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Very detailed travelogue on visiting the remotest inhabited islands in the world: Tristan da Cunha and St. Helena, as well as S. Africa, Malaysia and Singapore, and Indonesia. Very informative, full of tips, history, what it was like to visit and stay there, indexed by country. Visit my webpage for this and other downloadable travelogues: http://www.tcp.com/~lgreenf
These are fascinating islands. Tristan has only 238 people, all with same 7 last names.
Remotest Islands in World St Helena, Tristan da Cunha + S Africa Malaysia, More
Larry2006-05-27 03:40:04
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western style -- though many still had arabic
motifs. There were also plenty of homes built on stilts, and those by the
shore were often built right over the water itself. I don't know how
wealthy or poor the island is compared with the rest of the country, but the
homes here were all decent, with many being quite nice... some were tiled,
others had large TV satellite dishes... but even those not so fancy were
more than adequate. Most homes had laundry drying out on a line, and there
was always plenty of green -- everything from palm trees to durians. I
don't know what Penyenget's main economy is (I suspect most people who live
here have business on nearby Bintan), but it certainly is a quieter, nicer
place to live than Bintan, and I can understand why those who live here want
to.
Wandering around, I came to a large traditional Indonesian building off
by itself which looked as if it might be the local community center, though
I heard rock music coming from inside. At the shore, I saw how far out the
waves were breaking, and knew I had made the right decision in not going out
to Trikora Beach (for I had read that when the tide is low, it's pretty
disappointing). Interestingly, I noticed plenty of cats around town, but
saw only one dog.
Finally walking back to the pier, I sat down in the covered waiting area
to relax in the breeze while waiting for a boat to take me back to Bintan.
At first, I asked someone how much a boat to Senggarang would be, but the
answer was Rs20,000 (for a private boat, as no one else wanted to go there
directly). While waiting, I asked someone the time, noticing the guy's
watch appeared a few hours slow -- only it was my watch that was wrong (his
was indeed correct as I later realized), and thinking it was 2 hours later
than it really was, I decided to forget about Senggarang and head
...
See photographs from:
Indonesia Gallery
,
Malaysia Gallery
,
Saint Helena Gallery
,
Singapore Gallery
,
South Africa Gallery
