PENYENGAT ISLAND
PENYENGAT ISLAND
Your Guide to Vacation AMAZING INDONESIA ( holiday travel guide )
A small island situated across Tanjung Pinang, capital of the Riau
Islands Province, the island of Penyengat in the 18th century was the
twin-seat of the Sultan of the Johor-Riau Kingdom. Today, the Sultan’s
palace is being restored. It is an interesting blend of Javanese and
Dutch architecture, still imbued with an air of dignity, even though it
has been abandoned for more than 80 years. Here are tombs and crypts,
and a restored fort.
The pride of the island is the Sultan’s Mosque (shown on the left), the Mesjid Raya Sultan Riau Penyengat. Peeping through the palm trees like a fairy tale castle, it is still in use today. Rumour has it that a large part of the mosque was made of eggs, gifts from the Sultan’s loyal subjects on the occasion of his wedding. The egg-white proved to be a strong bonding agent. The mosque has excellent acoustics and even a whisper can carry right across the auditorium. Here is also the beautifully preserved handwritten and illustrated Quran of over 150 years old.
Around the island, descendants of the Riau royalty still live here in
modest stilt houses. Even today there is hardly any transport on the
island, and life goes on very much as it has for centuries. There are
good walkways on the island. A new cultural center holds performances of
Malay and local dances including Malay wedding ceremonies, the joget
dance, and demonstrations of pencak silat, the Indonesian martial art.
Nearby is the tomb of Raja Ali Haji
(shown on the right), author of the dictionary, grammar and history of
the Riau Malay language, which became the base for Bahasa Indonesia, the
present national language of the country.
Further down is the tomb of Engku Puteri
Permaisuri, queen of Sultan Mahmud. She was a Bugis Princess who
received the island of Penyengat as her dowry. She took power and
reigned here until her death in 1844.
The island's just a 1.5 km from Tanjung
Pinang. Speed boats are available to carry you to Penyengat from Tanjung
Pinang jetty, about US$1 per person. Or you can rent one for about US$7
to take a small group of people for a roundtrip.
If you depart from Singapore, there are
three ferry operators between Singapore's Tanah Merah ferry terminal and
Tanjung Pinang. The trip will take about two hours and a one-way ticket
cost around 35 Singaporean dollars. Make sure you already have a visa
or ask the ferry companies whether you can get a visa-on-arrival.
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