Belitung Island Pt 2

Eating was a little more complicated to schedule on our weekend in Belitung because it was during Ramadhan. Most restaurants are closed until late afternoon as they prepare for customers wishing to break fast at sunset. However, our guide took care of us finding places which were open for breakfast the first day and for lunches on the other days.

We ate dinner one evening at the time for breaking fast for Muslims during Ramadhan. As a result, we were served a traditional Belitung breaking fast meal. It was brought to the table on a large serving plate called a bedulang. The meal included really tasty hot tea which I suspect had kunci orange juice in it. And probably lots of sugar. The breaking of the daily fast usually includes a large dose of sugars. The items served included: fish balls, tiny fried fish, green beans, clams, mollusks, fish & potato curry, rice, fried chicken pieces, water spinach and cucumber slices. Our guide excused herself so she could break fast with her family. Our driver delivered us to the restaurant, then left to break fast and pray. He returned before we were finished with our meal.

Later, we wanted a little something for dessert. Back at the hotel, we ordered an non-alcoholic Oreo drink to share. Yum!

We were able to visit the oldest and largest Buddhist monastery on Belitung—Dewi Kwan Im Goddess Temple. The Temple is more than 266 years old, uses a lot of Chinese decor and has a lot of stairs!

The Temple is famous for the number of folks who claim their wishes were granted after praying here. There are gardens included on the site.

I'm still fascinated at how gasoline is often sold here. While there are large gas stations, these little sub-stations are far more common and sell gasoline in plastic soda bottles. In the background is a shop of some kind. The little stand in the foreground is the "gas station."

I mentioned that the Bangka/Belitung Islands are famous for giant granite boulders, right?  Very interesting works of art courtesy of mother nature.Here are few more granite boulders.

Belitung Island Pt 3

We spent some time island hopping, snorkeling, and applying sunscreen repeatedly. We arrived at Kelayang Harbor on the northeast coast of Belitung.

Here I am with Bu Eksa. We brought our own snorkel masks but they provided life vests. The vests are not at all suitable for short-torso people. When I sat down, the vest reached partway up my face! Long torso owner B had no issue.

Our boat is right behind us in this shot. Named Kapal Kita it means "our boat."

Notice the hat change. Even with sunglasses, I needed to borrow B's rimmed hat. He managed with just the ball cap pretty well.

Notice the bamboo ladder-- pieces of bamboo lashed together. We had to climb in and out of the boat using this ladder. We put on our life vests, climbed the ladder and we were off!

This small sandbar is particularly popular during low tide. B enjoyed Palau Pasir as the island is actually named (palau= island). He couldn't wait to climb down our bamboo/rope ladder to investigate.

In the background you can see Palau Lengkuas (with lighthouse).

Getting closer to Palau Lengkuas.

On Palau Lengkuas.

The lighthouse was built by the Dutch in 1882. A couple of weeks prior to our visit the lighthouse was closed to tourists so we couldn't take in the view from high up. A caretaker was taking unacceptable fees for using the public restroom here. B comment: did we mention the boulders? Here are a few more!

A small monitor lizard is hiding in here--a camera-shy lizard!

An artsy shot.

Our underwater Fuji camera is still going strong. Some snorkeling photos.

Notice the coral growing project trays in this shot. Researchers grow the coral in this sort of contraption until they are large enough to get placed.

I'll mention just a few species:Needle-spined sea urchin, copperband butterflyfish, blue-green chromis, some damsels, eight-banded butterflyfish (Chaetodon octofasciatus), vermiculate angelfish (Chaetodontoplus mesoleucus), sergeant major, scissortail sergeant, some wrasses, several white fish with either a single black dot or 2 black dots. And here's a feather duster!

I am not sure what this creature is. It could be a small snowflake moral eel, or some sort of ribbon eel, or possibly a sharpsnout snake eel, or a sea snake of some kind. Wish we could have gotten a better photo. B comment: I think it is a sea snake though we have a split decision.

Here's B swimming in from a snorkel foray.

Forgive me while I step onto my soapbox. I know they are banking on tourism on this island but some things need to change to achieve success. There was a high level of trash on the beaches (proper waste handling is just not yet part of the culture here) and there are some steps they could take to better protect the reef so tourists can continue to appreciate it for a long time to come. Our guide brought bread along to throw out of the boat to lure some fish to the surface. I don't encourage this sort of thing. A guide brought me a shell from the bottom. I politely said thank you but as soon as I could I dropped it back over the side. Off the soapbox now.

Another interesting lunch was enjoyed at Palau Gede Kepayang.

In case you were wondering what the above sign says: Smart people throw trash in its place.

The restaurant here serves freshly caught and grilled fish. Again no options, lunch was just delivered. Correction. There was one option. Hot coffee or tea was included—with or without sugar.  I asked for hot coffee with milk. At first this seemed OK, but in a few minutes several people came back to our table to explain that if I wanted milk it was extra. Due to refrigeration costs? Don't know.

Loving all of the white sand on the islands!

Another stop on our island tour was Palau Batu Berlayer (sailing rock island). Giant granite boulders with  high vertical rock shapes appear to resemble sails on a boat or so they say. The sand plays the part of the boat under the sails. Hmmm. Regardless, I think we can all agree it was cool and GORGEOUS!

I think it was near here that we saw a small octopus hiding in the shadows between two boulders right at the water's edge. I tried to get a photo but my movement caused the octopus to hide. We also saw this sea star! The water was so clear here.