Oct 8-15
Hi All,
Well……not too much to report here at TG Kelayang. As we knew, the Rally has slowed way down…….not too many people are complaining (well, maybe a few) as it has been quite social, especially for the core Rally group (10-15 boats), and it has been a chance to catch your breath and do some of those nagging boat projects!!
So what should have been a 3-4 day stop for us turned into an 8 night stop…..yep, our choice…..we both were pooped from our pace and still recovering from the illness we had back in Kumai and on the passage. So, we had several snow days, several group Happy Hours/dinners at the local restaurants, a day walking around the small town and exploring some of the granite boulders, a day venture into the town of Tanjung Pandan, a boys scooter day, and one day of Rally events.
On the first day we went into Kelayang, a small tourist beach town, we were greeted by the locals, one of which used to be a guide with pretty good English and we were quickly taken to a pavilion where they were having a community celebration/lunch. They were having a local holiday and earlier had a ceremony honoring all the fisherman. Wow…..what a greeting…..super friendly, welcoming and soooooo gracious……and the food was delicious……AND totally spontaneous and unexpected……whoa!!!
Boulders: There are many granite boulders in the area……advertised as similar to Virgin Gorda in BVI’s…..well, much smaller than in BVI’s and not quite as impressive but still enjoyed viewing them!!!
We went into town…..Tanjung Pandan…..about 20 miles away…..we went with a French couple on sv Sirius. Meli was our taxi driver and such a delight……this was a day of errands…..the local market for fruits and veggies, several local mini-markets….but alas, no yogurt or cream, bakery where we did score some wheat bread, Telkomsel to topup the phone, a local coffee shop for Kongie coffee….a local favorite, actually quite good…..they get the beans from Sumatra which is ~150 nm west of here.
Another day Brett, Rudoph, sv Muck, and myself rented scooters for a day exploring the island. The island is too big to go all the way around so we went east for about 80k then came back through the central section to Tanjung Pandan. We were trying to find a rather large Hindu temple, but alas we settled for 2 smaller ones before it started to rain and we turned back….maybe 20-30k short of our goal. I was very surprised to see all the palm oil plantations……I should not have been after all the controversy. We saw many well built homes and small villages so obviously there is a strong economy here and lot’s of palm oil money. The island has had a lot of mining….mainly tin……but as that is declining the island is now promoting tourism…..they get a lot of people from Jakarta coming over for a long w/e…..it’s only 30 min by plane!!!
An act of kindness: When leaving one of the Hindu temples Brett’s chain broke on his scooter. So there were 3 boaters standing around wondering what to do when about 5 Indo guys come up and started working on the chain. One is a mechanic who has another link and the “tool” and quickly fixes the chain….but, he indicates the chain is too loose so we go a half block to his shop and he tightens the chain. Brett tries to pay the guy and he will not take any money, just wants us to have a good time!!!
Rally event: The morning event was full of speeches and some a ceremony around giving out souvenirs. In the afternoon there was a local band from Belitung but originally from Java so entertained us with Javanese Gamelan music, similar to Balinese music but slightly different!!
So there you go, time to move on Mystic. We are leaving on Sunday, 10/16 for a very long day trip to Ketawai, a small island west of Bangka…..about 85 nm away……we will speed up to ~8kts so about 10.5 hours…..yes, we will be leaving right at dawn and hope to get in late afternoon. We will spend the next day there and then do a 250nm overnighter to Nongsa marina on Batam where we hope to meet up with an old college roommate we have not seen in 40 years….yep, a small world!!
We received this email back from Wati after we sent her some pictures, the young woman in Kumai who organized our river tour and then we spent the day with. The words are so beautiful and very touching and it just seems to capture the spirit of these wonderful Indonesian people:
Thank you to send some of these pictures. I like it so much. I felt my smile was so bright because there were both of you there. Destiny brings us to met and contact like this. I have a dream to get a husband like mr.John, to be a wife like mrs.Cath,travelling together,spend time in whole life. I saw your life is perfect. Hope I can reach it.
Take care my lovely heart.
Enjoy your trip, full of joy and love.
God always bless you.
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
GO MYSTIC GO!!!1
PS: Pictures on the website: http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/Kelayang
