The East And North of Kalimantan, Part 5: Tarakan

On Day 6, we did a day trip to Tarakan by taking the 1-hour-15-minute speedboat ride from Tanjung Selor port. But before that, we went to coffee shop Warung Kopi Aliong, or also known as Kopi Ria, and a bit of shopping at the Pasar Induk (main market). 

At first, we thought that we would just have breakfast at the hotel and then went to the port. But the breakfast menu turned out to be worsening from day to day, so we rushed to the coffee shop. The hotel's breakfast menu was not exactly awfully-tasted, it's just there's something off.

Kopi Aliong or Kopi Ria is a third-generation coffee shop in Tanjung Selor, Bulungan, North Kalimantan. Aliong, the owner, inherited the coffee shop from his grandfather, who opened it since 1979.

I got the information about this coffee shop from my former boss, whom I introduced to Wda prior to our departure. He said that he used to hang out in the coffee shop before the pandemic and advised us to go there to see the real local activity.

The coffee shop opens in the morning, around 07.30-ish am to around noon, targeting people going to work (on weekdays) and families (on weekends) as its customers. The interior is semi outdoor and quite spacious with seating arrangements for 4-6 people on each table.

 

 

Just like in East Kalimantan, it seems mantau or pau is the signature dish here. So I ordered pau ayam (white bun with chicken filling) and a cup of black coffee with no sugar. The waiter looked so shocked upon hearing the 'black coffee no sugar' and even offered,"How about having corn sugar on the side?" I thought there was a new kind of sugar, but he actually meant the diabetic sugar Tropicana Slim. LOL.

Meanwhile, Wda ordered the mie kuah + telur (noodle with soup + egg). Before the dishes was brought to our desk, we had a joke that her order could be just Indomie, and...*drum rolls*...it was! After seeing my order and sampling my pau, Wda regretted her decision and placed another order for the pau. Double LOL.

After the coffee, we went to the Pasar Induk to scout for souvenir. I told Wda that I usually went to traditional market to see what the locals eat and cook for the souvenir when traveling to remote areas that are not yet fully developed for tourism. As usual, I went with the salted fish and shrimp paste duo.

Terasi Berau, we can buy it in grams

 

 Some of the salted fish products available in the market

I bought those at this shop

 

Then we had a quick stroll in the market and took some photos just for fun. It was nice to do things outside of work.

 The name is meritam, it looks (and tastes) like the wild-cousin of rambutan.

 This must be the largest lengkuas I have ever seen. I wonder if everything in Kalimantan is bigger than in other islands.

 

The Dayak people usually come to market and sell the forest products. You can spot them through their caping hat.

 

There are several souvenir shops in the market that look like this. However, the items sold here are pricey and take bigger space in the luggage than, let's just say, salted fish.

 

I thought about buying one of these, just like when I went to Sumba. But it's just too much hassle when traveling by air. Perhaps next time.

 

From the market, we went to the port, bought ticket and sat at the waiting area. There are many speedboat company and they arrange to have at least one speedboat departing every 15-20 minutes. So if one company's speedboat already leave, just ask the other company's speedboat schedule. Tanjung Selor-Tarakan is around 1 hour 15-20 minutes, and the last speedboat would leave at around 3.30 pm, if I am not mistaken.

 

Let's go!

 

There are not much of a view during our speedboat trip. Since the weather was nice, the trip was quite smooth. During the Tanjung Selor-Tarakan trip, the only on-board entertainment was music. But on the way back to Tanjung Selor, we got to see a movie, which I don't know the title, but it's a gangster kind of movie.

When we landed in Tarakan, we were approached by a group of rental drivers. They offered us to take around for the day with a fee of Rp 250,000. At first, we just wanted to take in Tarakan leisurely and thought about using online rental car. I tried to separate ourselves from them by saying we already had a driver and then went to the toilet. I did need to go to the toilet. But one of them still waited on us even after the toilet run, and he looked desperately needing the day trip, so we decided to give him a chance.

Our first visit was the Tarakan Mangrove and Proboscis Monkey Conservation Area. Located in the heart of Tarakan city, the 21-hectare conservation area was first established in 2003. It is now home to several dozens of proboscis monkeys, and several types of mangroves, such as Avicennia sp, Sonneratia sp and Bruguiera sp. I saw other monkey species in the area, but I could not identify them.

Yeay, we could finally take off our masks. I also took off my eyeglasses for fear they were being snatched by the monkeys.

The map of the area.

 

We happened to come at feeding time. As the proboscis monkeys were going down to take the food, many people gathered around, so we put on our masks back.

The proboscis monkeys' main diet is the mangrove leaves. They will stay as long as the mangroves are thriving. So the banana provided by the management during the feeding time was only for snacks. There are two feeding times, in the morning and in the afternoon. We got there at around noon, if I was not mistaken. Ticket is only Rp 2,000 and according to our driver, we could use the ticket for the whole day.

Without further ado, here are some videos on the area. 

Trivia: Did you know that proboscis monkeys can swim? This ability is a unusual trait that is special to proboscis monkeys and not seen in other monkey species.

Our faces clearly said it: we were thrilled to spend time in this area.

 

Since it was already noon, we went for lunch at Warung Teras restaurant, as per our driver's suggestion. He said that President Jokowi ate here when he visited Tarakan. Since we had yet to browse anything for lunch, we followed his suggestion.

 

I could sense from this giant signage that the foods would be pricey

 

I knew it!

 

Our lunch spread

 

We later had a brief tour around Tarakan to see the facilities, the government offices, and the little oil pumps that are still working. Unlike the sleepy, slow-paced Tanjung Selor, Tarakan has fully developed even as a small island. In my previous post, I mentioned the total population of North Kalimantan was at around 600,000 people. Of the number, 250,000 are living in Tarakan.

 

Trivia: In 1896, the Dutch colonial government found oil reserves and built facilities for drilling. They even brought in workers from Java island due to rising activities on oil drilling in this island. It is amazing to see that until now, the oil pumps are still working.

Wda wanted to see the airport, but our driver said that it took 20 minutes drive from the place we were at the moment. It meant we would need 40 minutes for the round trip to see the airport and then we still had to rush to port to catch the last speedboat. I asked if it was closer to Warung Kopi Aseng/Indra than to airport and he said the coffee shop was only 5-10 minutes away, so we went there instead. This coffee shop is actually on the same road as the restaurant we had lunch at.

The coffee shop was established in 1949 and still maintain its look. There are three seating areas: in the front, in the middle and in the back. Since the front area was already full, we moved forward and found an empty seat in the middle area. There were several young men, sipping coffee, smoking and chatting. One of them has tattoos in his arm. It felt like stepping into a tiger's den, LOL.

This pau display is a wonderful welcome view when you step into Warung Kopi Aseng/Indra

 

We both had black coffee, but in different temperature :D
 

Since we had around 30 minutes, we chose to only have coffees and sipped those quickly. Wda was excited to see many pau option in Warung Kopi Aseng/Indra. She bought two pau, chocolate and chicken, for snack later. When she ate them at our hotel in Tanjung Selor, she regretted that she didn't buy more. No worries, Wda, it just means we should come here again :).

Once we touched down in Tanjung Selor, we went to a local clinic to take antigen test, and alhamdulillah our results came out negative. For our last night in Tanjung Selor, we had lai and durian, because where else could we get lai and a Rp 30,000-priced durian? :D

 

Till we meet again, North Kalimantan!

 

On Day 7, we flew back home! Our flight to Jakarta required a 5-hour transit at East Kalimantan. But since we were already tired, we stayed in the airport, had a cup of coffee at Gloria Jeans Coffee and...*drum rolls*... opened our laptops :D.

 

When we arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, we were shocked to see so many passengers at the luggage pick up area. We've been so used to the sparse population in East and North Kalimantan and it just felt at ease to be there during the pandemic. We added another layer to our mask, got our luggage out and quickly left the airport.

It's been a wonderful experience and I hope to travel more once the pandemic subsides.

The East And North Of Kalimantan, Part 4: Bulungan And Tanah Kuning

After the packed schedule in East Kalimantan, Wda and I decided to slow down for the North Kalimantan trip. But it seemed that we just were not allowed to do so. While the flight to Tanjung Harapan was smooth, Wda received confirmation of appointment upon our arrival. We only had a short time to leave our bags at Luminor Hotel and a quick meal at the hotel's restaurant before rushing out again to the provincial administration office complex. 

The North Kalimantan officials were even more welcoming than the East Kalimantan ones. I can only guess that as the youngest province, North Kalimantan wants to catch up with the other provinces in development, economy, etc. 

Trivia: North Kalimantan was declared as a new province in 2012. Prior to the establishment, it was part of the East Kalimantan. Directly bordering with Malaysia's Sarawak, North Kalimantan has a total size of 75,467.70 square kilometers and only 625,796 in population.

The officials we met were from the Bappeda (development planning) and the PTSP (one-door investment) agencies. They were relatively young, obviously well-educated and definitely rich, because in the region, if you don't have money, you can't get good education. If you don't have a degree, you can't be the head of local agencies.

The focus of our discussion was about the investment target and how they plan to achieve it. They told us about the Tanah Kuning-Mangkupadi Industrial Park, the Kayan hydro power plant that is projected to supply 9,000 MW and other resources, such as Derawan and Berau as tourism objects, that they plan to develop along the way.

To give you an idea on how welcoming they were, we had a three-hour discussion! In Jakarta, a three-hour discussion with an official could only happen if they had known you for quite some time. We practically just landed and met for the first time. To tell you the truth, I was relieved when the discussion ended, because I was already feeling hungry.

When the officials heard about our itinerary to Tanah Kuning - Mangkupadi Industrial Park area the next day, they seemed a bit concerned and one of them offered to escort us. We secretly felt a bit relieved :).

Unlike Balikpapan that has glitzy malls and bay-side apartment, North Kalimantan, or particularly Tanjung Selor in Bulungan regency, has more rustic feel. Apart of our hotel, the only modern building we saw was the agency office. They are still building the gubernatorial office and the local council office.

 

We had early dinner at a small eatery that looked shabby, but the food tasted great. We had soka crab, shrimp and asparagus soup. We decided to call it a day, because the next day would be a long day of road trip to Tanah Kuning area.

Brief hotel review: although Luminor is the newest hotel in the province, our hotel room there is smaller and more expensive than Platinum in Balikpapan. While there are AC, safe box to keep our laptops, hot/cold shower and electric kettle, there was no refrigerator in the room, so we couldn't keep any cool drink. The hotel's breakfast menu was also not interesting.

The next day,  the trip to Tanah Kuning started at around 08.00 am, we picked up the official who had agreed to escort us at the office. He was from Sumbawa island and had lived in North Kalimantan for 10 years. 

Some random information from the official during the 3-hour road trip: (1) he never heard the local people speak the local language (Dayak language) because everyone speak Bahasa Indonesia (bless our founding fathers for having good insight!), (2) we came right in the middle of fruit season and he advised that we tried the local fruits.

After he said point (2), we passed a roadside makeshift stall that sold fruits. He introduced us to lai, a less-known sister of durian. Unlike durian, lai has mild aroma, orange-ish color and thicker texture. I like durian, so I fell hard on lai! He bought us several lai to try on the spot and also to bring back to hotel. Dude, only in Kalimantan you go on a roadtrip with lai.

The road to Tanah Kuning was a bit bumpy, but once we reached the periphery, the view suddenly changed like in the following photo. The view in East Kalimantan was mostly acacia and eucalyptus, but here in North Kalimantan it's mostly palm oil trees.

The Tanah Kuning - Mangkupadi Industrial Park is not built yet, as it is still waiting for investors. But as you can see in the photo, it already has the basic infrastructure, such as the road and the electricity line. Those were the first things that caught my eyes, because those were not found in East Sumba. I can say that North Kalimantan already has what it needs to attract investors.

 

 

 

If you understand Bahasa, the conversation we had in this video was about the function of this road. I previously commented that this road was so smooth that an airplane could probably land here. The official actually verified that it was build for that purpose (military airplane emergency take off and landing). He said that there was another road like this in Malinau regency. As North Kalimantan borders with Malaysia's Sarawak and we often have border issues with the neighboring country, this young province shoulders the burden of providing vital infrastructure for possible conflict mitigation.
 

Trivia: In 2002, Indonesia had to let go Sipadan-Ligitan islands to Malaysia due to our weak legal defence.

After a long road trip, we stopped by a beach. I love the beach's vibe, no noisy tourists (most likely due to pandemic), soft sand and many seating area. However, the restaurant in the beach area was closed, so after taking some photos, we went to adjacent restaurant, still nearby but no view to the sea. 

 

By this time, have you found the red thread of our food selection? :D In general: seafood, in particular: shrimp, squid and crab.  Upon seeing our dish selection, the official suggested that we tried the crab dish at Kayan riverside. Wda brightened up at the suggestion and quickly said that we should try it for dinner. Wda has definitely made it a mission to eat as much shrimp as she could during this trip. Budget concern aside, I was worried about my cholesterol level.

To cut the story short, those were our dinner at Kuliner Tepi Kayan (KTK), a food court-styled culinary spot on Kayan riverside. Then we had lai and durian for dessert, because there are so many vendors selling them at KTK! The temptation is real. Lai is priced between Rp 10,000 and Rp 30,000 each, while durian is between Rp 35,000 and Rp 70,000. 

Lai is love.

 

Enough said :D

But wait, there is part 5 coming soon! Sorry for the slow update, it has been a struggle to select photos, resize and post them according to the chronological order.

The East And North of Kalimantan, Part 3: To Samarinda And Back Again

Due to our hectic schedule, I did not have time to take photos of our hotel in Balikpapan, Platinum Hotel & Convention. We didn't even get to see the facilities (Was there a swimming pool? I don't know). However, I could say that it is a good hotel to stay when you are in the city. I even saw Ruhut Sitompul during breakfast time.

 

If you are staying in Platinum Hotel, I suggest you to focus on the pastry. I love them all! The porridge is also good, but I forgot to take picture.

On Day 3, we were scheduled to go to Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan. But before that, Wda would meet with Bappeda officials. She told me to have a bit of fun while she was there, so I asked the driver if there are any local culinary spots, not Javanese or Bugis food, and particularly not Soto Lamongan. He told me about Mantaw Canton, a breakfast-type eatery that serves mantau (a type of white bun pau), coffee and other foods.

At first, I was like, "But Sir, Canton was even more foreign to Kalimantan than Javanese or Bugis", but anyway, after a quick browse, I found that mantau is indeed the specialty food of Balikpapan. So to Mantaw Canton I went.

Trivia: The origin of Chinese community in East Kalimantan dated back to the Dutch colonial era, when the Dutch established a special settlement for the Chinese people along Mahakam river to create jealousy among the local people (this is part of the Dutch's divide and conquer strategy). The Chinese settlement was definitely more strategically-located than the local people, and at first, the relationship of the two communities did not go well. However, the local people later established a trade company called Handel-maatschappij Borneo Samarinda (HBS), collaborating with Sarekat Islam (SI), and they managed to build a healthy competition and good relationship with the Chinese community. When Japan lost the war and the Dutch wanted to come back to East Kalimantan, both the local and the Chinese community fought fiercely against it together (Source: here).

Ok, back to Mantaw Canton.

 

The views from the front side of the eatery look promising.

I arrived at the place at around 8.30 am, which is breakfast peak hour. Families and working people were coming in droves. Since I came alone (the driver went away to wait on Wda), the waiter asked if it was okay to sit further in the back. Sure, I said. I ordered my go-to drink in cafes (black coffee, no sugar) and a fried mantau bun, because the waiter suggested it. I didn't order anything else, because I already had breakfast at the hotel. Bad decision, I know, but I couldn't pass on the pastry at the hotel. Anyway, I guess it was unusual for a woman to order black coffee with no sugar, as the waiter triple-checked with me.

 

I got a seat in the back. I took this photo after the breakfast rush hour subsided, just a bit after 9.30 am.

I have tried the store-bought mantau, and usually I have them steamed. The fried one in Mantaw Canton is an innovation of the owner, so it's a must-try. I was glad that I had the black coffee to pair with the fried mantau, the bun gets a notch sweeter after being fried so they made a perfect combo.

As I munched on the mantau, Wda called me and said she had completed her interviews and even managed to meet the sultan of Kutai Kartanegara. Whoa, I wanted to meet the sultan too. She picked me up at the eatery and we drove to Samarinda for the next appointment and to drop off our fixer to his home. Our fixer is based in Samarinda, but his network spans across the province, including Balikpapan. He invited us to have lunch at his home because his wife had cooked us some foods, which happened to be...*drum rolls*...Bugis foods. LOL.

Our fixer is a Bugis, so it is only natural that his wife cooks Bugis foods. However, here comes the plot twist, his wife is actually a Javanese! I think by this time Wda and I have given up the hope to taste the local culinary, because there is no such thing.

 

Anyway, here is the view along the Balikpapan-Samarinda tollroad. As you can see, there is a black patch on the soil. Our fixer and driver said that it was the young layer of coal (lignite). I remarked in passing that Balikpapan had cool weather compared to Palangkaraya and Pontianak, which I found weird because Kalimantan, which is known for coal and peatland, should have scorching hot weather. They both said that we were lucky to come during the rainy season, but it sure felt scorching hot in dry season.

Trivia: The 97.27-kilometer-long Balikpapan-Samarinda tollroad, or the BalSam tollroad as people call is, is the first one in the island. It was completed in July 2021 and inaugurated by the president in August 2021. After 76 years of independence, the development finally reaches Kalimantan.

The lunch spread at our fixer's home. His wife really went all out, everything is delicious.

 

Although we didn't get to know the local culinary of East Kalimantan, we really enjoyed the Bugis-themed lunch at our fixer's home. We had kappurung (sagu with fish soup), grilled fish, shrimp and if I'm not mistaken, three types of sambal. I have sampled kappurung when I was assigned to South Sulawesi in 2008, but this one is more delicious. At the end of our lunch, our fixer said,"If you come again to Samarinda or Balikpapan, just give me a call. You have a family here."

Then, we were back on the road again.

 

We couldn't do any sightseeing in Samarinda because of the appointment and we needed to come back to Balikpapan before it got too dark. However, passing the great Mahakam river in Samarinda already brought me joy. There are several bridges that connect both sides of the city. The most famous is the Mahkota Dua bridge, which spans at around 1 kilometer!

The Mahkota Dua bridge, shot from adjacent bridge

 

On the second video, we were passing another bridge when the driver started telling us about an incident of collapsed bridge. If you know Bahasa, put the sounds on and you can sense my anxiety rising as I comment, "I don't think this is the kind of information on bridges I'd like to hear when we are passing one."

Pak Niel, the sourceperson in Samarinda, turned out to be quite knowledgeable about North Kalimantan. After discussing the new capital, we changed gears and asked him about North Kalimantan. Both Wda and I have travel experiences across Indonesia, but still, this would be our first time exploring a new place without any important events or schedules.

He told us the important information, that it is safe for us to walk at night. There might be crocodiles or other wildlife animals, but those are mostly living on the upstream area. Phew, what a relief.  Kalimantan may not have volcanoes as other islands in Indonesia do, but it is famous for having many rivers. Encounters with river-based wildlife animals are the least wanted in my list. 

We drove back to Balikpapan, took the second antigen test for our flight tomorrow (we both tested negative, alhamdulillah) and later had dinner at the hotel's rooftop, because we were too beaten up to step out of the hotel. The cafe at the rooftop had live music, but it was too loud that we couldn't chat. So we finished our meal quickly and went back to our room to rest.

 

Have you ever visited North Kalimantan? I hope to see your comment on the next post :)

The East And North of Kalimantan, Part 2: Balikpapan And The New Capital

The visit to East Kalimantan was very packed with interview schedules as Wda hired a fixer to set the meetings with all local officials.

On the day of our arrival in Balikpapan, we had a late lunch at Ocean's Resto, with view facing Balikpapan Bay. It was our driver who took us there, perhaps he thought we wanted to eat at a fancy place. IMHO, the foods in this restaurant are not that special and overpriced, most likely because it sells the view to the sea horizon, which is dotted with vessels. 

Then we had a brief tour around Balikpapan, perhaps we finished it in around 1 hour. Our driver took us to Balikpapan Super Block (BSB), which consists of mall, apartment, clinic and office. My jaw dropped at the size of the place as it reminds me of the Mall Kelapa Gading complex. I mean, if it is in Jakarta, it would have been a normal sight. The mall houses various restaurants that are also available in Jakarta. I was trying to find a restaurant that is more local, but there was not any.

After that we had a cup of coffee and affogato at Dialog Cafe, as well as a bowl of rujak. Balikpapan has many cafes that look like this cafe, with modern and minimalist design. The coffee here is seriously prepared. 

 

The next day, we went to North Penajam Paser regency, which would be the location of the new capital. There are two ways to reach the area of the new capital from Balikpapan: (1) by road; and (2) by ferry boat. For the trip there, we took the first option. It was around 3-4 hours of car drive. 

Our fixer came to the hotel and we went out just after breakfast. I was still a bit overwhelmed by the previous day's trip, in which I had to leave home after midnight to catch the rescheduled flight in advance, so I slept in most part of the ride.

 

The first appointment was with the Sepaku district head. The officers in the district office were very friendly and welcoming us with enthusiasm. They were thrilled to be selected as the new capital as it meant more development in the district.

Greetings from the new capital-to-be. Isn't it happenstance that the name of the road is Negara (which means The State)?

 

After wrapping the interview, we went to the Sepaku Semoi Dam construction site, which is just a few hundreds of meters away. The dam had been planned way before there was a discourse on the new capital, it was aimed to provide raw water for the people and the industries around the area. 

 

 

When we got to the gate, we were turned down by the project manager. Our fixer said that although we received permission from the district head during the interview, the project manager said we still had to obtain permission from the Public Works and Housing Agency. I advised Wda to step out of the car to persuade the project manager. The project manager came to the car and he probably felt sorry for us, because he saw me with my neck pillow and my face definitely looked tired. He gave us the phone number of his supervisor and asked us to contact the number for permission. His boss quickly responded and told us that we were allowed to have a look around.

 

 

 

From the dam site, we went to the lookout tower, the zero point, and the helipad, all located in the industrial plant forest managed by PT ITCI, which is owned by one of Prabowo Subianto's relatives (?) (cmiiw). Almost all trees in the area are either acacia or eucalyptus, planted for 7-8 years and then harvested for the paper and pulp mills. 

 

The environmentalists have voiced concerns on the relocation of the capital, saying that it would destroy the forest. Well, the bitter truth is the forest is not there anymore, all I could see was industrial plants. However, the new capital will reportedly span at around 250,000 hectares, and since Samboja's orangutan preservation area is nearby, the concerns are valid.

View from the lookout tower

 View from the helipad

This is actually the geodetic point, but people call it the zero point of the new capital.

A closer look on the little plaque.

We met several officers of the plantation forest management company and they escorted us to all of those points above. We also passed several cars that  carried people who were coming to see the points. I jokingly told one of the officers that it felt like a tourism site. He seriously replied that there had been rising interest to see the points and they decided to be open to public. They really wanted the new capital initiative to be a success and they wanted to support it in any way they could.

We had two other appointments in Sepaku district. One was with the indigenous community head, and the other was with the North Penajam Paser deputy regent Hamdan. Why not interviewing the regent? Well, the regent was detained by the Corruption Eradication Commission shortly before our arrival *facepalm*. This is a serious warning as the regency would be host to the new capital.

 

Most officials are defensive when journalists asked about corruption. Instead of being angry to the journalists, they could turn the table simply by reiterating their commitment to corruption eradication and showing the investors that they would work hard to prove it.

For our trip back to Balikpapan City, we used the second route option: the ferry boat ride.

 

 We kept our masks on and even maintained distance with each other :)

 

We touched down Balikpapan at around 9 pm. To close the day, we had...*drum rolls*...Soto Lamongan for dinner. Wda and I laughed so hard at the idea of having Soto Lamongan, a dish that is a signature to Lamongan, East Java, in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.

However, most residents of Kalimantan are Javanese and Bugis of Sulawesi, while the indigenous people probably only comprise 10 percent of total population. The Javanese came through the transmigration program back in President Soeharto era, while the Bugis people, the strong seamen tribe of the nation, landed in Kalimantan for trade purposes.

Oh dear, the post is already this long and it's just one day. I guess, I will wrap this here. See you on part 3.