Belitung is an island located east cost of of Sumatra and parts of newly established province Bangka Belitung. It was famous after a based-on-true-story novel Laskar Pelangi became a nationwide best seller and getting even more after the book adapted to a movie with the same title by Riri Riza and Mira Lesmana. And two months ago, end of October 11, i finally able to go there and saw the island with my own eyes.

Somehow Belitung reminded me of my village when I was little, in late 1990s, felt so nostalgic. There were plenty of open lands in the neighborhood, a blue mail box marked with “PKK” letters in front of every house, yeah its so 90s. The houses, the empty roads, the trees would release you from the stress accumulated after all the activity you had in big cities. No rush, no traffic, no hurry that’s what you will enjoy when you travel to the countryside.

Tanjung Penyabong

So, where should you go if you were in Belitung? Well, if you talk about Belitung its means beaches. Belitung is famous with its white and full of massive granite beaches all over the island. So did my trip, me and my group focused on beaches, we visited 5 beaches and done island hooping among little islands next to Belitung. We visited 3 beaches in the first day; Teluk Gembira, Teluk Penyabong and Manggar. Teluk Gembira and Teluk Penyabong are non-mainstream tourist destination in Belitung, but don’t be wrong, it indeed provide you a beautiful and eye pleasing scenery. Greenish and bluish sea, white beaches, blue sky and clear horizon. In Teluk Penyabong there were a granite formation that kind of like a head of a lizard, unfortunately I dont have the picture of it. Beach in Manggar was a homebase of nearby fishermen. There we spent our evening waiting for dusk and the fishermen to returned home with their catches. One thing you should do here is to try the fresh-out-of-the-sea fish barbeque, its super delicious, i can guarantee that for sure. After having dinner in the beach you might want to try local coffee shop in Manggar. Drinking coffee its a culture for Belitung people, hence there are coffee shop in almost every corner of the island. We did try it once in the way back to our homestay after a full beaches day.

Next day, our first destination was Pice dam located in Gantong, nothing special with this dam unless it’s mentioned in Laskar Pelangi novel (or the movie, cmiiw). After taking some pictures we went to a traditional market where A Kiong’s coffee shop was. A Kiong is a friend of Andrea Hirata the author of the novel and he is one of the main character in the novel. From my friends saying, the coffee did have a very great taste, I drank tea instead of coffe that morning though, because I tend to have a stomachache when I drink coffe in the morning and I got this kind of nausea since having chicken porridge for breakfast (yeah blame to it). Next destination is an old wooden school building which was used in the film making of Laskar Pelangi as SD Muhammadiah Gantong building. The building itself contains only 2 classroom and one room for the teachers room (maybe). Eventhough it is only a replica, its represent the hardness at the time when the story was taking place.

At the evening we reached our final destination for second day, Tanjung Tinggi beach. This beach has an awesome granite stone configuration. If you watched the movie you might remember the scene where Ikal and his friends playing in a beautiful rocky beach, it was Tanjung Tinggi beach. The stone configuration somehow make some gaps that allows you to walk between them. After watched the sunset and taking a group picture, having dinner and pray me and some others decide to just enjoy the night by the beach under a lovely star-full night (and doing some chit-chating and playing some card games also).

Waiting for sunset by novaldiflickr, on Flickr

In the following morning we headed to Tanjung Kelayang beach to start the island hooping agenda. There we prepare everything that we need to bring, live vests, fins and snorkeling goggles. After set sail you will see how beautiful the sea was, it was clear and greenish looking sea water and you can see the coral beneath it like crystal clear. Our first destination was Lengkuas Island. This island is famous of its 19-storey lighthouse built in 1882. Aside from the lighthouse this island itself was beautiful and I think it was the most beautiful island I ever been. Coconut trees by the sea, white sanded beach, some great granite stones in one side, perfect.

lengkuas island by novaldiflickr, on Flickr

In the afternoon we departed from the island and stop in the first snorkeling spot, and this was my first snorkeling experience and I think I’m addicted already. Unfortunately due to bad wheather we had to end our snorkeling only after 10 minutes or so. The rain poured hard while we trying to reach our second destination Burung (bird) island. It is called bird island because there is a stone formation that looks like a head of a bird near the island. Here we done another fun stuff, holi color, the war of colors. and the result was my white shirt became a picasso like painting. The next island was Babi (pig) island, I don’t quite understand why it is called Pig island, but the island is sure small, just maybe couple ten meters square. The last destination of the Island Hooping series was the second snorkeling spot. The snorkeling spot actually quite good for me, but the minus was there was no bright color fishes there, I hoped to find some clown fishes there actually, I guess I need to go to another place to find colorful coral and colorful coral fishes, Raja Ampat maybe..I hope so. Then our trip was near the end. After back to Tanjung Kelayang, one more thing you should do is having a young coconut fruit by the beach while watching the blue sea.

Next morning, monday, was the time to bid farewell to the island and prepare for yet another daily routines. The trip was sure an unforgettable experience, great places, great trips, awesome friends.

By the way this is my first here, hope you enjoy.. cheers