Location : Desa Pulau Lemukutan, Kecamatan Sungai Raya Kepulauan, Kabupaten Bengkayang, Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia.
Just to wind up on our story on Capgomeh/Lemukutan in Singakwang, this segment is about our last day here in the island and extended trip to Pontianak. Sipping our coffee at the tiny ‘warong’ while waiting for the arrival of the boat to pick us up for the mainland.
We had to walk for about 15minutes to a rocky jetty to embark onto a tiny boat before being paddled to the fishing boat which could hardly hold more than 30 people.
But on that day, after doing its round of island hoping and picking up the local holiday makers, we ended up with more than 80! Without a single life jacket handed out and tossed by the choppy sea, we were just holding on to the hope that disaster would not happen. It is no surprise as in most third world countries there is no enforcement on the maximum capacity of each boat. Surely the owner of the boat made a killing that day but at the expense of the commuters’ safety. We hope the maritime department would step in before any major disaster happens like we have seen in Sarawak along the Rejang River during festive seasons.
Anyway, we thanked God we arrived safely. Nauseated otherwise OK. We bade farewell to our mates and new found friends in Lemukutan. Our van arranged earlier by our agent Youdhi was waiting at the jetty to drive us to Pontianak or Ponti as called by the locals and ‘Khuntien’ by the Chinese here. Another 3 hours to go and we shall be enjoying Gajah Mada’s street food by the Teociu (Teochiew) locals. Yum yum but a lot more expensive now.
When in Ponti one must visit the souvenir shops at Jalan Patimura. A bit of haggling and for less than USD3 one can get a very nice Tshirt. Anchovies, dried shrimps, tongkat ali, gaharu …….semi precious stones can all be found here.
To take the transborder and overnight bus ride to Kuching one has to take a taxi to the bus terminal at Ambawang which is about 30minutes drive away.
Tickets priced between (RM60-90) have to be prebooked and paid at the respective bus company’s office in Ponti. Some executive buses come with a toilet but beware of the ammonia stench. I had to tell the SJS bus driver to wash the toilet during the first stop. The bus departs at 9pm with 2 stops before arriving at the Entikong/Tebedu border at about 5am. Immigration office opens only at 6am (Indonesian time). With the long queue for the Indonesian line on the Sarawak side, be prepared to wait for at least 30 minutes before the bus can continue on to Kuching which would take another 2hours. Taxi fare from the Kuching bus terminal to the city will cost you another RM30.
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