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South Sumatra
Five big and mighty rivers plus a dozen major tributaries and thousand small streams drain an area of 103,688 sq km of South Sumatra, or the size of Ireland, a vast and sparsely populated province. At the capital of the province, Palembang, most of the larger rivers join the longest and broadest, the Musi River.
A thousand years ago, Palembang was the capital of the mighty maritime kingdom of Srivijaya, whose trading network covered Southern Thailand, the Malay Peninsula and the shores of Java. The town’s name probably derived from the Malay word limbang to pan for gold and Palembang’s early prosperity was probably founded on river gold.
According to ancient travelers accounts, the ruler’s palace contained a pool connected by a narrow canal to the Musi source of the king’s immense wealth. Every morning the threw bars of gold, which lay shimmering beneath the surface of the water.
Across the river in the early morning drifted the delicate scent of the incense from the monasteries of Palembang, where more than a thousand monks lived and studied Buddhist scriptures.
South Sumatra is the homeland of the Malay people and the cradle of Malay culture. The ancestor of all Malay rulers is believed to have descended from the heavens of Bukit Siguntang, a small hill to the north of Palembang. Another place called by the same name, Bukit Siguntang is also found by the village of Pariangan in the Minang Highlands in the province of West Sumatra.
Now devout Muslims, the Malays absorbed many Indian beliefs during the first millennium AD, deepening and enriching a native belief system, which included the veneration of natural objects such as rocks and trees, and a belief in the existence of spirits, which must be propitiated. Several 7th century inscriptions from Palembang are heavily Sanskrit zed and much of the ritual and special vocabulary used in later Islamic Malay courts is originated from India.
For more than three hundred years, from the late 7th to the early11th century Palembang was the most important center of trade in Southeast Asia. Then, as now, the city spread from many kilometers along the banks of the Musi.
Palembang is now a bustling industrial and communications center seldom visited by foreigners though at present trying hard to upgrade its image. With over a million inhabitants, Palembang is Sumatra’s second largest city, after Medan, and the sixth largest in Indonesia, after Semarang.
Its booming economy is based on coal mining, plantation agriculture, and oil refining and fertilizer production. Palembang straddles the 600m wide Musi River at a strategic point, just below the confluence of major tributaries providing access to the vast Sumatran hinterland.
The landmark of Palembang is its grandiose bridge. Jembatan Ampera built by the Japanese as war reparation by the order of the first president of the Republic, Soekarno, and inaugurated by him in 1964, at that time the longest bridge in Southeast Asia.
Running north from the bridge is Jl. Sudirman, Palembang’s main street, joining with Jl. Merdeka at a large round about in front of the Mesjid Agung or Grand Mosque built by Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin I in 1740, recently restored to compensate its former splendor. This area was the former capital of an Islamic kingdom, which warred periodically with the Dutch, until the last sultan Ahmad Janamudin surrendered and was exiled to Banda Neira, Maluku, in 1825.
A tour can be started from the Museum Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II, facing the Musi River just west of the northern end of the bridge. The museum building, with its imposing semi circular staircases, is a curious blend of colonial and traditional Malay architecture.
The rear of the museum is the new Art Market, consists of 13 miniature pavilions, where you can watch local craftsmen at work on delicate gold or silver songket (brocades) and intricate red and black laquer wares, a craft introduced to Palembang from China, perhaps as early as the Srivijayan period. Also produced here are finely woven baskets, tikar (mats), and seashell souvenirs.
Form the museum toward the river and turn right onto Jl Keraton through the old fruit market, where ladies in batik sarongs and headscarves sit amidst piles of bananas, melons and papayas.
About 500 m west of the museum is the old fort, Benteng Kuto Besak, surrounded by a 3 metre high, filthy Grey wall. Built by the sultan in 1797, it is now used by the army and entry is forbidden. From the front gates you can see the elegant old buildings high level talks between the local government and the Military is underway as to swap the fort with another plate for the military.
To experience the true flavor of Palembang, a trip along the river is almost a must. Head downriver past a group of houseboats lining the opposite bank just before Ampera Bridge. After the bridge, move over to the north bank to see the floating market known as Pasarl6llir. River activity peaks at about 11 am, but fortunately there are no traffic jams yet.
One km further downstream, on the left, is Palembang’s main harbor, Boom Baru. Two km further on is the massive, state owned Pusri Fertilizer Plant, the largest in Asia. Immediately past this is Pulau Kemaro a small, untidy island that hosts a large Buddhist temple and the grave of a Chinese marry the king of Srivijaya. When she arrived, boats were sent ashore with large ceramic pots. The king expected to find gold and jewels inside, but in the first one he found only preserved vegetables. This made him angry, and he ordered the pots thrown into the river. Seeing this, the princess jumped in too and drowned. But some of the other pots broke open, revealing that they were indeed full of gold. The princess was buried on this island, and the temple erected nearby is considered particularly efficacious in dispensing good fortune.
The new Museum of South Sumatra, 5 km north of town has a collection of mysterious megalithic statues from Pasemah, including a famous one, depicting an ancient warrior with a bronze drum stride an elephant. There is also a 130 year old rumah limas or traditional Palembang style house that was transferred to Jakarta’s Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, but there is still a fine display of ceremonial clothes, hunting, farming and fishing implements, and traditional coffee preparation.
Two other well preserved examples of rumah limas remain in Palembang – Rumah Hasim Ning (at Jl. Pulo, 24 Ilir) and Rumah Bayumi (off Jl. Mayor Ruslan) both still occupied. They can be visited if you make arrangements at the tourist office in back of the Sultan Mahmud Museum.
The first large town is Prabumulih , about 2 hours and 96 km from Palembang. This is an oil town and rail junction, and lies in the center of a pineapple growing area. If you are headed down to Danau Ranau, turn left (south) toward Baturaja. For Pasemah and Sumindo turn right for Muaraenim, a town 85 km west of Prabumulih.
The road west to Muaraenim brings you through dense oil palm groves and pretty villages, with roadside stalls selling pineapples, melons and papayas. After about 40 km you reach a turn off to the right for Pendopo, where the regions oil was first discovered in 1899. Today the wells in South Sumatra basin are the most productive in Indonesia.
Muaraenim is the next stop, a quiet town at the confluence of the Enim and Lematang rivers, a good place to stop over for the night, as it has a reasonable, air-conditioned hotel (Hotel Rene). The road forks again, and you turn to the right (west) for Lahat and Pagaralam, the left (south) for Baturaja. The nearby town of Tanjung Enim, 13 km south of here, is the site of Indonesia’s largest open cast coalmine.
The road to Muara Enim west to Lahat (43 km) is good, passing from the eastern plains into the foothills of the Bukit Barisan, with sweeping views of paddy fields and the winding Lematang River.
Stones are collected from the riverbed in tiny villages here to be sold to contractors. Coffee and rice are grown on the fertile hill sides and sun dried on rattan mats by the roadside. About 11 km before Lahat, stop by the river to admire the view of Mt. Serelo, an oval shaped peak topped by a narrow, finger like protrusion also known as Batu Tunjuk or Finger Hill. There is a path leading up from the village of Sukacinta, and this is a popular outing for local youths.
Lahat, a medium sized town, is the next stop, a road junction on the Trans-Sumatra Highway that is the jumping off point for visits to Pagaralam in the Pasemah region. The road up to Pagaralam is especially beautiful shortly after leaving Lahat, it climbs up to a plateau offering view down across the Lematang River, which winds its way through a valley at the foot of an almost vertical cliff face. Dramatic mountain vistas unfold after the village of Pulau Pinang with lofty ridges and peaks in all directions as far as the eye can see.
On your way back to Palembang or if you are heading southward to Lake Ranau or Lampung, you can make a scenic full day’s detour into the Sumindo Highlands a lush and extremely beautiful region accessed via a winding mountain road south of the main Lahat Pagaralam highway. This is scarcely populated, coffee growing region on tiny highland hamlets. Set off early and allow time for stops to take in the breathtaking scenery. Public transport is unreliable, so charter a minibus and pack a picnic lunch, as no restaurants are to be found along the way.
Turn south at Tanjung Tebat, about halfway (30 km) between Lahat and Pagaralam, just near the airpin bend. The road climbs gently from here to the village of Kota Agung, offering good views of Mt. Serelo to the east. At Kota Agung, turn left to Muaratiga (14 km), and then take the right fork in Muaratiga toward Pulau Panggung.
Past Muaratiga the road deteriorates, with potholes the size of bathtubs. Don’t be put off by this, because this is where the views start. Steep grades afford superb panoramas of mountain ridges and hillsides thick with durian trees, some 20 m tall.
Fresh durians here cost only 25 cents the same fruit in Jakarta costs ten times as much. Sculpted rice paddy greets you as you whiz round the bends, villagers laden with bundles of firewood strapped to their backs pass you on the road.
Continue on to Pulau Panggung, passing through dense rainforests one minute and emerging the next onto open, green carpets of mature rice waving gently in the breeze beneath rolling hills.
After Pulau Panggung, where shops sell drinks and provision, the road narrows and zigzags round sharp, blind bends. Small patches of forest are being cleared for coffee plantations here and coffee beans lie on large rattan mats. The 1.5 hour drive to Sugihwaras is simply spectacular.
About 2 km from Sugihwaras, the road descends steeply, keep an eye out to your right for the 80m high Tenang Waterfall, set against the mountain ridges. A new, 500m road leads into a parking lot and you then walk 1 km to a bamboo suspension bridge over the river another 500 m brings you to the crashing falls, the largest in the province. Back on the main road to Sugihwaras, you can turn left for Muaraenim and Palembang, or right towards Baturaja and Lake Ranau.
For most people, the highlight of any visit to South Sumatra’s western highlands is Lake Ranau a shimmering crater lake set in the ancient caldera of Mt. Seminung (1,340 m), an active volcano straddling the border with Lampung Province.
The lake is 16 km long and 9 km wide, and has a depth of 300 m. the climate in these highlands is deliciously cool, and the remote setting offers lush vegetation, crystal clear waters and delightful excursions to a nearby waterfall, a hot spring and an island in the lake. Although it is popular with locals on the weekends, the lake has not yet been developed for tourism and you thus have the feeling much of the time of having stumbled into your own ‘private paradise’.
Banding Agung on the northern shore is the main lakeside farming and fishing community, and has several clean, inexpensive losmen.
The people here are all farmers who raise cash crops like coffee, tobacco and cloves. Some rice is also grown, as well as succulent pineapples, bananas and avocados that are sold locally only 5 cents a kilo. The lake teems with fish, which are caught and charcoal grilled in small restaurants by the shore. In the early evening, local fishing canoes are reflected on the lake’s mirror like surface against a brilliant golden sunset, with the mountain silhouetted behind.
Kota Batu on the southeastern shore is Ranau’s other tiny town, but has no accommodations. Between these two towns lies Wisma Puri Ranau, a small state owned hotel.
There is plenty to do around the lake. A 15 minute walk from the Wisma Pusri through a patch of forest and past coffee groves and rice fields leads to Subik Waterfall a 25m cascade fucked into a gentle recess in the rocks by the edge of the lake.
Another excursion, this time across the lake by rented motorboat, will bring you to a hot spring at the foot of Mt. Semuning. The only evidence of the springs from the lake is a small stream of water trickling gown a gently sloping rock face. After the journey across the lake, a refreshing swims or paddles around the spot where the hot and cold waters mix is bliss.
Pulau Marisa, a small islet, across the Hot Springs, according to local legend, the island appeared one night as the failed solution to a love triangle. A pretty young princess named Putri Aisah had two suitors Si Pahit Lidah (‘Bitter Tongue’) and Si Mata Empat (Tour Eyes). To solve her dilemma, she promised to marry which ever of the two could manage to build a bridge across the lake, from the Hot Springs to Banding Agung, in a single night. The island was the only part of the bridge completed by the time the sun arose, so both suitors were rejected.
Two verdant islands, Bangka and Belitung, lying in the placid South China Sea to the east of Sumatra. Geologically they are more closely related to Malaya and Kalimantan (Borneo) than to Sumatra forming part of the older, non volcanic core of the Sunda Shelf. Recent by (2002) these two island have become one of the new established provinces of Indonesia.
Both islands are best known as tin islands, parts of a rich vein of tin are running from here up through the Malay Peninsula to southern Thailand, which has historically furnished much of the world’s supply of this versatile mineral. As in Malaya and Thailnd, the mines here were developed during the 18th and 19th centuries using contract coolie labor imported from China.
Bangka’s administrative capital and main port of entry is Pangkalpinang a bustling town of more than 100,000 on the island’s east coast.
Start at the post office here and walk south along Jl. Jenderal Sudirman to see the city. The mayor’s residence, the Town Square (now a playing field) and many houses date back to the colonial period when the Dutch mining company controlled the island’s economy.
A small museum belonging to PT. Tambang Timah, the state mining company, near its headquarters at the intersection of Jl. Jenderal A. Yani and Jl. Depati Amir, but is only sporadically open. The Chinese temple on Jl. Mayor Haji Muhidir is in the middle of the business district and was built in the 1830s, when the first mines opened in this part of the island. At that time the town area was a maze of digging sites.
Bangka’s best beaches are on the island’s northeastern shores. The main road to the area leads north of Pangkalpinang through Baturusa to Sungailiat and Blinyu, about two hours away by car. Many side roads to the right along the way end at lovely, white sandy coves.
Some 10 km north of Pangkal Pinang you enter Baturusa (DeerRock), and on the right is an early 19th century Chinese temple (klenteng), though it is sad to note here that it has been extensively renovated.
A few houses in this area are still built in the traditional manner, roofed with thatch and walled with bark, but most are of brick and cement. The lakes you pass are the flooded pits of open cut mines.
There is another temple in Sungailiat (‘ClayRiver’), 20 km north, with a bell dated 1864 that was a cast in Foshan, China, northern Fujian Province. In Pemali, just Past Sungailliat, are a hot spring and an open pit mine worked with heavy equipment.
Blinyu is another 50 km from Sungailiat, and here a small track to the left leads you to the village of Panji, site of a 200 year old Chinese temple.
The grave of its founder (dated 1795) a tin magnate named Bong Kiung Fu or Kapitan Bong once lay near the temple, but has been relocated inside the nearby ruins of benteng (fort) built in the 18th century.
Protection again frequent pirate raids. From a nearby stream, now silted up, a magical white crocodile is said to have ruled over the area. With a little urging, the old and nearly toothless caretaker at the fort will provide a story or two about the site.
Mentok on the west coast was Bangka’s original capital strategically facing across the Bangka Strait just opposite the mouth of Musi River, which leads up to Palembang. Mentok is said to have been founded by Chinese in laws of the Sultan of Palembang at the beginning of the 18th century, just as tin was being discovered here. Tin mining quickly took off, but the mines in the Muntok area gave out a century later, where upon mining activity shitted to the north and the east.
Mentok is about 120 km (3 hours by car) from Pangkal Pinang. In the town’s harbor across from the tin smelting plant stands an old lighthouse that guides vessels through the treacherous Bangka Strait. This and an old fortress at its base are said to have been built by the British during Raffles tenure in Java, between 1812-1817. During the Second World War, the Japanese used the fort to house Allied prisoners of war, many of which died here.
On nearby Mt. Menumbing (445 m), is the guesthouse where President Soekarno, Vice President Hatta and other nationalist leaders where housed after being captured by the Dutch toward the end of the revolution. The place was surrounded by a barbed wire fence until United Nations observers and journalists arrived and began focusing world attention on the plight of the hostages. The guest house is open to the public.
Form any centuries, Belitung’s rock studded coastline and offshore island with hundreds of tiny coves made it a perfect pirates nest.
Today, most visitors to Belitung come to laze on the island’s excellent beaches. The capital and main port of entry is Tanjung Pandan on the West Coast. Next to the tin company (PT. Timah) offices in the center of town is the house of the former kapitan or head of the Chinese community, Ho A Joen. Unfortunately, the building has been renovated, but the Ho family altar still stands inside the house.
Head south from here to the town’s Chinese quarter. Three Chinese mansions formerly lined the main street, but only one remains. It houses a small museum with family photos and antiques. The road continues from here past a bustling morning fish market down to the harbor, where Bugis sailing craft load pepper and kaolin from Java. Turn west (right) to the beach, this is where Tanjung Pandan’s best houses once stood overlooking the sea. The beach offers a splendid view of Kalmoa Island to the west, and the sunsets here are particularly lovely. On a hillside south of town is a benteng (fort) from which the Depati (native ruler) of Belitung directed his struggle against the Dutch. From the fort you have the view of the mouth of The Berutak River, teeming with crocodiles.
Belitung’s best beaches are on the northern shore facing the South China Sea – reached via a scenic road that hugs the coast north of the capital. At Tanjung Kelayang, 35 km from Tanjung Pandan, glistening white sand beaches are bordered by photogenic rock formations, and the water is as deep blue as the sky. From here you can walk 2 km east along the shore to Tanjung Tinggi past secluded coves with idyllic beaches where you can swim and sunbathe in absolute privacy. Bring along a picnic lunch.
Boats can be hired to a group of tiny offshore islands where more spectacular beaches await you. A lighthouse and a sea turtle hatchery are found on Langkuas, the island farthest from the shore. On the beaches or amongst the trees along the north shore, look for tiny black stones known as Billitonites it is said to be bits of fallen meteors.
Other good beaches are found at the south western tip on the island on Gembira Bay just south of Membalong, about 60 km from Tanjung Pandan. From here you can hire a boat 10 Mendanau Island, where pirates are said to have hidden their loot in caves fucked in amongst the coastal rock formations.
On the east coast of Belitung, Burung Mandi is another former pirate hang-out an attractive Chinese temple perches on a bluff overlooking the sea here and is dedicated to the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, Guan Yin, who is frequently supplicated for advice and assistance especially in the hopes of conceiving a son. The beach below the temple is not as white as some, but is a wonderful place to watch the sunrise.
Burung Mandi is 90 km east of Tanjung Pandan, north of the town of Manggar. Two roads connect Tanjung Pandan to Manggar, both passing up and over Mount Tajam the highest peak on the island, which has a refreshing spring, waterfall and lake at its summit. Also here is the holy grave of Datuk Gunung Tajam, who is said to have brought Islam to the island from aceh in the 16th century.
A thousand years ago, Palembang was the capital of the mighty maritime kingdom of Srivijaya, whose trading network covered Southern Thailand, the Malay Peninsula and the shores of Java. The town’s name probably derived from the Malay word limbang to pan for gold and Palembang’s early prosperity was probably founded on river gold.
According to ancient travelers accounts, the ruler’s palace contained a pool connected by a narrow canal to the Musi source of the king’s immense wealth. Every morning the threw bars of gold, which lay shimmering beneath the surface of the water.
Across the river in the early morning drifted the delicate scent of the incense from the monasteries of Palembang, where more than a thousand monks lived and studied Buddhist scriptures.
South Sumatra is the homeland of the Malay people and the cradle of Malay culture. The ancestor of all Malay rulers is believed to have descended from the heavens of Bukit Siguntang, a small hill to the north of Palembang. Another place called by the same name, Bukit Siguntang is also found by the village of Pariangan in the Minang Highlands in the province of West Sumatra.
Now devout Muslims, the Malays absorbed many Indian beliefs during the first millennium AD, deepening and enriching a native belief system, which included the veneration of natural objects such as rocks and trees, and a belief in the existence of spirits, which must be propitiated. Several 7th century inscriptions from Palembang are heavily Sanskrit zed and much of the ritual and special vocabulary used in later Islamic Malay courts is originated from India.
For more than three hundred years, from the late 7th to the early11th century Palembang was the most important center of trade in Southeast Asia. Then, as now, the city spread from many kilometers along the banks of the Musi.
Palembang is now a bustling industrial and communications center seldom visited by foreigners though at present trying hard to upgrade its image. With over a million inhabitants, Palembang is Sumatra’s second largest city, after Medan, and the sixth largest in Indonesia, after Semarang.
Its booming economy is based on coal mining, plantation agriculture, and oil refining and fertilizer production. Palembang straddles the 600m wide Musi River at a strategic point, just below the confluence of major tributaries providing access to the vast Sumatran hinterland.
The landmark of Palembang is its grandiose bridge. Jembatan Ampera built by the Japanese as war reparation by the order of the first president of the Republic, Soekarno, and inaugurated by him in 1964, at that time the longest bridge in Southeast Asia.
Running north from the bridge is Jl. Sudirman, Palembang’s main street, joining with Jl. Merdeka at a large round about in front of the Mesjid Agung or Grand Mosque built by Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin I in 1740, recently restored to compensate its former splendor. This area was the former capital of an Islamic kingdom, which warred periodically with the Dutch, until the last sultan Ahmad Janamudin surrendered and was exiled to Banda Neira, Maluku, in 1825.
A tour can be started from the Museum Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II, facing the Musi River just west of the northern end of the bridge. The museum building, with its imposing semi circular staircases, is a curious blend of colonial and traditional Malay architecture.
The rear of the museum is the new Art Market, consists of 13 miniature pavilions, where you can watch local craftsmen at work on delicate gold or silver songket (brocades) and intricate red and black laquer wares, a craft introduced to Palembang from China, perhaps as early as the Srivijayan period. Also produced here are finely woven baskets, tikar (mats), and seashell souvenirs.
Form the museum toward the river and turn right onto Jl Keraton through the old fruit market, where ladies in batik sarongs and headscarves sit amidst piles of bananas, melons and papayas.
About 500 m west of the museum is the old fort, Benteng Kuto Besak, surrounded by a 3 metre high, filthy Grey wall. Built by the sultan in 1797, it is now used by the army and entry is forbidden. From the front gates you can see the elegant old buildings high level talks between the local government and the Military is underway as to swap the fort with another plate for the military.
To experience the true flavor of Palembang, a trip along the river is almost a must. Head downriver past a group of houseboats lining the opposite bank just before Ampera Bridge. After the bridge, move over to the north bank to see the floating market known as Pasarl6llir. River activity peaks at about 11 am, but fortunately there are no traffic jams yet.
One km further downstream, on the left, is Palembang’s main harbor, Boom Baru. Two km further on is the massive, state owned Pusri Fertilizer Plant, the largest in Asia. Immediately past this is Pulau Kemaro a small, untidy island that hosts a large Buddhist temple and the grave of a Chinese marry the king of Srivijaya. When she arrived, boats were sent ashore with large ceramic pots. The king expected to find gold and jewels inside, but in the first one he found only preserved vegetables. This made him angry, and he ordered the pots thrown into the river. Seeing this, the princess jumped in too and drowned. But some of the other pots broke open, revealing that they were indeed full of gold. The princess was buried on this island, and the temple erected nearby is considered particularly efficacious in dispensing good fortune.
The new Museum of South Sumatra, 5 km north of town has a collection of mysterious megalithic statues from Pasemah, including a famous one, depicting an ancient warrior with a bronze drum stride an elephant. There is also a 130 year old rumah limas or traditional Palembang style house that was transferred to Jakarta’s Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, but there is still a fine display of ceremonial clothes, hunting, farming and fishing implements, and traditional coffee preparation.
Two other well preserved examples of rumah limas remain in Palembang – Rumah Hasim Ning (at Jl. Pulo, 24 Ilir) and Rumah Bayumi (off Jl. Mayor Ruslan) both still occupied. They can be visited if you make arrangements at the tourist office in back of the Sultan Mahmud Museum.
- SIDETRIPS FROM PALEMBANG
The first large town is Prabumulih , about 2 hours and 96 km from Palembang. This is an oil town and rail junction, and lies in the center of a pineapple growing area. If you are headed down to Danau Ranau, turn left (south) toward Baturaja. For Pasemah and Sumindo turn right for Muaraenim, a town 85 km west of Prabumulih.
The road west to Muaraenim brings you through dense oil palm groves and pretty villages, with roadside stalls selling pineapples, melons and papayas. After about 40 km you reach a turn off to the right for Pendopo, where the regions oil was first discovered in 1899. Today the wells in South Sumatra basin are the most productive in Indonesia.
Muaraenim is the next stop, a quiet town at the confluence of the Enim and Lematang rivers, a good place to stop over for the night, as it has a reasonable, air-conditioned hotel (Hotel Rene). The road forks again, and you turn to the right (west) for Lahat and Pagaralam, the left (south) for Baturaja. The nearby town of Tanjung Enim, 13 km south of here, is the site of Indonesia’s largest open cast coalmine.
The road to Muara Enim west to Lahat (43 km) is good, passing from the eastern plains into the foothills of the Bukit Barisan, with sweeping views of paddy fields and the winding Lematang River.
Stones are collected from the riverbed in tiny villages here to be sold to contractors. Coffee and rice are grown on the fertile hill sides and sun dried on rattan mats by the roadside. About 11 km before Lahat, stop by the river to admire the view of Mt. Serelo, an oval shaped peak topped by a narrow, finger like protrusion also known as Batu Tunjuk or Finger Hill. There is a path leading up from the village of Sukacinta, and this is a popular outing for local youths.
Lahat, a medium sized town, is the next stop, a road junction on the Trans-Sumatra Highway that is the jumping off point for visits to Pagaralam in the Pasemah region. The road up to Pagaralam is especially beautiful shortly after leaving Lahat, it climbs up to a plateau offering view down across the Lematang River, which winds its way through a valley at the foot of an almost vertical cliff face. Dramatic mountain vistas unfold after the village of Pulau Pinang with lofty ridges and peaks in all directions as far as the eye can see.
On your way back to Palembang or if you are heading southward to Lake Ranau or Lampung, you can make a scenic full day’s detour into the Sumindo Highlands a lush and extremely beautiful region accessed via a winding mountain road south of the main Lahat Pagaralam highway. This is scarcely populated, coffee growing region on tiny highland hamlets. Set off early and allow time for stops to take in the breathtaking scenery. Public transport is unreliable, so charter a minibus and pack a picnic lunch, as no restaurants are to be found along the way.
Turn south at Tanjung Tebat, about halfway (30 km) between Lahat and Pagaralam, just near the airpin bend. The road climbs gently from here to the village of Kota Agung, offering good views of Mt. Serelo to the east. At Kota Agung, turn left to Muaratiga (14 km), and then take the right fork in Muaratiga toward Pulau Panggung.
Past Muaratiga the road deteriorates, with potholes the size of bathtubs. Don’t be put off by this, because this is where the views start. Steep grades afford superb panoramas of mountain ridges and hillsides thick with durian trees, some 20 m tall.
Fresh durians here cost only 25 cents the same fruit in Jakarta costs ten times as much. Sculpted rice paddy greets you as you whiz round the bends, villagers laden with bundles of firewood strapped to their backs pass you on the road.
Continue on to Pulau Panggung, passing through dense rainforests one minute and emerging the next onto open, green carpets of mature rice waving gently in the breeze beneath rolling hills.
After Pulau Panggung, where shops sell drinks and provision, the road narrows and zigzags round sharp, blind bends. Small patches of forest are being cleared for coffee plantations here and coffee beans lie on large rattan mats. The 1.5 hour drive to Sugihwaras is simply spectacular.
About 2 km from Sugihwaras, the road descends steeply, keep an eye out to your right for the 80m high Tenang Waterfall, set against the mountain ridges. A new, 500m road leads into a parking lot and you then walk 1 km to a bamboo suspension bridge over the river another 500 m brings you to the crashing falls, the largest in the province. Back on the main road to Sugihwaras, you can turn left for Muaraenim and Palembang, or right towards Baturaja and Lake Ranau.
For most people, the highlight of any visit to South Sumatra’s western highlands is Lake Ranau a shimmering crater lake set in the ancient caldera of Mt. Seminung (1,340 m), an active volcano straddling the border with Lampung Province.
The lake is 16 km long and 9 km wide, and has a depth of 300 m. the climate in these highlands is deliciously cool, and the remote setting offers lush vegetation, crystal clear waters and delightful excursions to a nearby waterfall, a hot spring and an island in the lake. Although it is popular with locals on the weekends, the lake has not yet been developed for tourism and you thus have the feeling much of the time of having stumbled into your own ‘private paradise’.
Banding Agung on the northern shore is the main lakeside farming and fishing community, and has several clean, inexpensive losmen.
The people here are all farmers who raise cash crops like coffee, tobacco and cloves. Some rice is also grown, as well as succulent pineapples, bananas and avocados that are sold locally only 5 cents a kilo. The lake teems with fish, which are caught and charcoal grilled in small restaurants by the shore. In the early evening, local fishing canoes are reflected on the lake’s mirror like surface against a brilliant golden sunset, with the mountain silhouetted behind.
Kota Batu on the southeastern shore is Ranau’s other tiny town, but has no accommodations. Between these two towns lies Wisma Puri Ranau, a small state owned hotel.
There is plenty to do around the lake. A 15 minute walk from the Wisma Pusri through a patch of forest and past coffee groves and rice fields leads to Subik Waterfall a 25m cascade fucked into a gentle recess in the rocks by the edge of the lake.
Another excursion, this time across the lake by rented motorboat, will bring you to a hot spring at the foot of Mt. Semuning. The only evidence of the springs from the lake is a small stream of water trickling gown a gently sloping rock face. After the journey across the lake, a refreshing swims or paddles around the spot where the hot and cold waters mix is bliss.
Pulau Marisa, a small islet, across the Hot Springs, according to local legend, the island appeared one night as the failed solution to a love triangle. A pretty young princess named Putri Aisah had two suitors Si Pahit Lidah (‘Bitter Tongue’) and Si Mata Empat (Tour Eyes). To solve her dilemma, she promised to marry which ever of the two could manage to build a bridge across the lake, from the Hot Springs to Banding Agung, in a single night. The island was the only part of the bridge completed by the time the sun arose, so both suitors were rejected.
- BANGKA AND BELITUNG
Two verdant islands, Bangka and Belitung, lying in the placid South China Sea to the east of Sumatra. Geologically they are more closely related to Malaya and Kalimantan (Borneo) than to Sumatra forming part of the older, non volcanic core of the Sunda Shelf. Recent by (2002) these two island have become one of the new established provinces of Indonesia.Both islands are best known as tin islands, parts of a rich vein of tin are running from here up through the Malay Peninsula to southern Thailand, which has historically furnished much of the world’s supply of this versatile mineral. As in Malaya and Thailnd, the mines here were developed during the 18th and 19th centuries using contract coolie labor imported from China.
Bangka’s administrative capital and main port of entry is Pangkalpinang a bustling town of more than 100,000 on the island’s east coast.
Start at the post office here and walk south along Jl. Jenderal Sudirman to see the city. The mayor’s residence, the Town Square (now a playing field) and many houses date back to the colonial period when the Dutch mining company controlled the island’s economy.
A small museum belonging to PT. Tambang Timah, the state mining company, near its headquarters at the intersection of Jl. Jenderal A. Yani and Jl. Depati Amir, but is only sporadically open. The Chinese temple on Jl. Mayor Haji Muhidir is in the middle of the business district and was built in the 1830s, when the first mines opened in this part of the island. At that time the town area was a maze of digging sites.
Bangka’s best beaches are on the island’s northeastern shores. The main road to the area leads north of Pangkalpinang through Baturusa to Sungailiat and Blinyu, about two hours away by car. Many side roads to the right along the way end at lovely, white sandy coves.
Some 10 km north of Pangkal Pinang you enter Baturusa (DeerRock), and on the right is an early 19th century Chinese temple (klenteng), though it is sad to note here that it has been extensively renovated.
A few houses in this area are still built in the traditional manner, roofed with thatch and walled with bark, but most are of brick and cement. The lakes you pass are the flooded pits of open cut mines.
There is another temple in Sungailiat (‘ClayRiver’), 20 km north, with a bell dated 1864 that was a cast in Foshan, China, northern Fujian Province. In Pemali, just Past Sungailliat, are a hot spring and an open pit mine worked with heavy equipment.
Blinyu is another 50 km from Sungailiat, and here a small track to the left leads you to the village of Panji, site of a 200 year old Chinese temple.
The grave of its founder (dated 1795) a tin magnate named Bong Kiung Fu or Kapitan Bong once lay near the temple, but has been relocated inside the nearby ruins of benteng (fort) built in the 18th century.
Protection again frequent pirate raids. From a nearby stream, now silted up, a magical white crocodile is said to have ruled over the area. With a little urging, the old and nearly toothless caretaker at the fort will provide a story or two about the site.
Mentok on the west coast was Bangka’s original capital strategically facing across the Bangka Strait just opposite the mouth of Musi River, which leads up to Palembang. Mentok is said to have been founded by Chinese in laws of the Sultan of Palembang at the beginning of the 18th century, just as tin was being discovered here. Tin mining quickly took off, but the mines in the Muntok area gave out a century later, where upon mining activity shitted to the north and the east.
Mentok is about 120 km (3 hours by car) from Pangkal Pinang. In the town’s harbor across from the tin smelting plant stands an old lighthouse that guides vessels through the treacherous Bangka Strait. This and an old fortress at its base are said to have been built by the British during Raffles tenure in Java, between 1812-1817. During the Second World War, the Japanese used the fort to house Allied prisoners of war, many of which died here.
On nearby Mt. Menumbing (445 m), is the guesthouse where President Soekarno, Vice President Hatta and other nationalist leaders where housed after being captured by the Dutch toward the end of the revolution. The place was surrounded by a barbed wire fence until United Nations observers and journalists arrived and began focusing world attention on the plight of the hostages. The guest house is open to the public.
Form any centuries, Belitung’s rock studded coastline and offshore island with hundreds of tiny coves made it a perfect pirates nest.
Today, most visitors to Belitung come to laze on the island’s excellent beaches. The capital and main port of entry is Tanjung Pandan on the West Coast. Next to the tin company (PT. Timah) offices in the center of town is the house of the former kapitan or head of the Chinese community, Ho A Joen. Unfortunately, the building has been renovated, but the Ho family altar still stands inside the house.
Head south from here to the town’s Chinese quarter. Three Chinese mansions formerly lined the main street, but only one remains. It houses a small museum with family photos and antiques. The road continues from here past a bustling morning fish market down to the harbor, where Bugis sailing craft load pepper and kaolin from Java. Turn west (right) to the beach, this is where Tanjung Pandan’s best houses once stood overlooking the sea. The beach offers a splendid view of Kalmoa Island to the west, and the sunsets here are particularly lovely. On a hillside south of town is a benteng (fort) from which the Depati (native ruler) of Belitung directed his struggle against the Dutch. From the fort you have the view of the mouth of The Berutak River, teeming with crocodiles.
Belitung’s best beaches are on the northern shore facing the South China Sea – reached via a scenic road that hugs the coast north of the capital. At Tanjung Kelayang, 35 km from Tanjung Pandan, glistening white sand beaches are bordered by photogenic rock formations, and the water is as deep blue as the sky. From here you can walk 2 km east along the shore to Tanjung Tinggi past secluded coves with idyllic beaches where you can swim and sunbathe in absolute privacy. Bring along a picnic lunch.
Boats can be hired to a group of tiny offshore islands where more spectacular beaches await you. A lighthouse and a sea turtle hatchery are found on Langkuas, the island farthest from the shore. On the beaches or amongst the trees along the north shore, look for tiny black stones known as Billitonites it is said to be bits of fallen meteors.
Other good beaches are found at the south western tip on the island on Gembira Bay just south of Membalong, about 60 km from Tanjung Pandan. From here you can hire a boat 10 Mendanau Island, where pirates are said to have hidden their loot in caves fucked in amongst the coastal rock formations.
On the east coast of Belitung, Burung Mandi is another former pirate hang-out an attractive Chinese temple perches on a bluff overlooking the sea here and is dedicated to the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, Guan Yin, who is frequently supplicated for advice and assistance especially in the hopes of conceiving a son. The beach below the temple is not as white as some, but is a wonderful place to watch the sunrise.
Burung Mandi is 90 km east of Tanjung Pandan, north of the town of Manggar. Two roads connect Tanjung Pandan to Manggar, both passing up and over Mount Tajam the highest peak on the island, which has a refreshing spring, waterfall and lake at its summit. Also here is the holy grave of Datuk Gunung Tajam, who is said to have brought Islam to the island from aceh in the 16th century.