I took one day leave on the 7th Jun so I could spend a long weekend with my sisters and mother to Belitung that I've dreamt to visit. Frankly speaking it's because of "Laskar Pelangi" movie that I've seen which shows the beautiful beach in that island, on the East coast of Sumatra. I spent 4D3N in the island, I didn't join any tour, just rented a car from internet with the driver to bring us around the island
The car rental (Avanza) cost IDR 250.000,-/day while the driver cost IDR 100.000/day. It's a brand new car that picked us up at H. AS. Hanandjoeddin airport, Tanjung Pandan. We had to wait quite a long time for the baggage, the aiport was quite small and hot, only 2 baggage belt available. I decided to meet the driver outside the airport to arrange the trip while my sisters were waiting for the baggages. Lucky we had a kind, polite and smart driver, we had finished the plan when my sisters got the baggage.
On the 1st day we would visit the closest beach to our hotel which is the most popular beach for tourism and used in the movie. The second day would rent a boat to go for island hop at least to 4 islands depend on the weather. The last day would go to East Belitung which would take 1.5 - 2 hours drive from our hotel, where "Laskar Pelangi" school was, and the home of the current famous vice major of Jakarta, Ahok, came from.
I would share with you my second day trip story, it's very satisfying. Our driver wouldn't mind accompanying us. The boat cost IDR 400.000,-/day with 2 boatman. We could bring the food by ourselves, or ask them to provide for us. My driver had suggested us to order meal box before the day, and he had brought it when he picked us in the hotel at 07:30 in the morning. We also bought a cartoon of water in the bottle as it would be difficult or more expensive in those visited islands.
The sun shone very bright when we sailed from Tanjung Kelayang beach, we're glad it wasn't rained at all. The first island we visited called "Pulau Pasir" (Sand Island). No human/plant live there, just beautiful white sandy island with some big beautiful starfish. The island would be submerged after midday or during high tide, so you had to visit it in the morning. We're lucky two boats just left the island, so we could enjoy the island alone as if it's our own island. We took many pictures and enjoy the soft white sand. It's very hot though, you should wear hat or scarf to protect your skin. After enjoying the sand and beach, we decided to leave when another boats had arrived.
"Pulau Batu Berlayar" (Sailing Rock Island) was the second island we've visited, it's very amazing. So many beautiful granite stones formed beautifully, no people live here. Some shells were attached to the stone looked like flower at the bottom of the stone. Be careful to step on it as it's very sharp, it could hurt your skin. My sister found "sea urchin" at the other side of the island. There was quite a big population of the poisonous animal, although it looked cute. My youngest sister was dare enough to climb on the stone, while we prefered just to pose on the beach or among the stones. After walking around the small island, more and more people came, we continued our trip to another island.
We're headed to "Lengkuas" island where the 129-year-old lighthouse operated. The visitors always had a lunch here while enjoying the beach, some groups had team building activities. Before disembarked at the island, we stopped in the middle of the sea. It's the time for snorkling or feeding the fish from the boat. You could rent the snorkeling equipment. I was the only one who would go for snorkling, as my sisters and mom prefered to feed the fish from the boat. Try to wear the rental snorkeling mask I had difficulty to wear the pipe because the edge of the pipe to the mouth was designed vertically instead of horizontally, I didn't use to it. Lucky my sister brought her swimming google, so I could still enjoy the very beautiful underwater park. Our driver and one of the sailor were accompanying me. Many colorful fishes came because my sisters and mom kept feeding them, I could enjoy them eating around me.
The wave was quite high, after tired swimming around the boat, I boarded to the ship. With the wet swimsuit I put on my clothes. We went directly to the island where we could take a bath and visit the toilet, you had to pay IDR 2000/person for toilet while IDR 5000/person for bathing. We went to the beach with its big stones, taking some pictures with the lighthouse background. It's very hot, and we already felt hungry, so we decided to take lunch. If you ordered the food, they would grill the seafood in this island. The boat sailor would provide ground cloth to sit on the beach while having lunch. My sister was not feeling well, she got seasick when I was snorkling. If you're in the boat when the wave was high, you would get seasick easily. We ordered hot tea cost IDR 5000/glass, we had our lunch accompany with the popular fish cracker in the lighthouse's office building aisle. After having lunch and drinking the hot tea, my sister got better.
The next island was called "Pulau Burung" (Bird Island), as there was stone looked similar to the head of eagle. Our driver was kind enough to become our photographer, he took our pictures on the stone right in front of the bird stone. He brought us to the huts area where people could rent for staying overnight. Anyway it's very quite, I didn't see anyone stay there, it seemed abandon as it's rather smelly. He brought us to the wooden pier next to the biggest hut there, it's very beautiful, you could see the gradation color of the sea.
The last island was called "Pulau Babi / Kepayang" (Pig Island), formerly it's used by people to raise pig farm, not anymore now. To reach the other side of the beach we had to walk through small forest. It's quite far around half an hour walking. There was a small turtle conservation, which's trying to save turtle from extinction. We visited the conservation while we're waiting for our order at the small restaurant. It contains many babies turtle and some bigh turtles on the cement ponds. A small field was in the fence where the turtle eggs burried. Back to the restaurant we enjoyed our banana fried and fresh coconut, my sister was also ordered black coffee, they didn't have the milk for the coffee. In front of the restaurant was quite a beautiful beach where some boats disembarked there. The sand here was rather rough, it's not as soft as the other side where our boat's landed. The visitors could also stay in the island to enjoy the sunset or diving/snorkling. We're tired already, to go back to the boat we had to walk another half an hour to follow the same path in the forest. Walking back to the boat felt faster now, we still took some pictures on the beach.
Visit Belitung would be incomplete if you don't go by boat to reach the beautiful islands where the stones were amazing formed by God with its gradation color. If you would like more islands to visit, it's easy, just ask the boatman to stop by.
Read More ..
