Pulau Senggarang

After spending several hours on Pulau Penyengat, I left for the main island, Pulau Bintan. I only planned on staying in Indonesia for one day, and I wasn't ready to head back to Singapore yet. There was another island I had heard about called Senggarang. To get there I had to take another little wooden boat, but this time I was the only passenger! I paid a boatman to take me to the island and wait for me while I explored.

Pulau Senggarang is completely different from Pulau Penyengat. The docks at this island are located at Chinatown, a really colorful neighborhood built on stilts over the water. As I walked along the quiet and nearly empty boardwalks, I looked into the open red-painted houses. Nearly all of them had some sort of family or Taoist shrine in the front room. There are two main attractions of interest on this island. The first is Vihara Dharma Sansa, a nearly 300 year-old Buddhist temple.

I was amazed by the lack of people and how quiet it was on this island. It was so different from the crowds and noise of the main island, Bintan.

A short walk up a hill brought me to the temple's main Buddha image.

The other attraction on the island is the Banyan Tree Temple. In the main village on Senggarang, there is an old house that once belonged to a Chinese man who lived there in the early 19th century. The house isn't particularly special, except for the banyan tree which has grown over it.

Banyan trees are sacred in Buddhism, and sometime in the last two hundred years, the little house came to be seen as a sacred spot. It now houses a small shrine.

It was late afternoon, and I was about ready to head back to Singapore. I took one last walk along the boardwalks of the little seaside village to where my boatman was waiting for me.

the village on stilts

my boatman preparing to leave

I took my ticket to the ferry terminal to board the 4:30 boat back to Singapore. When I tried to board my boat however, I was informed that the ticket wasn't good for several weeks and that I should have pre-arranged a boarding pass. Then they told me that the boat was completely full and that there was no room for me. It was getting late, and I started to panic. I didn't want to get stranded in Indonesia overnight. First I went to the office of my original ferry company. They were unhelpful. At this point I was approached by an Indonesian ticket scalper named Eddie who would both completely irritate me and ultimately save me.

He took me to another ticket office to get a boarding pass at the normal price for 6:00 on the last boat of the day. I ended up selling my old ticket to him for a quarter of the original price, but at least I would be able to leave. He offered to take me around the island for some shopping, but I was in no mood for that. I was mad about having to pay for two tickets to get home. I went through customs and hung out at the port's duty free shop as I enjoyed a cold drink and some cookies on a harbor-front balcony. 

Sindo 6 to my rescue

After a stressful afternoon I enjoyed the chance to relax. Ultimately my Indonesian adventure was a good one, and if not for the ticket issue I wouldn't have had any problems at all. As I watched the sun set over the Straits of Singapore I thought about how I had almost not come to Indonesia, and how it turned out to be a good experience for me. Exhausted, I returned to Singapore after dark and slept very well that night.

goodbye, Indonesia