Singkawang - Exotic Multi Ethnic City

Singkawang is not a big city. It only has 50,400 hectares wide, divided into 5 districts and 26 villages. Located near beach and surrounding by beautiful mountain view,  Singkawang has become one of the largest tourism object in West Kalimantan.

In the beginning, Singkawang was a small village that became a transit area for gold miner, especially from Monterado. Some of the gold miners were come from China. Besides as a transit area, most of the gold miners were doing the transaction in the city. Because of this, the economy in Singkawang grew. Many of the miners who used to be only stay awhile, finally decided to stay permanently in Singkawang. Based on Government Regulation UU No.12 / 2001, Singkawang has been appointed as an Autonomy District by The President of Republic Indonesia.

There are three ethnics that live in Singkawang : Malayu, Chinese, and Dayak. All of them are living side-by-side in harmony. The combination of their ethnic traditions and cultures, turn Singkawang become a colorful city with the most combination traditions in Indonesia.


WHAT CAN WE SEE IN SINGKAWANG? 
Singkawang as several fantastic beach that you need to see. The water is blue, the sand is white, and the area is clean. One of the most popular beach is Taman Pasir Panjang Indah. It located 17 kilometers from South Singkawang or 128 kilometers from Pontianak City. The view in this beach is fascinating. You can do most if the beach activities : Banana Boat, kayaking, speedboat, beach volley, flying fox, cycling around the beach... you name it.... If you feel like "Well.... why not stay a night or two in this place?", you don't have to bring your own tend. There are several hotels and motels that available for you to stay.

Another nice beach that been well-known since long time ago is Palm Beach (previously known as Taman Impian Pasir Panjang). It closed to Taman Pasir Panjang Indah and have a wonderful view of beach. Very calm, and very refreshing. Try to stay till sunset. You can see how lovely the place when the sun goes down...

Another place that you should never miss is Sinka Island Park. It located in the Tourist Area of Karang Bay / Ma'jantuh Bay, located about 8 kilometers in South Singkawang, this place offered modern tourist facilities for family. The place is surrounding by the beautiful view of mountain and it consists of many kind of rare animals. They also provide tour-car for you who want to see the whole area.

If you are looking for adventure sight-seeing, try to go to Gunung Poteng (Poteng Mountain). It located at the Raya Pasi Sanctuary, and located about 3 kilometers from Singkawang. Besides its beautiful view,it also consist of many faunas and plants, such as Amorphopallus sp (Carrion Flower), Rhizanthes zepelii (Star Flower), Giant Padma Flower (Rafflessia tuan-mudae), and some variants of orchids.

Or you can visit Bagak Sahwa Mountain which consists of some of rare animals such as Honey Bear, Flying Squirrel and Boar. It located about 15 kilometers East Singkawang.

There are many more to see in Singkawang. So... grab your bags. It's party in Singkawang....!!!

The Exotic Foods from Balikpapan

If you are one of the Crabs Lover, then Balikpapan is your heaven. Yeah....!!! Balikpapan has well-known for their crabs-dishes. You can find a lot of restaurants that sell crabs as their favorite menu. Each restaurant offer their special recipes you can't resist. Be prepared.... because in this article, I will "torture" you with the information of the most delicious crabs restaurant from Balikpapan.


OYSTER SAUCE'S CRABS
There is no any other place that serves Oyster Sauce's Crabs better than Rumah Makan Kepiting Dandito (Dandito's Crab Restaurant). Located in Marsma Iswahyudi Street, this restaurant serve their famous crabs in oyster sauce. Besides Oyster Sauce, they also have The Super Delicious and Hot Black Pepper Sauce's Crab and Dandito's Sauce Crabs that will thrill everybody's tongue. The taste is hot, but not so strong, Dandito's Sauce is a combination of special ingredients and recipe. Each once, and you will never resist to add more.....!!!Not enough spicy for you? Add their special mix red hot chilli with vinegar into the crabs. Wow..... the hot sensation is very nice but not burning. Very cool for people who love spicy food. Beware.... if you can't hold yourself to this delicious yummy crab dishes, please don't force yourself to eat it. It will turn you into Crab Addict. Really....!!

SWEET AND SOUR CRABS
Enjoying crabs in sweet and sour combination? Perhaps the crabs from Rumah Makan Kepiting Kenari can be your choice. Same area with Dandito, Kepiting Kenari offers a very special menu that you can't refuse : Sweet and Sour Sauce Crabs. Their crabs is in big size and some parts of the crabs have been filled with delicious sauce.

Besides crabs, try to order their famous lobster. Cook with leek, black pepper sauce and their secret ingredients, it will fill you with heavenly passion feeling. Hmmmm..... so sensual.

CRAB FLOSS
If you are looking for remarkable snack to take home, don't forget to look for Crab Floss (Abon Kepiting). It is also one of the most popular local snack that been hunted by the tourists when they visit to Balikpapan. Crab floss was made from real crab's flesh, content high protein, can be eaten directly, or use it as additional or replacement of meat on your sandwich.

So.... what are you waiting for? C'mon... let's hunt the crab's cuisines in Balikpapan.....

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....!!!