesia, you've been an absolute
treat!
PHOTO ALBUM:
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| This conjures up thoughts of the bottom of a parrot's cage |
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| Restaurant in the rice paddies |
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| One of our less salubrious dining experiences |
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