Still sticking to my plan to spend more time outdoor and spend less time in front of my laptop and mobile phone, last Sunday I dragged my family to join me to go to Batu Dinding Beach, a very beautiful beach in the northern part of Bangka Island recommended by my friend. When we first arrived, we were welcomed by a very mesmerizing landscape, everything seemed to be green green green while from a distance, we could see the spectacular view of the sea and Mount Maras in the opposite direction.
It was like an amazing painting of nature being displayed in front of you. I was speechless but felt pretty much excited after that. All I wanted to do was absorbing the fresh air, gathering all the good energy from the beauty of Mother Nature in front of me. A very friendly man guided us to park our car in the parking space near the entrance.
Then, he told us to ask for the owner's permission to visit the beach. I never thought it was a private property as my friend seemed to ignore the fact and did not inform me earlier. I felt a bit embarrassed and uncomfortable at the same time as I thought I had trespassed into other people's territory. However, such a feeling disappeared by the time I met Mr. Rivai, the owner of Batu Dinding, a very humble and wise man who gave us such a warm welcome.
He told us to look around and enjoy the view of Batu Dinding. After exchanging courtesy, we began to explore the place. For sure, it's very well-organized and well taken care of. Adding to that, it's pretty clean. I could not find any trash along the grassland. As a person who likes cleanliness, I was pretty impressed.
Based on Mr. Rivai's instruction, we went down the hilly area to see the huge rock called Batu Dinding. We were very surprised to have found such a spectacular view hidden behind a quiet place in Belinyu, a small town in Bangka Island that you could reach within a two-hour drive from the airport in Pangkalpinang.
After stepping down a narrow pathway, we could see the huge rock shaped like a giant wall on the left side that seemed to reach the sky and lines of rocks on the right side and the ones behind the huge rock. It was pretty amazing. It was such a very captivating view. The huge rock seemed to stand there to protect the people around during stormy weather.
It could also act as a shelter for people who left stranded by the beach (Nah, that's only in my imagination after watching too many movies and reading a lot of books). Seriously, we could play hide and seek around the huge rock and explore the place by walking around it from both ways. Then, we saw a beautiful spot which was another formation of rock you could sit on and look at the sea, Mount Maras and Punay Island, a very beautiful islet surrounded by lines of rocks and trees. All of a sudden, I found my peace. The world is so amazing, I should get outdoor more often.
To add to the magical scenery spanning around us, the sea gulls also gave us a very warm welcome. They were flying around making them inseparable from the beauty that the sparkling blue sea and the sky were offering. Fantastic, magnificent, wonderful, I could not utter a single word that could depict the stunning images in front of me.
What had I done that I missed all of these before? I strolled along the beach and enjoyed the soft golden sand. The waves gently lapped against the shore which made me unable to resist the temptation to dip my feet in the ripples. My heart melted all of a sudden. I silently thanked God the Almighty for such a gift that I could enjoy for free.
The most excellent part that I gained from my trip that day was when Mr. Rivai invited us to have a chat in his house. We sat on his front porch while enjoying the breathtaking view at the same time. I could see a durian tree on the left side of the house and a lot of coconut palm trees around. I guessed Mr. Rivai might have had the coconuts clipped in order not to let the visitors get injured as I could not find any coconuts in some of the trees. The more I talked to him the more I realized how selfish I had been all along.
I never liked sharing my stuff with others. Somehow, I felt like I wanted to dig a hole and hide myself. The proud father of six children shared some of the parts when he first tried to turn the wild area around that place to its current state. It took him years, yes years of perseverance. He's truly a fighter.
