Bangka
The Tin Island Two Centuries Of Mining That Drew In The Chinese Labour Which Made This Among The Most Chinese Provinces In Indonesia, And Left The Landscape Full Of Flooded Pits · Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung
TIN HAS BEEN MINED ON BANGKA SINCE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, and everything about the island follows from it. THE MINES DREW IN ENORMOUS NUMBERS OF CHINESE LABOURERS, mostly Hakka, and BANGKA BELITUNG HAS AMONG THE LARGEST CHINESE POPULATION SHARES OF ANY INDONESIAN PROVINCE - which shows in the temples, the cemeteries, the food and the fact that Chinese New Year here is a serious public occasion. THE LANDSCAPE SHOWS IT TOO. Inland is pocked with KOLONG, flooded former pits, some turquoise from dissolved minerals and photographed as though they were lakes. AND THE MINING HAS NOT STOPPED: unregulated small-scale operations including OFFSHORE SUCTION DREDGING have done real damage to reefs and beaches, which is an argument the province is still having. THE GRANITE BOULDER COASTS ARE LIKE BELITUNG'S NEXT DOOR and get a fraction of the visitors, because Belitung has the novel and the film and Bangka has the tin.
Bangka Island, Bangka Belitung Islands, Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung, Indonesia
BANGKA HAS FREQUENT FLIGHTS FROM JAKARTA into PANGKALPINANG, about an hour, plus ferries from Palembang and a connection to Belitung - it is among the easier Indonesian islands to reach. THERE IS NO GATE AND NO ADMISSION: the beaches at SUNGAILIAT, PARAI TENGGIRI and TANJUNG PESONA are open with small parking charges. THE CHINESE TEMPLES keep their own hours and are busiest around CHINESE NEW YEAR AND CAP GO MEH, when the island fills. THE KOLONG - flooded tin pits - are on open ground and are NOT SAFE TO SWIM IN: they are deep, steep-sided and in places contaminated by mining residue. A CAR IS NEEDED; the island is large and the good beaches are spread along the north-east coast. It is hot and humid year-round.