Balikpapan - The City of Oil

One of the famous city in Borneo / Kalimantan is Balikpapan. Refering to its name, Balikpapan literally means "turn the plank upside down". Balikpapan has been a very well-known place since 17th century. F. Valenijn - a writer from Holland - wrote a book about Balikpapan and published it in 1724. According to his book, Bilipapan (the earlier name of Balikpapan) is a very nice place that located three miles from the seashore.

Why people call that place as Balikpapan? There are two version about the origin of the name :
1. Based on the book of F. Valenijn (1724) :
When Borneo was still as kingdom named Kutai in the mid of 17th century, The Ruler - Sultan Muhammad Idris - requested the villagers to donated 1,000 pieces of plank that will be used to build a mosque. However, when the villagers sent the plank thru the river, there were 10 pieces of board that drift away by the river. This accident was soon been known as Balikpapan (in Kutai language, it means "turn back the plank"). And to remembering the accident, Sultan Muhammad Idris used it as the name of the place.

2. Based on the Urban Legend :
There was a legend said that the origin of Balikpapan people was the family of Kayun Kuleng and Papan Ayun. Since most of them were married, their family name mix into "Kuleng Papan" or "Balik Papan". People believed, this name has been used since 1527.

In the past, Balikpapan was an isolated Bugis fishing village. But since the finding of oil in February 10, 1897, Balikpapan become well-known as The City of Oil and a lot of trans migrants from all over Indonesia come to work in Balikpapan. Since then, Balikpapan become one of the largest mix-culture population in Indonesia after Jakarta. Most of the communication is using Indonesian language.

To get to Balikpapan is not an issue because Balikpapan has Sepinggan International Airport, the largest airport on the island of Borneo. It is also the busiest airport in Kalimantan and permits large aircraft. If taking the ferry as sea-transportation, it has sea-port as Semayang and Kariangau. They were serving commercial boats to many destinatinations in Indonesia, such as Surabaya, Makassar, Jakarta, and Manado.

WHAT CAN WE GET IN BALIKPAPAN? 
BANGKIRAI HILL : 
One of the most popular adventurous tour area in Balikpapan. Located about 58 kilometers from Balikpapan City, it is a tropical forest area. In this 15 millions hectares of area, you can smell the fresh air and view the nice forest view. You also can see some of the rare species of birds, such as Drongos (Heaven Birds) and Richoneros (Enggang Birds). Looking for place to stay? It has nice cottage in the area. 


WANAWISATA : 
It is a Arboretum park that located about 10 kilometers from Balikpapan. Inside the park, you can find a lot of variations of rare trees and fruits. It also the sanctuary of Sambar Deer (Servus unicolor). 


AUSTRALIAN MONUMENT : 
Well... definitely it is not mean Balikpapan belong to Australia, but this is the monument to commemorate the Australian soldiers (7th Division Army of Australia) who died helping Indonesian soldiers during the occupation of Japan in 1945. These 725 meters square area is located near the Strand Banua Patra Coast. 


MELAWAI BEACH : 
One of the most exotic beach in Balik papan is Melawai Beach. Located in Jendral Sudirman Street, near Tukung Island. There are a lot of local people who sells exotic fresh fruit and dishes in reasonable prices. People who come to the place can enjoy the meal while watching the beach and the sunset. So nice....!!!