South East Asia 2010 – Page 17 – Not Your Average Engineer

December 14, 2010September 25, 2013

Taxi Ride to the Temple

On the way out of town to go visit an old temple, we stopped off at a petrol station for some fuel. There was a long line of motorbikes filling up with 2 stroke fuel.

The driver sits on the right hand side in this part of the world.

A small roadside stand.

Roadwork was signified by putting things in the road.

A roadside shop.

A roadside restaurant.

This little motorbike was carrying some very large homemade baskets.

An unfinished building on the outskirts of town.

A local gathering point for farmers to sell their produce.

A local market. It seems that just about everywhere we went on the island of Bintan had a market or store nearby.

December 14, 2010September 25, 2013

The previous day when we arrived in Tanjung Pinang, we negotiated with a local guide who spoke English to take us around for a visit through the region. His friend happened to be a cab driver and was thrown in as part of the bargain. After breakfast we found our guide and driver waiting for us outside. This taxi felt vaguely like the louages that I rode in across Tunisia.

A fishing boat motors past the overlook at the strange Hollywood-esque sign proclaiming our location to be Tanjung Pinang.

Steph walking behind the sign.

Another boat motors in the other direction.

Yet another boat going in yet another direction. I can’t imagine that these boats are particularly water-tight.

Welcome to fabulous Tanjung Pinang!

Our guide took a photo of Steph and me together at the overlook. You can’t tell it from this photo but it was already pretty hot and muggy. We still had several hours to go before lunch!

December 14, 2010March 28, 2013

An Indonesian View from the Hotel

In the morning we were greeted with a great view from our hotel room window. The street below was bustling with activity. Many children were being taken to school on motorbikes and in cars.

Across the road a few houses separated us from the sea.

There were many rusty tin roofs in all directions.

I took this picture for my friends and relatives who work in the power industry. The power drop to the hotel is not exactly up to western electrical safety standards.