November
30

South Kalimantan’s quiet country roads

By Sheen Kua

Current location : Gattières, France

This is the kind of quiet country road of South Kalimantan that greeted me. Loved it.
This is the kind of quiet country road of South Kalimantan that greeted me. Loved it.

 

From 07/Mar/09 to 10/Mar/09 : ride from Samarinda to Banjarmasin

 

Tea time at this local coffee shop behind me. 1 glass tea costs 1000 Rupiah or approx. 7 cents euro.
Eight days passed since we (Kuda & I) entered Indonesia’s East Kalimantan on a fishing boat. We encountered more successive “adventures” (or in simple word, meaning difficulties) these past few days than … perhaps, more than I expected – or wished for. Looking back, it does appear monster of a job to lug along a heavy overland bike across this little known region’s hostile sea border and wild jungle roads. Truck driver Iwan & his merry companion crew joked that after Sangatta, by Indonesian standard, there’re beautiful sealed roads, minus some with big potholes, south till end of Borneo !

Along the way ... btw, this is a local petrol station. Petrol is availale in 1, 2, 5 or 10ltrs bottle of plastic containers.
As we came out of the jungle, our truck picked up an exhausted “foreigner” – an Italian backpacker named Iuris. He explained “I board a private taxi. Last 3 days it was stuck in jungle. We keep getting out to push or pull taxi out of mud. I fell a few times into mud …. little food, no sleep. Taxi drive 24 hours, no stop, now engine broken, so I had to hitch hike”. I could see his eyes were almost falling out due to exhaustion. A great Borneo experience, some may say. I agree. Over the next 2 days, both of us caught up with sleep and shower in a hotel in Samarinda, East Kalimantan’s provincial capital. Unfortunately once again, sight seeing was not on my agenda – was quite happy just to report back home after 3 days of no phone signals that I’ve got out of the jungle.

Warm expression and curiousity on a face of a man that welcome my arrival in his hometown.
My initial plan was to ride further south till the oil, gas & coal seaport of Balikpapan, board a ferry across to the island of Sulawesi, then find another to Bali. But in the last 8 days I noticed I’ve spent more time on the fishing boat and Iwan’s truck, instead of riding on my own horse ! Plans are made to be changed, so I decided it was time to get a feel of Borneo on a bike – and ride the 2 days ride south to Banjarmasin, the provincial capital of South Kalimantan, then ferry to Java. Sulawesi can wait.

Quite amazing houses by the river
I later realised this ride all the way south to Banjarmasin was another true great ride in an unknown region. As enjoyable as when I was out alone on the rugged mountainous Karakoram highway in Pakistan. Outside the towns of South Kalimantan, the countryside roads were extremely quiet. It had the scenery of a semi rural, semi jungle type of surrounding. Villagers were surprised to see a foreign biker. And the folks here were friendly, taking time out to chat. Here, I remember that it was quiet. That it had a nice calm.

This, to me, is a very rare encounter - with a RED DURIAN !! My childhood hometown of Segamat, is famous all over Malaysia for such fruit, but I've never heard or seen a Red durian before (like many of you, I presume). Here it is, by a roadside stall somewhere in S. Kalimantan.
No regrets coming down this way as I saw for a first time a RED shelled Durian fruit ! On sale by the side of a country road. It’s a personal surprise as my hometown of Segamat in Malaysia is well known for its durians (you either like it or you hate it), but I never knew a red durian existed. I carried this happy feeling with me into its congested capital Banjarmasin, from where I hope to find at least one RoRo ferry going to Java. One fishing boat experience and subsequent tangle with “garang” (fierce) local customs officials in Indonesia is good enough for me.

The hot special toasted bread Bandung style, with butter, coconut jam spread or any
The satay bbq - another source of good & cheap food I tried out in Samarinda.
... and they were delicious. As you can see, I was not afraid to eat out !
After 3 nights rough sleep out in the jungle of E. Kalimantan, both Iuris (an Italian backpacker met on 3rd day of jungle crossing) agreed it\'ll be nice to sleep in a real bed and have a shower. This is our hotel in Samarinda.
Parking for the bike just in front of hotel
This is Iuris, the Italian backpacker. He said he had not slept in 3 days, when he travelled by taxi in the jungle, they were 5 people in a small car. There was no place to sleep and most of the time he had to help push or pull the taxi out of the mud. He really looked exhausted and was almost falling down when we met. Borneo jungle crossing can be a very good experience
Night view of the Grand Mosque In Samarinda, E. Kalimantan\'s provincial capital and largest city.
... as I passed by the Grand Mosque
Man in Samarinda
The 2 lane bridge across the Mahakam river, E. Kalimantan\'s largest river.
Somehow I decided to give Balikpapan, the oil, gas and mining city, a miss and head across to Panajam, direction S. Kalimantan. After the Tarakan customs & immigration experience, maybe I was trying to avoid contacts with any local officials.
Kuda and I were the only tourists that day onboard the local ferry heading towards the inland
Oil and gas installations nearby the city of Balikpapan
Barges loaded with coal in the bay of Balikpapan.
Arrived at Panajam town ferry terminal
Here, everyone looked curiously at my arrival. No one was expecting a biker traveller.
Beginning of country road, turning inland.
Local green oranges in season and being sold at a roadside stall.
Destination Tanah Grogot. Hope to find a hotel there before dark
Along the way ... btw, this is a local petrol station. Petrol is availale in 1, 2, 5 or 10ltrs bottle of plastic containers.
That\'s how its done, filling up manually via a funnel. Its quite folklorique to buy petrol
A brief stop the crossroad town of Kuaro. At this bike shop, these boys were happy to assist my request for simple chain oil-up with used engine oil.
Warm expression and curiousity on a face of a man that welcome my arrival in his hometown.
The crossroad at Kuaro. Roundabouts seemed quite symbolic here.
The countryroad begins to take me inland, away from the more populated coastal areas.
Along the way ...
This, to me, is a very rare encounter - with a RED DURIAN !! My childhood hometown of Segamat, is famous all over Malaysia for such fruit, but I've never heard or seen a Red durian before (like many of you, I presume). Here it is, by a roadside stall somewhere in S. Kalimantan.
Another close-up look of this wild specie red coloured durian. This encounter itself is worth the ride through here.
In this village the water line is just below the stilt wooden houses, as if the river is not far away.
Along the way ... a feast going on under the roofs of the buildings to the right.
This is the kind of quiet country road of South Kalimantan that greeted me. Loved it.
Along the way ...
Tea time at this local coffee shop behind me. 1 glass tea costs 1000 Rupiah or approx. 7 cents euro.
Along the way ... this roundabout in a town has a real flame torch at its top
Brief pause to nurse my back at the big interior town of Tanjung
Local market at Tanjung
Along the way ... local way of life onboard a bamboo raft with hut
Stopped here for lunch when I saw it was crowded. Ate what most people had - ketupat rice with bbq satay sticks. Delicious, only ... well, better disregard the hygenic side of surroundings or below the stall, if you want to enjoy the food
Long time I\'ve not seen a cow-cart. It looks like a house by itself inside
Stilt wooden houses along the river near Banjarbaru
Quite amazing houses by the river
A hawker selling his appetising bbq satay next to a bridge
Image of South Kalimantan
Image of Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan. Banjarmasin sits on a delta.
With some cheerful local trishaw riders in Banjarmasin
And another ... By the way, the streets of Banjarmasin are rather crowded with scooters, trishaws, cars, trucks, people
Image of Banjarmasin

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