It was all started in the midst of June 2017. I decided to go to Bangka islands after done nothing to spend my semester days off in Bandar Lampung. My spontaneous self already packed my belongings to be brought to there, start from clothes, toiletries, raincoat and most important thing I put first which is a dozen pack of cigarettes. As a man who enjoys a roadtrip, this journey is going to be great as I'd imagined. In the next day, I started my journey at 5.30 AM before the traffic wake up. It was sunny that day, I already wanted to give up because burned out by the sun who wasn't mature enough but I keep going on. The trip is one of hell ride, I rode my motorbike through Lintas Timur Sumatera to Palembang before I continue to Tj. SiapiApi. Lintas Timur for years is known for a dangerous route for a biker or any road users day and night, while I did a roadtrip by myself without anyone accompanied me. My 7 hours-trip to Palembang with a motorbike is over, I arrive at my grandma's house in Sei. Lais at 13 PM.
It was already exhausting but my will still still pushing me on. In the next day, I started to continue my ride to Tanjung Siapi-api to catch 9 AM ship to Muntok, Bangka-Belitung islands early that morning. It was only 3 times cruise to Bangka islands in a day, I had to catch the first ship because I want don't want to arrive in the nighttime. My ship was quite boring, crowded with around 40 people including the ship crews. A 5-hours sailing was quite dull, no one to talk and there is no internet connection passing through a brown water river before reaching Bangka strait, I spend it on enjoying a coffee bought on the ship canteen and listening to my playlist on my phone. One thing that I know for sure, this ship was filled with lot of people who bet their lives working on Bangka. Yes, Bangka islands are the land of promising money as people know, probability is always high and dangerous.
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Iarrived at Muntok at 4PM, it was quite rain pouring that day. I spent my timein Muntok port, guarding myself from no mercy rain since I anchored to theport. Then, I continued my ride to Pangkal Pinang after the rain is over. Myroadtrip from Muntok to Pangkal Pinang was quite smooth, I only met one or two vehicle passing through my eyes. It was so lonely and quite, I could hear my on heartbeat although my bike exhaust is quite loud. I decided to stay in my father's house in Aer Itam, Pangkal Pinang who stay in his dorm unit.
My 1st day in Pangkal Pinang spent with my dad, accompany him to take care of business in the market early on the down after done several tasks in his unit in his military unit night before. He is a merchant of fish, well..not really a merchant but more like a broker of fish market. He bought boxes of fresh fish from the first hand and sell them with higher price to the third hand. Quite easy money for him. A man who do anything to make profits, that's him.
I've shock after found out the job that he's done to live up the family. It was the end of the core, in the next day, he asked me take him to Koba, Central Bangka. Along the way, we just had a conversation about our family while he left from Lampung, how was my study and how was his parents. I was afraid to ask where we were heading to, he just pointed the way I should take while I was behind the wheel of Mitshubishi Strada. I took us 2 hours after breaktrough strange roads in the jungle. I was skeptical at that time, this is not going to be a good business, my heart indeed told the truth.
