Tell Your Friends

You just never know what it’s going to be like at any port we pull into. The little village of Tarempa on the Anambas Islands of Indonesia didn’t seem like much from the map, or what Internet searching could provide. If you like to snorkel there’s plenty of that around. If you like mosques and temples, you’ll enjoy your wanderings. You can even go out and see wildlife like monkeys and various birds.

But, for us to get to this little village, we had to tender in rather than pull alongside the dock; that tends to put a damper on exploration for Randy and me. We went anyway.

Oh, what a treat awaited us! The people were so incredibly warm and friendly. We learned later we were the first cruise ship to visit since Covid, and our timing happened to coincide with the 18th anniversary of Anambas Islands Regency. Regency? What I learned is that a Regency is a political zone, different from cities in that it typically covers larger, more rural geographic areas, whereas cities have higher population densities and non-agricultural economies.

Yet Tarempa, the seat of the Regency as it’s the largest city (about 14,000), doesn’t even have a Wikipedia entry. It is for sure a very hidden gem.

Hello!

With no exception in my three visits to town, everyone stopped what they were doing to say hello. Hello might be the only English word the person would know — asking them “how are you?” often brought a look of confusion and timidity to their faces, but that didn’t stop them from saying hello. Smiles and waving were also abundant from Odyssey residents. And some of the residents had people shove their children into their arms so they could get a group photo. Friendly people.

But now and then, their English was quite good.

It seemed motorcycles or scooters were owned and used by everyone, as we’ve found in many of these South China Sea islands. They are fast and efficient modes of transportation, and cooler than walking in this hot, humid climate. The efficiency of parking is another plus; you can park six in the space one small car would need. The streets would be untenable with many cars, yet are quite manageable with all the cycles. It’s easier to smile and wave at visitors from your cycle, too.

As obvious as the warmth and smiles, though, was the litter in the waterways and streets. We are used to seeing that in many parts of the world. Even pristine Singapore had some trash in its harbor. We commonly saw people intentionally throw trash into the water, not just absent-mindedly drop it where they were. That’s a detriment to visitors enjoying even exceedingly friendly locations like Tarempa.

Connections

When a couple of my friends went exploring and looking for a place to have a beer, which they found, they met a man who answered their question about getting a snorkel trip organized. He knew a guy who knew a guy, and that’s how I had the pleasure of going snorkeling with five friends. After a hard, back-jarring 30-minute boat ride away from the village, we came to a private island with pristine white beaches and coral reefs. That was a stark contrast to the trashy and noisy pier at the village.

This private island was home to a small resort of six cottages. I was amused, and a bit surprised, when the proprietor asked if we were from the Odyssey. In tourist areas adjacent to the docks, news of ship arrivals makes our presence obvious. But this island wasn’t near the village nor could it even see the Odyssey. His source of information was revealed when we found four ship residents, friends of ours, already there, having made the resort their home for three nights.

My friend and fellow resident Maura is a generous woman, a natural networker, and a helper. Her explorations in town on the first day sparked ideas for how she could help. She set about finding and donating art supplies for children. After the ship’s plaque ceremony — where the Regent and our Captain exchange plaques; tokens of appreciation (a lovely tradition and formal event we have enjoyed around the world) — Maura found herself in the position of helping the delegation maneuver about the ship.

Exploring

When Randy and I went to shore together, we walked around and enjoyed the sites: a 100-year old Buddhist temple; a covered, concrete tank of fish; a mosque with the call to prayers ringing out at that same corner; three monitor lizards (think 5- to 7-foot-long lizards!) crawling around and slipping into a small canal at a house with a side yard, just around the corner; banners, like we put on our high school floats, lined the main street with words of celebration for the Regency’s 18th anniversary: it was established in 2008. It was all very quaint and appealing. How can you not enjoy all those friendly people as they went about their daily lives?

Once back on the ship, we started hearing the Entertainment Manager announcing over the PA system news of the next day’s celebrations and events we were welcome to attend. Without knowing it, we were the guests of honor for the Regency’s anniversary celebrations. They had a special morning dance performance and an evening party of music, dancing, and local foods, all on the day I went snorkeling. Many of the people on the ship made it to the evening celebration, but most of us missed the morning festivities; I went snorkeling as planned. My exertion of getting to the snorkeling beach stole any interest in the evening party.

Some of the residents made it to Tarempa for the morning activities. Maura also likes to contribute to library-book collections. She stayed true to form in Tarempa. She networked her magic with the people she’d met the previous day and with some of the performers of the previous evening’s festivities. She was so excited about their celebration she reached out to the decision-makers onboard to get the performers invited to the ship the next day to perform their dances and music in a special show for the residents. The stories the dances told were special, and different from our usual cultural performances. The music was a surprising blend of modern and traditional. Electric guitars did some backup for more traditional drum work.

After the performance the group of about 40 performers was waiting in the Morning Light, our bar that acts as our living room, for the tenders to be ready to take them back to land. I took the opportunity to express my gratitude to the first two people I saw, a non-English speaking mother and daughter who were sitting across from the woman’s husband and his friend, who both speak English. One of the men asked me to tell my friends to come visit. I told him that indeed I would share my love of his village and island.

I also suggested the locals have more handcrafted items and local flavors in the shops so the tourists who come can take away more than smiles. I wish I’d encouraged the Regent to persuade the community to clean its streets and waterways. I proceeded to work my way through the room expressing gratitude to various people so I could return the smiles and warmth I had encountered up to that moment.

My Own Connections

After all this, I read an article by Stuart Green, an associate of mine who specializes in marine ecology and business. He talked about how a small Philippine community was shocked by a government mandate banning marine mammal hunting — their income source. Half of the fishing community shut down their hunting practice and turned to building ecotourism. They are now the leading institution in the region.

Contrasting the shock Covid had on Anambas to the shock the no-marine-mammal-hunting mandate had on the Philippine village was powerful to me. Sharing that story with the Regent could have planted the seed of ecotourism in Tarempa. Cleaning the waterways and streets, and creating an ecotourism culture, would be a great way to attract and show the tourists the natural beauty of Anambas. The cultural dancing and local crafts add charm to a beautiful location.

One More Visit

Randy and I returned on the last afternoon so I could show him the colorful shop-filled streets and alleys we’d missed before. The man who organized the snorkel trip for my friends was just closing his shop (4:00 p.m. is closing time for most shops on the island), so we had a chance to say hello. We saw houses and shops built on stilts over the water, fancy homes on the hill, and everything in between.

I also wanted to find an outfit like those worn by the local performers. I was told the Galleri was the place to get it. In our roaming, we treated ourselves to some iced coffee in the shade of a roadside café where we were treated to more friendly, shy hellos by children and grandparents alike. We walked a short distance toward the big mosque and the elevated bridge along the side of the mountain. The heat drove us back, though, and that’s when we found the Galleri!

The small shop was filled with half a dozen women and a man, and stocked with a variety of local crafts and clothing. I didn’t find the chiffon dresses I was adoring, but did find something else. I enjoyed being dressed — the whole shop took part in finding elements to contribute to my outfit. I came out 1.7 million rupiah (US$95) shy of when I went in — which necessitated a round-trip lift to the closest ATM on the back of one of the ladies’ motorbike. What a delightful day!

Since many of the ship’s crew are Indonesian, they were in their element. They are all happy and delightful people, and that shined extra brightly on the pier as we awaited the tender to return us to the Odyssey. They enjoyed the warm smiles and hellos, both in English and in Bahasa, as we residents did. Tarempa is a lovely little village to visit. Watching it come back from a Covid lull should be a treat for all.

As we waited for the tender to take us back to the ship, we sat and talked with Isky, a shopkeeper with his wife. He spoke great English. Randy asked him where he had learned such good English. “Youtube!” he said. When he learned that we both had channels, he insisted on subscribing to both, so Randy found them on his phone for him: This is True and my Speaker’s Corner channel for ship talks. That will give him plenty of English lessons!

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Kit Cassingham

Kit is the co-founder of Residential Cruising, and is best known as a longevity mindset coach at Live in Focused Energy. She and her husband, Randy, live full-time on the Residential Cruising ship Villa Vie Odyssey, where they are “Digital Nomads” — continuing their work while living aboard the ship.

• Tell Your Friends
• The Ethics Of Helping
• Polishing Up On History
• Health Emergencies while Residential Cruising
• One Year In: Life On The Odyssey