Afternoon and Evening in Tanjung Pinang Along the Coastal Road


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After finding a reasonable hotel not far from downtown Tanjung Pinang, we wandered down to the sea road.  In the evenings, the place is more hopping.  This time of day not much goes on.  The extremely safe-looking trampoline with attached aerial bungee cords appeared to be fun.
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A few people were sitting along the promenade but most seemed to be waiting out the afternoon heat and humidity.

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Interesting little carts that were selling snacks.

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Not much going on now but later in the evening there will be!

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More small stalls getting setup for the evening.

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A few people were sitting out in plastic chairs enjoying the afternoon.

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An interesting “goldfish” pond in a strange little children’s amusement park.

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An odd train ride.  Considering how it was powered, I can’t imagine it was very safe to step on both rails at once.

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An inflatable play structure with a mismatch of Disney characters (some poorly illustrated) and other random characters that I’m not familiar with.

 

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What an odd little amusement park!

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A glorious monument to Raja Haji Fisabillah who died during the the Battle of Malacca versus the Dutch in 1784.  He was a Malayan king who had his castle not far from the city.  I think that there is supposed to be a statue at the top of the monument that is presently missing.


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Looking down onto some of the little stands selling interesting foods.

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Boats coming into port for the night.

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Another view of the monument.

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Walking down the middle of the road with his cart.  I’m glad that I didn’t have to drive here.

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We thought these guys might be high school students or maybe young military recruits out for a run.

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Another booth with interesting food.

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A random sculpture of seals emerging from the water.

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We sat down at some tables by a booth for a while and had a snack.

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The local Marine Corps.  Perhaps this is where the running gentlemen were from.

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The sun starting to get lower behind the tropical clouds.

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The military police barracks.

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In the old central commerce district.  It was too dark to get very many good pictures in here.

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Older buildings in the downtown business core.

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Market stalls selling fresh meat.

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Motorbikes, bicycles, and all other forms of transportation whizzing by.

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Wow!  Take some vitamins and get JACKED!

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Snacks for the evening rush.

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An interesting mural showing some famous battle.

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The sun setting in the west over Singapore.

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We went to a padang restaurant for dinner.  It is very similar to a dim sum place.  We didn’t speak any of the local languages and the people running the restaurant didn’t speak any English, Cantonese, Arabic, French, German, or Spanish.  We walked into the restaurant and were shown to a table.  After a while, they started bringing out food.  I’m still not really sure how the price structure worked but the food was good and inexpensive!

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Steph with the food vendors in the background on the way back to our hotel.

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The vendors are all out after dark when it is cooler and more people are wandering around.

Ferry to Indonesia

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Steph and I jumped on a ferry from Singapore bound for Tanjung Pinang on the island of Bintan in Indonesia.  We elected to sit up top as the weather wasn’t too bad and the passenger cabin below was very stuffy.

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Big cargo vessels anchored in the Singapore Straight.  This one was unloading cargo with its big cranes onto a smaller freighter.  In most of the world, cargo is containerized (like on the ship in the background) but here some smaller tramp freighters can still be found.

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Singapore is barely visible through the haze on the right.  Our small ferry dodged many large commercial ships on the way to Indonesia.


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A couple ships tied up together with a smaller tender ship alongside.  I believe these two ships were bulk liquid carriers.  Perhaps petroleum products?
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As we passed from Singapore-controlled waters to Indonesia-controlled waters, one of the crewmen came up from below deck to take down Red Ensign of Singapore and raised the Indonesian flag.  I was a bit surprised by this but evidently this is normal.

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A big container ship plying the Singapore Strait.

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We kept a wide berth from this ship.  It is a liquefied petroleum gas transport.  Based upon the way the ship was riding in the water, it was probably empty.  Still, it is best not to tempt fate with ships carrying huge amounts of explosive cargo.

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A small regional ship with a few cargo containers and self loading-unloading cranes.

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A little fishing boat far away from the shore.  The fisherman has to be mighty brave to be this far out and in the shipping channel.

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A small shack on stilts next to a fish trap.

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The house on stilts with more fish traps behind it.  A fire at an oil refinery is visible in the background on the left.  It seems that many of the things that are too dirty to do in Singapore get pushed over to Indonesia.

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A local fishing boat motoring to somewhere.

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A large mosque on a hill.

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Coming into Tanjung Pinang.

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The Hollywood-style sign on the hill makes sure that everyone coming into the port knows where they are.

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A little island across the harbor.  We were told many people live there and commute to town by boat.  This is similar to what people did in the cays around the island of Utila off the Honduras mainland.

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The ferry terminal comes into view.

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A local fuel boat.  Something tells me that this isn’t up to international standards.

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The interior of the boat.  I think that Steph and I were the only non-locals aboard.

 

Singapore Daydream

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After a few hours nap at the hostel, Steph and I hit the steamy Singapore streets.  It amazes me that there are even cars allowed in Singapore considering how small the country is and how many people live there.

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All of the tall apartment buildings everywhere make you feel like you’re in a concrete forest.

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The noon downpour started right on schedule.  We took refuge under an awning for a few minutes until the deluge slackened.  It seems that everyone plans their day here around when the rain will come.

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An older section of town with nice two story row houses.

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An elaborate temple.

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Four languages just to cover all of the bases.

IMG_4859This graffiti reminds me a bit of the graffiti that I saw in Rome.