Indonesia

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Back to Balikpapan

Due to the previous days’ early starts I woke up naturally early as well. I didn’t want to eat too early, so walked down to the waterfront and tried to take a shared boat service across the river. The boatman said there wasn’t any as it was too early. He said he would take me […]

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Borneo’s largest city

I had time for breakfast at the hotel before taking a taxi at 0700 to Banjarmasin’s airport 45 minutes away. Checkin for my 0925 departure to Balikpapan on Wings Air was swift. Once airside I noticed that yesterday 1555 flight had been delayed till around 0900. And this morning’s ~0615 flight delayed till around 0920. […]

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Floating market

I had set the alarm for 0430 (which is 0330 Pontianak time where I had come from). I met the Simon & Karen at reception with their lovely guide Nurul Hidayah. We soon boarded a kelotok (boat) from the hotel’s back gate. In the darkness we navigated upriver and saw the sky turn pink. About […]

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Covering new territory

Above:  Dayak tail on Kalstar ATR (pronounced Ah Teh Eerrr, here). I woke at 0330 even though my alarm was for 0415. Flight departure to somewhere new and exciting, (Banjarmasin, was 0630 so I left the hotel by taxi booked for 0445. It was five minutes late but I still got to the new airport […]

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Borneo’s Killing Fields

My full day in Pontianak was allocated to a visit to Mandor, Borneo’s Killing Fields. I had been over three years ago but due to weather, I made it only to the memorial. I didn’t make it to the actual mass graves behind. I woke early and was at breakfast at 0630. The one hour […]

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South of the border

I had an ordered a taxi for 0600 as it seemed like the time in consideration of the travel time to, and check-in Kuching Sentral station at the far end of town. I remember from last time that the taxi rate drops from night to day at 0600. The driver didn’t use the meter but […]

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Flying to KLIA2

Last little bit of sightseeing in Makassar With the 1h time difference between Ambon/Papua and Makassar, I woke up early. With two half-days in Makassar, I wanted to make the most of my sightseeing opportunities to catch sights that I didn’t get to do few years back.I was out the door soon after 0700 to […]

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Old Gowa (not Goa)

The hotel doorman knocked on my door at 0545 to wake me up even though I hadn’t organised a wake-up call. He knew my car had been organised for 0615 so did me a courtesy. Then he dragged me into the dining room for breakfast which wasn’t meant to be ready till 0700 but had […]

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Exploring Ambon

This morning I explored one of the cafes which make up Ambon’s cafe scene that’s not seen elsewhere in the country. At the Sibu Sibu cafe, I downed a delicious milky ginger coffee with some local cakes. Ambon is famous for having a disproportionate share of good singers in the Indonesian music scene, and their […]

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Leaving Papua & parting thoughts

Leaving Papua Today I’m leaving Papua after 21 days, going to Ambon. It was a relaxed morning before checking out at 1200 and going to the airport for a departure at 1405. I spent most of the morning in the room of the Rumberpon Hotel till checkout and went to the airport nearby. I was […]

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