Making My Way in The Thousand Islands
By
Muhammad Hafiizh Ramadhan
March, 17th 2018
Last holiday may be the most pleasant holiday I’ve ever had. Travelling in a group of my mother’s colleagues and their family, we departed from Syamsuddin Noor International Airport in the early morning then landed on Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Unlike most people did, we didn’t spend our time in The Historical City of Batavia. After we took all of the baggages to the bus, we went to Muara Angke Port, catching ferry that brought us to one of heaven in The Thousand Islands, Tidung Island.
Tidung Island is about a 3-hour ride away from Muara Angke, the port in North Jakarta via a slower, wooden boat or ferry. Tidung Island offers secluded beachs, starry nights, and amiable community. It’s only about 200 metre wide and 5 kilometre long, and is home to about 4000 inhabitants.
When I set my foot there for the first time, the feeling of home came into me. The slim width of the land gives Tidung Island an interestingly unique shape. A silver of an island, split by a single, small road with nothing to your left or right but beautiful stretches of sandy, white beaches, and clear blue waters surrounding the entire coast of the island.
The wind blew softly, I was worried about how will I explore this island. Fortunately, there are few Bicylce Rental spreaded on Tidung Island. So we take some of the bicycles and rode them to the lodging to have a break. In Tidung Island, you can put your rental bicycle anywhere, they won’t take it before your rental time over. We decided to go snorkelling in the afternoon because everybody was exhausted after sitting in the ferry. The rest of the break, I fell asleep.
Woke up in the afternoon, some of the entourage, including adults and childrens, ready for the ocean. We went to the port, took a boat, then went to the shore of the island. Tidung Island’s waters are quite shallow, and almost overgrown with coral reefs which are in excellent condition and are teeming with a colourful collection of tropical fish and exotic sea creatures.
Snorkeling finished, some of the entourage went back to the lodging, but the others headed straight for the beach and banana boats. Initially, I suggested to rest, but the call of nature made me miss the beach already. In Tidung Island, you can find unique transportation called “Bentor” , the combination of pedicab and motorcycle. This kind of mount is perfect to the environment of densely populated area of Tidung Island. I took a Bentor, went to the beach, fulfilling the nature’s call.
Finally at all, the beauty of the island is the second factors which involve my decision to make this became the most pleasant holiday. The main factors is that, the residents of this island are extremely tolerant to the tourist. How they speak, how they behave, and how they treat you, make Tidung Island is the best place to be visited ever.
