Trip to Pangkal Pinang

Most tourists will visit Tanjung Tinggi beach, where famous movie “Laskar Pelangi” took a scene there, a fabulous white sand beach with gigantic stone. And me? Not!

I’ll give a quick trip through the city, only the city.

Where to visit?

From the airport, it took around 15 minutes to the city center. What can we see from the city? When I was there, I had a round trip, watching old houses, old PT Timah employee houses, the company that once has a great success there.

Its quite hard to found what is interesting there (my personal opinion).

What to eat?

Most island near Sumatra has great durian, stinky thorny big fruit. If you want to try, just do the bargain and let the salesperson select the fruit. If he/she give raw durian, ask for exchange.

The problem is, this word “bargain” is very problematic for me. Its hard to judge this durian costs appropriate with its size and taste.

One of the local food here name “Bakmi Koba”, a noodle soup with fish stock. Noodles is good, the stock taste delicious and lil sweet. Be careful with the chilly, because its very very hot!

What to buy?

Hmmm... Pangkal Pinang is famous by its marine crackers from fish, shrimp, sea cucumber and dried shark fin. Its one of the exclusive food ingredients, the bird nest.

It said that shark fin for 50 grams cost US$39, and for the bird nest below is US$94,8 per 50 grams.

There is two types of fish cracker, true fish cracker without sauce, and the Amplang, fish cracker with sauce.

For coffee addict, you can found a great coffee (that I was underestimated). Taste like Sumatran Coffee that I was bought from Starbucks. The salesperson said that this coffee was originated from around Pangkal Pinang. Altough this coffee has already grinded, its not sour, taste great.
A recommended thing to buy.

If you are a batik maniac, you can find batik, unfortunately I found this in the duty free shop at the airport, not in the local market

I expect somebody will explore the island broader than I did, to let the world that theres something there, not just the “Laskar Pelangi” beach.

trip to Samarinda

From Jakarta I flew to Balikpapan, because in Samarinda there is no big airport and for that I should took a trip by car for 3 hours.

Between travel I took a rest in a rest area-like with culinary specialty, sumedang tofu! Yup, a sumedang tofu, but I was not in West Java anyway.

They fried the Tofu's and sell it here, but made it somewhere else.

After taking a break, stretching old bones we continue further deep into Bukit Soeharto National Park.
Im very curious about many mining projects in East Kalimantan, because here is famous about its coal mining. unfortunetely I saw no mining landscapes, only some forest, prairies, villages and palm oil plantation. Most of the mining areas are located in Berau, Kutai Kartanegara and many remote areas up in the north.
And finally I arrived in Samarinda, the capitol of East Kalimantan.
Samarinda is located near Mahakam river, a big river that became the tagline of the city, "Samarinda kota tepian" (Samarinda, city of bay).

What to see and what to buy:
Unfortunetely I had a short time there, first I went to the "pasar budaya" (cultural market). There I saw ethnical souvenirs from samarinda/dayak tribe.
There are wooden shields, batik, bead bags, mat, t-shirts and many kind of souvenirs. Make sure you bargain, some price here can be bargained up to 50%.

This is one of the unique batik pattern, from Dayak indigenous tribe who inhabits Kalimantan.

Samarinda is famous of the amplang kuku macan crackers. A cracker which made from fish and flour. We can buy it in almost every souvenir shop. It cost $3-$5 per packing.
Taste yummy 😊

After that I visited durians seller near Mahakam river.
If you to Samarinda, its not be complete before you taste the durian, the king of fruit.
For the small one, it cost IDR 100.000 for 4 pieces. But for those big one, hanging on the strings, thats durian mentega. It cost more for buy it, up to IDR 125.000 for one fruit. Costly, but the price won lie.
The fruit inside is gigantic, compare to mineral water cup, the seed is small and the flesh inside is thick. 😊

Near the river theres a majestic islamic center, with towers and dome. It also functioned as a mosque. Some story said that it cost billions of rupiah to build it. Because it located near the river and it should has a good foundation structure, to avoid it from sinking.

What to eat here? Unfortunately I only have a chance to eat a beef stew. Like any other beef stew, it taste sweet and creamy. But with this portion, no one will seek a snack after ate it.

Trip to Kupang

This is a dairy of my trip to Kupang,
one of the most southern city in Indonesia.

(actually I wanted to use Clibe App to publish it, but the App is busted so I go back to my netbook)

And after total 4 hours of travel from Jakarta, finally i’m arrived in El Tari Airport, Kupang.
The landscape is dominated with hills and dried grass caused by dry season at that time.
There’s not so much trees grows, most is Lontar (Asian Palmyra Palm/Toddy Palm; Borassus flabellifer) and others like Tamarind, Acacia, Teakwood and the famous and expensive wood producer tree, Cendana or in international name Sandalwood.
Unfortunately in my trip, I saw no Sandalwood.

Drove to the city, gives a clear view on the landscape. Hills composed of reef stone.

It took around 10 minutes from airport to city.
As I approach Kupang, I see the pulse of it.

From the airport, people can use taxi without taximeter to take a trip.
Usually it depends on the route, closer trips costs Rp. 60.000 ($7-$8) or paid it hundreds rupiah for a day rent.
There’s also public transport like buses and angkot, costs Rp. 2000 ($ 20c) one trip.
The car is unique with modifications and various cutting stickers.

With unique horn and loud music, people called it "diskotek berjalan" (mobile discotheque).
They did it because loud music and funky modified cars attract school kids more to use them, one of the major users.

What to eat in Kupang? I took seafood, a delicious Grouper and it looks lovely in the picture :)

What to buy here?
Some handicraft from Kupang like fabric, purse, bags, cellphone pouch are the most sold items here.
And the fabric is unique, its thick, dominated with dark color but it structure like wool, has a hollow gap between it. Maybe it designed so that it wont be hot under the sun, and its not too cold in the night.

One thing that tourist must see or may buy (if you bring a lot of money) is to go to local jewelry store, see jewelries like earrings, bracelet made of ivory.
First strange thing is, where are the elephants?
I dont see any elephants running or grazing, so maybe they have extinct hundred years a go.
The second strange thing is, is there a whole ivory?
Centuries ago, we'll might see a whole ivory, but along with the inflation, the tiny ivory will cost US$300 a piece!

Third question is for what these ivory rings purpose? The purpose is as a dowry. So, its gonna be a very very expensive wedding celebration, havent mention about guests, invitation, catering and exotic honeymoon :p

What to visit and where?
hmmm thats quite easy to choose places to visit, natural recreation area like beaches! Yup, because Kupang has many beaches, but most are surrounded by reef. So pick one, like Lasiana Beach that has beautiful combination color of sand, shore and sky.

And look! There's a happy family jumpin'  on the sand :)

And one of the natural attraction around Kupang is waterfall. Yup, they have it inside the island, it took 30 minutes to go there, through villages and hills.

This is the picture of the entrance gate, as you see there's no entrance ticket (when I was there). going to the waterfall, you must follow the concrete path, down through the stair.

Just follow the sound of water rumbling.

There you are.
A nice shady view in dry arid of Kupang :)