Mmmh, adventures.: Paradise (also known as Bangka Island)

The following account is based on actual events.

[Fade in; dramatic music swells.]
We open with the image of Palembang at dawn, still dark, caught in a torrential rain. A group of five English teachers wake up and get ready for a weekend of relaxation on Bangka Island, not far off the coast of Sumatra. A taxi arrives. The stars of this story make their way through the pouring rain, packed and ready to go.

Flash forward to Palembang’s Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport. The flight departed on time and took less than 30 minutes to land on Bangka Island. The airline served a “cheeky little sandwich” and there was heavy turbulence for 25 of those 30 minutes so we got to enjoy a flight that felt like a prolonged rollercoaster ride. Awesome – I love turbulence. The little girl in the seat in front of me did not enjoy it as much as the EF delegation though. She vomited a good half a liter over herself and her chair.

On Bangka, we were once again confronted with a massive downpour of rain. We feared the worst as we embarked on an hour long taxi ride that took us from the airport to a grocery store to a back-alley store – to purchase the necessary beers – to our accommodation. The accommodation, while over-priced and more than a little bit “ghetto”, certainly had its charm and was just a short walk from the beach. We settled in and made our way to it.

The beach was awesome and empty and clean and the weather cleared up nicely. We spent our days tanning, (which is like a cardinal sin here; when I told my students I would be tanning on the beach they looked at me with disgust, disbelief and other, similar, emotions), chatting, swimming, drinking, building bonfires, making and eating smores.

On Saturday, Nick and I went for a two-hour stroll along the beach and found amazing rock formations, interesting sea-life and so on. Later, following the directive of our Bonfire Führer Diane, we set out to gather wood and stashed it in a safe place. In the evening we went out to Eat ‘n Eat, a little square in the middle of the nearest town, along which some 25 food stalls were lined up. The food here was wonderful, cheap and plentiful. That’s like the best combination possible.

Our taxi driver, who had a strong preference for hard techno music, decorated his car with wonderful LED lighting and wanted us to meet his baby (“Nah, we’re good. Thanks though!”), took a shower while we ate and afterwards took us back to Ghetto Inn. There we gathered our supplies and once again made our way to the beach to start the bonfire. Imagine the light and the crackling of the fire in an otherwise pitch black night, the sound of the ocean in the background, beers and marshmallows in your hands and great company to go with all of that. It was as magical as a unicorn.

Naturally, we were all slightly hung over on Sunday but we didn’t have anything to do so who cares. Another wonderful, lazy day at the beach – oh, I almost forgot to mention how warm the water was! I guess it must have been close to 25 degrees which is like perfect – that ended with yet another bonfire while we ran out of beer too soon.

Monday morning? Back to reality, back to teaching.