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| Bird's nest in the city of Pangkal Pinang, Bangka Island |
When you visit Pangkal Pinang, Bangka’s biggest city, you’re gonna find out buildings with more than 5-story in heights seemed like abandoned, but you know what, the old “ignored” buildings give the owners millions every month. It’s none other than from the bird’s nest they harvest. Ya, bird’s nest is one of the promising revenue booster in Pangkal Pinang and many people invest to rise the building just for them – the birds.
Bird’s nests are created by swiftlets using solidified saliva, which are harvested for human consumption. Kampung Bintang is one of the city areas well-known for its nesting houses. Here we can find out building for bird’s nesting. The owners will play bird’s sound to attract the birds to come and nest. Then they will harvest them every month. It costs from 7 - 15 million Rupiah (USD500 – 1,100) per kilogram.It's worth due to its high nutritional value and good for health. No surprise if people are willingly to build their nesting houses, some people from Jakarta, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong own the nesting houses.
Just so you know that Kampung Bintang is also popular for its culinary destination, especially with pork menus. As Bangka has significant numbers of Chinese descent population, the Chinese culture influences are easily identified in everyday life, and many festivals has become annual events here such as Chinese New Year, Ceng Beng, Mooncake Festival and more. This island is one of the places where Chinese, Malay and other groups of Indonesian citizen live in coexistent and harmony.