Couldn't have timed it better if we tried

Day 18 - Jakarta to Kota Kinabalu (Borneo / Malaysia)

It was time to say goodbye to the family as they flew back to Bali for the last few days of their holiday. We were flying back to Borneo (for the third time this trip!), heading for Malaysia on the northern part of the island. 

We landed in Kota Kinabalu which is quite different from Indonesian Borneo. KK is more modern and popular with tourists, and as we were checking in the clerk told us we'd arrived in time for the annual Kaamatan Harvest Festival, the biggest cultural festival of the year, which was starting the next day - something we had no idea about before arriving!  

Our hotel was across the road from a market and a number of waterside restaurants, and our room had a lovely water view taking in the bay and the nearby islands. M went to change some money at a nearby shopping centre, while K relaxed in the room. We had heard it was worth viewing the sunset from the hotel rooftop so we headed up for a drink.

Once the sun had set we stayed at the hotel for a tasty Malaysian dinner (including more satay!). Strangely, we were seated well away from the other diners as we wanted a drink with our meal, but it worked out well as it was nice and quiet and we had a waiter to ourselves.

Goodbye Tanjung Puting

Day 17 - Tanjung Puting to Jakarta 

Our riverboat trip was scheduled to finish at 10am but as the boat didn't have a same day booking we had a leisurely morning and a slow cruise back to port.

We were collected from the port at midday and dropped off at the Mercure hotel in Pangkalan Bun for lunch until it was time to go to the airport for our flight back to Jakarta where we were to spend a night before the next part of our trip.

We stayed at a different airport hotel this time, still in Terminal 3 but at the international end, which had a much better selection of eating places. We enjoyed yet another spicy satay dinner, which was a nice change as the meals on the boat had been quite bland (to our tastes), although seeing the facilities the cook had at her disposal it's amazing what she managed to produce.

Back to the jungle (and the palm oil plantations)

Day 14 - Jakarta to Pangkalan Bun 

Back to Borneo today with a short flight to Pangkalan Bun in the south of the island. As we came in to land it was easy to spot the palm oil plantations encroaching on the jungle.

There were five of us now so on arrival at the small airport we jumped into two taxis to get to the modern Mercure Hotel near the centre of town. There was some heavy rain just after we arrived, but it stopped in time for us to walk down the street for a quick explore followed by some shopping then dinner at the hotel.

This mosque is actually kind of interesting

Day 13 - Jakarta 

We only had one full day in Jakarta and we had read that the traffic in this city of 40 million people can be really bad, so we decided to treat ourselves to a private half day tour of the city, which would also get us back to the airport in time to meet family who were arriving from Bali that afternoon.

We were collected from our hotel at 10am, and fortunately at this time on a Sunday the traffic wasn't too bad. Our first stop was the Istiqlal mosque, which didn't look like a mosque at all but more like an austere government building. Strangely it hadn't been designed by an Islamic architect but rather by a Protestant. The design was very functional as it can accommodate up to 200,000 people on the numerous open plan floors, which were designed to allow cooling breezes to blow through. Initially we weren't that keen on seeing another mosque after our trip to Pakistan last year, but we both agreed that this mosque was definitely worth a visit. 

After a quick look at the Jakarta Cathedral across the road from the mosque we drove to the National Monument in Merdeka Square. A very tall monolith with a museum in the base containing dioramas of a comprehensive history of Indonesia from prehistoric times up to the present day. This was where the advantage of being on a private tour became apparent, as we were able to skip buying tickets and jump ahead of the long line of locals waiting to get in.  

We then walked around the old city with it's many Dutch colonial buildings and the huge Fatahillah Square where lots of tourists and locals were enjoying their Sunday. Inside one of the old buildings we visited a traditional puppet workshop where tales from Hindu mythology are told via intricately carved and painted shadow puppets made from leather.

The final stop on our tour was at the old wharves where Jakarta's problem with sinking was explained to us. The city is built on a swamp and parts of it are below sea level, and even though it is protected by a sea wall it still floods regularly. 

We managed to beat the rain which started falling as we drove back to the airport, arriving in time to meet Courtney and family flying in from Bali to join us for our two night boat trip to see the wild orangutans near Tanjung Puting in South Kalimantan.

I've been stuck in worse airports than this

Day 12 - Berau to Jakarta

We were leaving Eastern Kalimantan today but that wasn't until the afternoon, so before breakfast M went for a walk to explore the local area. It was 8am and already warming up, and as it was a Saturday morning the locals were doing their shopping at the stalls along the main street.

Our next major destination is in south west Borneo, but the way the flights and timing work out we need to fly all the way to Jakarta before taking another flight back again. This is also one of the flights we had to rebook due to an "operational change", so instead of flying direct as we originally planned we had to change planes at Balikpapan. Who'd have thought we'd get to spend a few more hours at the lovely Balikpapan Airport? 

We landed in Jakarta as the sun was setting, and we had a little trouble finding our hotel at the far end of Terminal 3. The hotel itself was fine, and as it was getting late we ate at the hotel restaurant, sharing a spicy satay.

This shopping mall looks like every other shopping mall

Day 3 - Jimbaran Beach to Balikpapan (Borneo / East Kalimantan)

The second flight of our trip today, to the world's third largest island, Borneo. The island is owned by three countries - Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. For now we are staying within Indonesia and taking a domestic flight (about an hour and 45 minutes) to Balikpapan on the south eastern coast of the island, in the region of East Kalimantan. Just one night here with no plans for tourist activities, Balikpapan is a domestic hub for East and North Kalimantan so it's a place we need to transit through to get to the islands off the coast of Borneo. 

Balikpapan is a modern looking city and the financial centre of Kalimantan. Our hotel was part of a new shopping mall right on the coast, with its own beach, water park and all the high end shops we have back home. Unfortunately the giant water slides were right outside our hotel room so we could hear screaming children for much of the day.

We had a quick look at the beach area, did a bit of shopping at the supermarket in the mall, then up to the rooftop bar by the relatively busy pool before dinner at the hotel. 

Bali again? I thought we decided were never going back!

Days 1 and 2 - Melbourne (Australia) to Jimbaran Beach (Bali, Indonesia)

Day 1

OK, here we go again. The main destination for this trip is Borneo, not too far from Australia though the logistics of getting to our planned destinations is a a little convoluted, meaning a flight to Bali is the most logical first hop, even though we had decided we didn't really want to go back there.

We ease into the trip with an early morning flight and a two night stay at Jimbaran Beach which is quite close to Denpasar airport, landing early afternoon local time.

The hotel was very nice, right across from the beach and a number of seafood restaurants with tables on the sand. First task after arriving was finding a shop and an ATM, we had heard that in Borneo "cash is king" so we needed to start securing funds for the rest of the trip. Ten minutes from the hotel we found what we needed, then headed back to the hotel rooftop bar to watch the sunset, followed by dinner at a beach restaurant. 

Day 2

After breakfast we went for a walk along the beach, planning to get back before it got too hot. We stopped at the fishermen's jetty for a while, watching as large ice blocks were carried to a small boat for transfer to a larger fishing boat further out. 

We then continued as far north along the beach as possible until we were stopped by the airport fence, where we stayed a while watching the planes taking off and landing. 

By the time we started heading back the cloud layer had thinned and it was getting hot, so we stopped at a very empty seaside restaurant for a drink before returning to the hotel. 

M had found two ATMs very close to the hotel so spent some time and multiple visits to make withdrawals until we had enough Indonesian rupiah. After that it was back to the hotel rooftop and dinner at a different restaurant.