Pulau Balat
Pulau Balat is a small island just off the coast of Pulau Kundur that can easily be reached via pompom. There are a lot of shaded, hilly single tracks that are really nice for cycling. Even better, there is absolutely no car in the island. It is quite easy to get lost - which I did - but it doesn' t really matter since the island is probably about the same size of Pulau Ubin in Singapore. I didn' t really manage to explore the whole island as I was rushing to get the last ferry back to Singapore which I ended up missing anyway. Will just have to go back.
Just love taking pompoms with my bike. Sit back, have a smoke and enjoy the ride. Missing a nice beer though...
Just love taking pompoms with my bike. Sit back, have a smoke and enjoy the ride. Missing a nice beer though...
Saw quite a few young kids going around the island with rifles, very common in Riau. I guess they were after some nice meat for dinner like the goat below.
4 comments:
Thks for sharing David! I'm interested to know which is yr fav island for riding? I've been to Kundur and love the quiet roads.
Al :)
Yes, Kundur is very nice, especially those unpaved tracks that cross the island between the main roads in the east and west. Lots of nice little sleepy Kampungs...
I think for riding so far my favourite is Pulau Singkep. Especially the road from Jago to Dabo is quite nice. There are very, very few cars (only a few around ferry arrival times) in Singkep so it is a very pleasant ride.
Still, the place I like best is probably Pulau Penuba (also known as Pulau Selayar) just 10mins pompom ride from Jago in Singkep. It is a really relaxing and beautiful place but in terms of cycling you have only half day' s worth.
I see in your blog you have been around Malaysia and Indonesia a lot. Any place to recommend?
cheers
Hi David,
It depends on what you are looking for. I rode Kota Baru down to Kuantan and enjoyed that ride. Flat as a pancake. Nice coastal roads and if you can take some time to visit the Perhentians or Redang, that wd be worth doing.
My downhill Cameron Hlands is also another exciting adventure. Cool to hot. Lots of hills. And can take the Jungle train home.
Singkep sounds really fun. May I know how to get there from Batam and how long/how much is the ferry pls?
I love beaches so Kuantan to KB sounds great. How did you get there with your bike? Did you manage to put it in the bus because you have a foldable?
To get to Singkep you must pass by Bintan (no connection from Batam). You can take the early ferry, I think at 9am, from Tanah Merah to Tanjung Pinang.
That connects well with the ferry to Jago in Singkep. If I remember well you will arrive in TP at around 10.00am (indon time) and the Singkep ferry leaves around 11.20am so you also have time for prata in town ;).
The domestic jetty is just beside the international one.
The Bintan-Singkep ferry at the time was about 60.000 INR one way.
There is no place to sleep in Jago that I know of, but you should definitely be able to make it the same day to Dabo where there are a few hotels/guesthouses. To go back to Bintan the ferry is early in the morning so I just slept in Penuba and got a pompom over to Jago at 7am.
BTW, I went one year ago so things might have changed...
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