Posted 6 hours ago6 hr comment_12053 Bengkulu is the capital of Bengkulu province on the west coast of Sumatra Island. The city was a British outpost for nearly two centuries, though the colonial remnants are not as well preserved as the famous Straits cities. I visited Bengkulu after going from Palambang to Lubuk Linggau by train. Instead of backtracking on the same line, I got a shared taxi from Lubuk Linggau over the mountains to Bengkulu. These are the main sites of Bengkulu. Fort Marlborough Fort Marlborough is the main attraction of Bengkulu. The fort is surprisingly well preserved considering how little remains from this era in the rest of the city. The fort is the second largest of the East India Company forts in Southeast Asia (after Fort Cornwallis in Penang). Inside the fort the gardens and walkways are immaculately manicured. The main problem with the fort is the information for the artefacts is only in Indonesian. The lack of thought for tourism promotion was a recurring theme for this visit to Bengkulu. [We are talking about you, not to you.] Chinatown / Old Town Bengkulu has a Chinatown (Pecinan in Indonesian), which also doubles as the old town. This is marked by one of the most elaborate Chinatown arches I’ve seen in Southeast Asia. The Chinatown is next to the fort, and it has the best collection of old buildings in the city. Some of the historic buildings are wooden, making them even more remarkable that they have survived this far. There are some cool shops in this area. Kedai TEMPOE DOELOE is a cafe that has refurbished an old shophouse on the main street. Sometimes all it takes is for one cafe to lead by example for other businesses to follow. There is also a ramen shop that has brightened up an old shophouse. I saw some old street lights that would look great if there were more of them around the old town area. Some of the streets of the old town area are desolate and the buildings are decaying. You know an urban area is failing when they allow old buildings to be converted into birdnest farms. The farms play screeching bird noises on loudspeakers to attract the swiftlets to the modified houses. I walked around the rest of the city looking for old remnants. One clue that this is an old city were these magnificent row of trees that have been severely pruned. British Cemetery Whenever I am in a former colonial city I always visit the old cemeteries. The British Cemetery is still maintained and not overgrown (as the cemetery in Penang had once become before being landscaped again). This grave from the 1700’s has the traditional use of skull and crossbones, before being more associated with poison and piracy. Beaches of Bengkulu There is a beach next to the old town area, but its more of a fishing beach and not useful to walk along or swim. The best stretch of beach is about 1 km from the old town, starting with Berkas Beach. The road along the beach has no sidewalk or beach promenade, so it’s not a pleasant walk. The city could turn Bengkulu into an attractive beach destination if they got the basics right with a beach walk. Further along the coast is Panjang Beach (Pantai Panjang). Panjang is the main beach of Bengkulu. I went in the middle of the day so it was hard to tell how popular it was because only westerners go to the beach at midday. There was some high-tide trash, but overall the beach was kept in good condition. There was more activity in the trees next to the beach. Like the road with no beach promenade, this area could have also used a landscaped walking area. There are some hotels and resorts along the beach area. The beach area feels like a resort town that has seen it heyday. All of the hotels are old, and I walked by a resort with a burnt-out bungalow. Opposite Panjang Beach is Bencoolen Mall. This was the liveliest area I saw anywhere in Bengkulu. Bengkulu notes The British used Bengkulu as a port for shipping pepper, but most shipping in this part of the world is in the Malacca Strait. The British would end up leaving Bengkulu for Malacca, and the city went into a slow and steady decline. If Bengkulu was on the Straits side of the island it would be a famous trading port with more visitors. Bengkulu is hard to get to as it’s not on the way to anywhere by road. The mountains stop the train from Palembang from advancing to the coast, so there will not be a stop on the Trans-Sumatra Railway here.. There is an airport, but it’s not a destination you would go out of your way to visit. It’s a shame because the city could scrub up nicely if there was more effort in preserving the old town area. They should also make the beach a more prominent destination. I can’t help but compare the beach cities of Vietnam that have great seaside promenades. This is not something that Indonesia seems interested in doing. Instead of trying to make 10 New Balis, they should make incremental improvements on as many cities as possible. Make pleasant walkable beaches, and then investors would be more interested in building better beach hotels and lively places to visit. This was my last stop in Sumatra for this trip. I got a flight from Bengkulu to Jakarta to start my Java trip. View the full article
