Belitung, 28 - 30 May 2011

Disclaimer: For you who has never been to Belitung, I would like to apologize from the beginning if all the photos on this post make you want to go there :D

Tanjung Tinggi

Last weekend, I went to Belitung for 3 days. Unlike previous trip where I go to Phuket only with Nanda, this time I go with another 5 persons; Nanda, Dede, Anky, Ardi, and Novin. Turns out 6 persons going together (to Belitung in this case) is the perfect combination, on a cost basis. Why? Because 6 of us can still be accommodated by 1 car, 1 boat, 1 guide (role as driver as well in our case), and still comfortable (not too packed).
Well, lets take a look on our daily activities there.

Day 1: Arrived in Belitung, Tanjung Tinggi

Touchdown Belitung at 11 in the morning. Our flight was on schedule, depart at 10, and reached there even less than 50mins. I personally already prepare myself to tolerate around an hour delay. Nice, Sriwijaya!!

Hello, Belitung!!

After collecting our luggage, we go to hotel first, for check-in, keeping luggage there, changing clothes, etc. Then off we go for having lunch, at Tanjung Tinggi. It took us around one hour to reach there, as suddenly there was a huge rain along our way to Tanjung Tinggi. It was a so-so seafood restaurant, by the Tanjung Tinggi beach. The positive side, it's cheap. Yeaah!! :)

Full stomach..

Rain stopped by the time we finished eating. Then we are ready to explore Tanjung Tinggi!!
As we got there, one thing comes to my mind "ahh, THIS is Belitung!". Because, as we know Belitung is famous with its giant rocks. Every time you see picture of a beach, sea with many giant rocks all around them, I'd bet you could know right away that it is in Belitung. That's what I exactly felt at that moment, seeing those giant rocks, clean sands, clear water.
Don't get confused, you'll understand once you see these....

What is it behind these giant rocks?

Aha! We're getting closer, baby.

Beautiful... I love it!!

and this is what I called Belitung

and yeah, we put such effort to reach for a good spot

But it's all worth it...

This is what we called "GALAU"

She always busy making poses here and there, while the other is busy taking pictures of a nice spot

and this is like the 50th shots of us :p

No wonder why it looks so familiar. It's one of shooting location of "Laskar Pelangi".

 
We spent hours at Tanjung Tinggi. Taking pictures really didn't have limit. Became the models surely have the limit, though. After sunset, we go back to our hotel, for taking shower and get prepared for dinner.

Finished dinner, we go to snack shop buying "oleh-oleh". It was only small shop, selling mainly "kerupuk", and the quite famous from there I assumed "abon ikan".
Well, it's a wrap for the day, prepare for full day tour the next day!!

In case you wondered how it looks...

Day 2: Island Hopping

Leaving hotel around 8 am, we start the day by having the famous "Mie Belitung". The taste was quite good, the noodle comes with seafood inside, along with sweet brown "kuah".

Mie Belitung "ATEP", sponsored by XL? :D

Done with tummy business, now we're ready for today's program. It took us almost an hour to reach Tanjung Kelayang, the departure point. Reached there, our guide was getting prepared, loading all of our belongings to the boat, bringing food, soft drinks, etc. And what did we do along that time?

Free coconut, yippiee!!!

This is what our boat looks like. Not the white one, though.

We're going to hit 5 islands today. And as you can see, we're not using speed boat. But we're using fisherman boat. I can sense the smell of kerosene as the boat started. Once you're in the middle of the sea, all are paid off. Turquoise clear water, and very calm too. I really really love it!!

I'm all excited, I love it very much!

First stop: Pulau Batu Berlayar

Nice, isn't it?

Second stop: Pulau Pasir
As you could guess from its name, this island consists of "pasir" (sand). Silly, eh? Of course island must consists of sands. But, what makes it unique is: this island ONLY consists of sands. First time I heard about it, I lost interest. I thought we only would spend 10-15mins max at this island. But, once you see that with your own eyes, I'm sure you would change your mind right away. Just like me.

Birds flew away as we're coming.

Pure white soft sands!

And crystal clear water. I want to be here again.

As it was already past 12, we had to go to next spot, to have lunch first. And it's not like lunch already set up once we arrived there, but they will start cook our lunch once we arrived. Geez, we're starving already!!

Third stop: Lengkuas Island (Explore, Lunch, Snorkeling)
There are many people on this island. All local tour stop here for having lunch. It's below my expectation, though. I already thought that Lengkuas is the best island from the beginning. Yeah, blame it on the website. But turns out it was not really clean there. There were a lot of people having lunch there, it causes many garbage (food leftover), and many cats there. And, I HATE cats very much. OK, not only cats, but also other animals. Oh, and the famous old mercu suar is there too. But too bad we cannot go inside, because they just repainted it. Well, to be honest I am not that interested too.

The famous old Mercu suar

Well, quite nice..

No, it's not India. It's still in Belitung.

Snorkeling time!!

This is how it looks down there

Can you guess who they are?

 Fourth stop: Pulau Burung
Tired of snorkeling, I thought that I might not want to swim on this island. But, as we arrived there, we just cannot resist it. So, while the boys are busy taking pictures, the girls are swimming, and just playing in the water.

Come on, who can resist this?

Last stop: Pulau Babi Kecil
This is the last stop of our program today. We're spending time there until sunset. And I must tell you, it really is not easy to reach to the top where we sit. Maybe later they would put an elevator there? Well, it would be nice then. Haha, dream on.

Amazing!

One little thing happened here, though. So, my lovely BF suddenly go walking down the rocks, and swam. It was already past 6 pm if I'm not mistaken. He swam then climb the small rock, then just sat there. I think he was making the "galau" scene. Not for a long time, he came back to our place. Later he found out that his foot was hurt. And it wasn't like only small scar or something, but it's quite serious. Luckily, our local guide was already prepared with everything, so he took care of the injury. Turns out he was hurt by shell skin, that's on the bottom side of the rocks. Actually we've been told many times by our local guide, that we have to be careful with those shell skins, because they could cause serious injury, just like knife. But yeah, boyfie just don't care about it I guess. Lucky me he's not a whiny person though. I almost didn't know about what happened, so not a problem, right?

What is it on your mind, dear? Tell me! :D

Never ending photo session, fiuhhh

Then, we back to Tanjung Kelayang. I was quite afraid, because we're on the middle at the sea, and it was already dark, on fisherman boat!!! But everything is under control, the water also very calm so not that scary actually :p

Reached at the hotel around 8 p.m, and we had our dinner at the hotel. Our lovely guide brought us "pempek", cooked by his wife. For free!! How nice he is, right? Very tired but happy!!!

Day 3: Tanjung Tinggi, going back home

Start a little bit late from the hotel. As it is the last day, we don't want to rush, plus we need to pack our things as well. We go to old coffee shop in town. We had coffee and also "jajan pasar", there. It was damn cheap!!

No, we don't eat all of them, of course.

Ouch!

How's your foot, baby? :D

Prewed session

The girls, yeay!

It was very hot! And I cannot just see the clear water without getting inside of it. So, again me and Nanda wet ourselves in the water. We don't care that it means we have to take shower again at the hotel. The others were just taking pictures, sit, and did nothing.
As it was already past 12, we had our lunch at the restaurant there, then we back to hotel. Then we take shower, did the final packing, and ready to back home.

Well, that's the wrap of our Belitung trip. I really want to go back there again, as it's still not enough for me to enjoy those turquoise clear water. If any of you are interested in going there, I highly recommend my local guide to arrange the program and to accompany you there. He took care of us since we arrived, until we left Belitung. He is very helpful person, taking care of everything. We did get early check-in (around 11 am) and late check out from hotel (around 3pm). Also we didn't have to check in at the airport by ourselves.
You can contact him here:

Ito Tours and Travel

Contact: Ito

ito.belitung@yahoo.co.id

0812-7386-3003

Travel Expenses Information
Number of traveler : 6
Flight Jkt-Tj Pandan-Jkt : Sriwijaya (IDR 950000/pax)
Hotel : Grand Pelangi
Tour : Ito Tours and Travel (IDR 850000/pax)
---include: 2 nights stay at Grand Pelangi Hotel (1 room for 2 person), car hired from the day we arrived until we left Belitung (driver&gasoline), boat, 1x lunch on island tour, snorkeling equipment, soft drink and mineral water during island hopping.
Other expenses: IDR 350000/pax (tips, food, snack, oleh2, airport tax, etc)
Total: around IDR 2150000/pax




All pictures taken by: Novin, Nanda, and Anky

Love,
Ninta