Our New year trip to Bintan, Indonesia ( Day 2).

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Day 2 at BINTAN: Our plan for the day was to visit local areas in and around Tanjung pinang.
1) Avalokitesvara Graha Temple ( Guan Yin Temple): The main Deity of the temple is a 16.8 m Gold Plated Tall Chinese Goddess (Guan Yin)– this is considered the tallest deity in Southeast Asia. Guan Yin is the Goddess of mercy according to the Chinese. On both side of the main deity there is a display of Chinese gods and goddess .
Given are below is glimpse of Avalokitesvara Graha Temple ( Guan Yin Temple):

There is mass plantation of dragon fruit right in front of the temple.

4) Vihara Ksitigarbha Bodhisatva Temple ( 500 Lohan Temple):
At the Entrance there is a huge Bodhisatva Deity welcoming us.

The main attraction of this temple is the 500 Arhats. Arhat is a Sanskrit Word which means ‘Erudite Scholar’.Vihara Ksitigarbha Bodhisatva Temple is a Buddhist Temple. In the Language Pali too Arhat means the same.
Note: Different Religion has its own Sacred Language/ Liturgical Language. For Buddhism it is Pali.Pali is an ancient language derived from the Indian Language Prakrit which in turn is derived from Sanskrit. Hence , the similarity of words such as Arhat in both Sanskrit and Pali.

5) Senggarang Village: A village rich in Chinese history. One of the most eminent Chinese Village in Bintan. This Village has a collection of ancient Chinese temples. The locals believe it be a former settlement of ethnic Chinese immigrants.Not far from the Senggarang Port you can see Sun te kong Temple. It is three temple built adjacent to each other .The first in the row is called Sun Te Kong Temple.

The entrance wall is decorated with the 12 chinese zodiac animals as shown below:

• Sun Te Kong Temple: This temple was built 300 years ago. According to the locals this temple has been in existence since the residence of Chinese immigrants in Senggarang .The deity of this temple is the Chinese god of Fire and devotees come here to pray for happiness.

• Marco Temple: This temple lies in-between Sun Te Kong Temple and the Tay Ti Kong Temple (which is at the extreme end of the row of three temples).The deity of this temple according to Chinese is Sea God Called Marco , who protects them while sailing in the sea. This is an 17th century temple and it hasn’t been renovated much since 1987 only the interior works have been modified since then.

• Tay Ti Kong Temple: The third and final temple in the row is called Tay Ti Kong Temple. God of Earth is the deity in this temple. People pray here for good harvest and prosperity.

All the three temples are well maintained even today. Rich in Chinese traditions it gives us a glimpse of their traditions rituals . Devotees pray by burning incense sticks and placing it in a tray full of ashes in front of the deity.
There are few other huge Sculptures placed behind the temple:

6) There is yet another famous temple in the Rustic Village of Senggarang and that is the Banyan Tree Temple: Banyan Tree Temple is also called as Tien Shang Miao. This temple was built about 200 years ago. The ancient temple over the years has become a great attraction as the banyan tree growing beside the temple , instead of destroying the building with it has grown over the building in such a way that it looks as if the whole building is inside the tree. Hence the name the banyan tree temple. It is an ancient temple where people pray and come to relax under the shade of the tree.

Places that are worth visiting that we couldn’t visit due to rain.
1)Trikora Beach and White Sand Island:
Though we couldn’t go to these beaches we still had fun trip to Bintan. These  beaches are known to be pristine and extremely beautiful.There are also beach huts available for rent in case you decide to stay .
Few things to consider before planning the trip:

• Language is a problem when you travel to Bintan since most locals speak only Bahasa Indonesia and English speaking locals are scarce. To travel in and around Bintan we had hired a Car and a driver ( who could communicate in English)to take us to different places in Bintan. This was helpful since there isn’t much of public transport facility for us ( Tourists) however if you can speak Bahasa you need not worry at all since you have local taxis available which you get at a much cheaper rates. There is always an option for hiring vehicles to ourselves for a day as well.
• In most of the temples here , devotees pray by burning incense sticks.You can hardly find shops outside the temples selling temple offerings etc.I liked the custom followed here. According to their custom it is upto each individual as to what is to be offered .You can decide an amount of money offer it in the donation box ,pick up a few incense sticks  and place the incense sticks after lighting them in a container filled with Ashes that is kept right in front of the deity.
• The first thing we looked for in Bintan is to find a book in English with all their rich history and culture, but we couldn’t find any. You could check out these Blogs for more interesting facts about Bintan .I loved the way they have written their blogs ,hope you’ll enjoy reading as well:

www.aboutbintan.com
Blog by Bittenbythetravelbug
In short this is definitely a place worth visiting.There is so much more than  a lengthy blog can cover.Pack your bags and  go visit the place in person.Travel and learn more about it😎.
By: Aswathi Ashok.