Time Travel: Billiton Island

I’m a gonna build myself a time machine // On particle physics and the power of steam // It runs on diesel oil and Donnie Darko daydreams...

Jan 2014 // I visited Billiton Island (or Pulau Belitung) for the very first time in my life. Its main town, Tanjung Pandan, is happened to be my mother's birthplace before she moved to Jakarta in her grade school days. Here's my impression of that particular place: everything felt so.... slow. 

Tick. 

Tock. 

It really felt like I time-traveled back to the past. I didn't see people rushes to catch a bus. I saw a man chopping woods making canoe. I didn't see any jamming traffic nor passing cars. I saw a postman riding his bicycle. I didn't see any hyped cafe with baristas and their coffee machines. I enjoyed a cup of traditional black coffee made in water pots and tinned kettles inside an old Waroeng Kopi, alongside with a glass of half-boiled egg. I didn't see people being busy with their gadgets. I saw a bunch of teenage girls playing with their inline skates on the street. I didn't see ignorance nor individualism. I saw sincere smiles and a handful of happy-go-round hellos. 

I guess I really went back to the years of fortunes. 

Mom, this is an open invitation to visit Billiton again in the future, just the two of us. I know you must be missing the place of your childhood. So, what say you? :)

I’m a gonna build myself a time machine
On particle physics and the power of steam
It runs on diesel oil and Donnie Darko daydreams...

All photos were taken by: good guy Anton Chandra from ID-Traveller. Edited by me.
Listen to: Frank Turner - Time Machine 


More from this journey? Read here.