Experiencing Tidung

Chris and I went with two of our teacher friends to one of the "Pulau Seribu" [thousand islands] off the northern coast of Jakarta called Tidung. It was a two day/one night trip, and we were glad it wasn't much longer. We don't regret going, but wouldn't choose to go again. I'll do a little recap of our two days there. . .

Gabi, Maribelle, Me, Chris

Some shameless advertising for Experiencing Tidung from our "tour guide"  

[we were gonna hold that sign wether we wanted to or not!]

The thing about this trip, is that I could totally fool you based on the pictures I show. 

Exhibit 1:

Perfect vacation spot right?!

Now take a look at these. . .

Exhibit 2:

These pictures show the reality of the island. Pretty sad :[

The people of the village haven't been educated about cleanliness, and trash manages to float miles and miles of ocean from Jakarta and end up on their shores. All of our "nice" pictures are taken to the right or left of the trash. . .it was literally everywhere! 

The cool part of this island is that it's not made to look "islandish". The island life and scenery are completely unaltered by tourism.  The island has one main road that is about 8ft wide of hand-laid brick that sometimes stops and turns into a 3ft wide dirt path. There are no cars on the island -- just bicycles and small motorbikes. The island business is fishing. The whole island is about 3 miles long and 360 yards at it's widest part 

[I google mapped it --check out the red line]

The island is "famous" for Jembatan Cinta [Bridge of Love] which connects Tidung to "Small Tidung". It's a 2 kilometer wooden bridge that allows the islanders to access the other island for farming. Below, you can see [from google maps again] an aerial shot of the bridge. I also labeled the spot where we went snorkeling.

We rode bikes at 5:00 to watch the sunrise at the bridge. 

Sleepy eyes, and cloudy skies, but still a good time.

This is the main road I told you about. . .

Towards the end of our ride after the sun was up.

Chris and I went on another bike ride to explore. It was a great way to get around the island except for the fact that the bikes didn't fit us at all, and our butts are still bruised pretty bad. Even worse than after group ride at the Courthouse if you know what I mean! 

 On our ride, we caught a glimpse of this guy!

Nat. Geo material right before our eyes! He was originally on the ground but Chris went after him with the video camera and he ended up in this tree. Not sure what kind of lizard he was. . .but he was BIG!

In our search for a nice part of the beach to swim in [really hard to find a place with no trash] we stopped for some freshly cut coconuts! Look how many I polished off! 

Just kidding. . .

I was stuffed after one!

Dreaming of a White [sand] Christmas!

SNORKELING!

Still loving our waterproof camera! Chris took some INCREDIBLE pictures!

We experienced a lot on that tiny little island! I forgot to mention that the food was less than desirable. . .we were functioning on lots of white rice. However, we did get to try some excellent freshly caught fish. Wish I had a picture to show [it still had the head]. Chris and I both enjoyed it. 

We definitely didn't go expecting resort accommodations, but we were disappointed by the upkeep of the island. . not to mention all the damage that was done to the coral. . .simply due to being uneducated about the harmful affects humans can have on it [stepping on it, throwing down anchors, etc]. 

We wanted to experience true island culture that wasn't hampered by tourism, and we did just that! Therefore, we do not regret our decision to go on this trip, a trip lined with some amazing take aways that we will not forget.  However, beneath that lining were some aspects that we would not wish to experience again.  In the final hours of our last day, we found a good swimming place that was untainted by the trash that circled the island.  As we floated above the white sand dotted with small clumps of coral and fish, it was extremely peaceful, and a reminder to us of what God intended these islands to be.  There was no trash, no sound or sign of man.  Just beauty. The sea breeze played with the palm leaves and harmonized with the lapping waves to create a symphony that could only have been directed by the same hands that lifted the island out of the sea.  It seemed to be played just for us, and knowing the intimacy our Creator desires with each one of us, we have no doubt that it was.  

~ Chris and Katie ~