Entry 5 - Island hopping in Indonesia...on a bike

One of the really interesting things in the Riau Islands is the "Orang Laut" or "Sea People". They are people whose lives are fishing, only instead of living on the mainland and hauling their butts out to the ocean every morning in a fishing boat, they've just decided to make the whole process a lot more efficient by actually living out on the ocean. There are literally thousands of these little thatched roof shacks supported on stilts out in the middle of the seas around the islands of Indonesia. The shack sits about 15ft above the surface of the water (depending on the
tide) and they make funnel shaped nets below the water. No electricity. Any fresh water they have comes from the rain. I suppose somebody must come out and see them in a boat to collect the fish they catch, and bring supplies for them. Entire families, supported for years on a few thin bamboo poles holding them perched above the churning ocean.

Now take that vision one step further. Imagine that, like all other developing towns, people start building in the same area so that they can 'go next door for sugar'. What develops is a village on stilts. What develops is Pancur. An entire town, houses, restaurants, pool halls, and school houses sitting on stilts, connected by a boardwalk, hugging the edge of the forever infringing mangroves. Right down the center of town runs the river crisscrossed with arching wooden bridges. Not a whole lot of Ang-Mo tourists make it in to Pancur, so I received quite a welcoming landing when Ricky, Reno and I pulled in to the pier.

One of the first to help me carry my bike up the ladder to the 2meters above sea level that Pancur sits perched at, was Lego. Yes, that is really his name, even pronounced the same. Lego works on the "Baran Express" Ferry back to Tanjong Pinang, and is one of the friendliest guys you'll meet in the entire country. We sat for hours over coffee and dictionaries talking about each others lives and lifestyles. He invited me to sleep onboard the ferry where they had a spare mat for me. After an incredible, exciting, but long day of cycling, bargaining, sampans, and river-rides I was exhausted, and quickly drifted off to sleep on the gently rocking boat for a few
hours...until the 6am wake up bell to get the boat ready for the next day's ferry runs.