My latest journey has led me to Bintan, Indonesia once again. This time, it was a great success, unlike my 10 hours trip there last time. There were 8 of us that called the Shady Shack home for the weekend. We were: Simon, Christel, Daniel, Christian, Rasbus, Anders (all of them are from Denmark), Kerry, and myself. We got up early Friday morning and took the 9:30am ferry over to Ta Panang (spelling might be off). Anyways, it’s the capital of the island, so to speak. A nice man, who remembered Simon and Daniel, as they were there a few weeks ago, greeted us. They had arranged transportation for us to from the city to the Shady Shack, which was about an hour away.
We stopped at a local market to get a few snacks and things like that, and everything was SO cheap. First of all, the exchange is crazy. The currency they use is called Rupiah. About 10,000R is only $1.10 Canadian. Simon was the only one to take out money; I guess it is possible to be a millionaire at 21! Also, we picked up a package of Mentos, about 20 rolls in one box. It cost about $5Sing. Amazingly cheap, although they did say “For Sale in Indonesia Only” on them.
When we arrived at the Shacks, we got settled in and met the locals who owned/lived at the place. They are all really nice. Although, I must say, they drink and smoke a LOT. One guy, Smiley, got his nickname for just that. I am sure he was always high or drunk, but that’s the life they live.
Now, to briefly describe our hut, it was literally branches tied together with leaves. Thankfully there was netting over the bed, as there were tones of bugs. The pillow was like sleeping on a tire, not very comfortable, but it did the job. The bathroom was simple, and I do mean simple. There was a toilet (with no flusher), a water whole with a bucket to pour water into the toilet when you were done, and finally a very weak showerhead overtop of it all. Needless to say, we went back to the basics. Kerry, Christel, Simon and I stayed in the one hut, while the other boys slept in the two beside us.
Basically we spent the day on the beach, just hung out and went snorkeling. We had all of our meals in the little restaurant with home cooked meals. They were fabulous. At night we played some cards and then the locals built up a massive bonfire for us. We even had entertainment. Get this – Smiley drank gasoline and then spit it out onto a burning stick! He did this many times, obviously swallowing some of the gas. I don’t think he was feeling too well the next morning.
On Saturday we arranged for a boat to take us to a nearby island. We piled onto the boat; there were 12 of us. It had to be hand cranked to start and the driver steered with his feet. It was a little crazy. The island was beautiful though. No one lived there, although people often went fishing there. So we did some snorkeling and swimming. After another long day in the sun, we retuned ‘home’ to our huts to play some cards and have dinner, over candlelight (the electricity wasn’t working). That night we had another bonfire and Simon pulled out the guitar again. We sang, drank, and laughed (sounds cheesy, but it’s what happened).
The next morning wasn’t anything too exciting as we were all tired from the previous nights. We hung out, tried to do some reading, and then pack our stuff to leave. We got a ride back to the harbour to catch the ferry back to Singapore. Simon and I sat on the top of the boat outside, as the weather was really nice still. The girls sat below and caught a little sleep. Overall, I have to say it was the best weekend I have had here yet. It was relaxing and a good chance to get to know some of the Denmark people. They are gems!
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