Back in Jakarta... phew

Okay. I'm tired of airplanes and airports. We flew back from Balikpapan on Sat afternoon. The Sepinggan airport in Balikpapan is just one of those provincial airports where you have to walk out to your aircraft. Ever flew from Terengganu airport? I have. Same difference. Same filthy loos too!



Last night, two guys from Dear Hubby's office flew in and we four had dinner. We went back to Ocean's where we'd gone to before and it hadn't impressed me much. But guess what? This time, the food was great! We ordered a red snapper in Bangkok sauce. I haven't a clue what Bangkok sauce is but it was delicious. For starters, we had spring rolls and some triangles of prawn cake-bread combo that was deep-fried and then covered with sesame seeds. Wowza! Even the seafood fried rice tasted better this time round. Maybe it was because the waiters gave us some sambal. I didn't know they had sambal the first time round. Ooh, I love chilli! It makes all the differences in a meal!
Somehow, there was less space to squeeze into for going home in the car... I wonder why...



Yesterday, the driver took me on a tour of Balikpapan Baru (lit. New Balikpapan). It's a new area of town, comprising mainly of shophouses and housing areas, built about 4 years ago. While I was taking in the sights, I was caught by surprise to see a banner advertising houses in Vancouver. ??? I didn't know there was a market for that here! Later, I realised that the new, posh housing areas were named after world cities. Imagine my initial surprise when we turned onto a road and I saw road signs for Paris, Amsterdam, Vancouver and Kyoto!


Balikpapan Baru is... hmm... how shall I put it? It looks like Disneyland crossed with Taipan USJ. See what I mean? I went to the shopping center there which is called, appropriately enough, Fantasy Mall.








All in all, I'm glad to be back in Jakarta where there is at least some place for me to spend my money. When we first arrived in Balikpapan, Dear Hubby handed me Rp1 mill in case I saw anything I wanted. All I spent all week was perhaps Rp200,000+ for some fruit juice for me, crisps and cookies for him, fruit and a large bottle of water. The rest of the money remained in my purse because there was simply nothing for me to buy! Dear Hubby is now wondering if we should move to Balikpapan since this will mean MEGA savings for him... hmm.. clever plot...





Still, I do like Balikpapan. It's just nice to have the beach and sand and sea breeze for a change.





Some other pics from Balikpapan:

View of the beach and the fishermen's huts from our hotel. I wandered down to The Beach grill restaurant and found some steps leading to the beach. There were some tables and chairs on a wooden deck, so I sat there for about half an hour, just enjoying the sea breeze.

The monument dedicated to the freedom fighters of East Kalimantan who gave their lives defending their homes from the Dutch. Whoever built the monument must not have grown up in the tropics. You simply do not build stuff and leave a little drain all around it where 1) rainwater can collect for mozzies to breed 2) thoughtless idiots use as a convenient trash bin to toss their ciggie butts and crisps bags.

Greetings from Balikpapan!

As I've mentioned in an earlier post about my so-called jet-setting lifestyle, I jetted from Jakarta to Balikpapan just this Monday. I've told some friends I'm a budget jet-setter.

We put up in a hotel called Le Grandeur. I'm normally very wary of establishments with pseudo-Frenchy type names but this hotel was actually quite okay. Balikpapan is situated along the Straits of Makassar and the hotel faces the beach. I didn't fancy playing in the water though, the water was a suspicious browny colour and Dear Hubby had said wryly that Balikpapan is quite the industrial town, so I didn't want to take any chances.

The hotel serves an excellent breakfast buffet and I've been happily eating my fair share daily. Two nights ago, we tried the in-house seafood restaurant called The Beach and I thoroughly enjoyed our lemon and garlic flavoured grilled tiger prawns, kangkong belacan and seafood fried rice, all spiced with generous helping of sambal. I suffered the ill effects of too much chilli the next day but it was worth it all.

Otherwise, the food I've had so far wasn't very good. We've had mostly seafood but I guess we've been ordering the wrong stuff because none of it tastes particularly delicious to me. Last night, we gave in to Dear Hubby's craving for meat and went to a seafood-steak placed called Bondy's. While the steaks weren't too bad, they didn't taste like... steak? I don't know how to describe it. It's like they were marinated with the wrong sauce or something. We are now looking forward to going home to Jakarta on Saturday and gorging ourselves at our fave restaurant, Gourmet Garage.

I like the town itself though. I was taken on a tour of Balikpapan by the company driver on Wed. There is a little shopping centre where you can shop for your groceries at the local Hero supermart and clothes at Matahari. Right opposite that is a KFC if you want something else than fishy stuff to eat. Turn right at the traffic lights opposite the shopping centre and the road takes you to Pizza Hut and Bondy's. It ends at the harbour.
If you don't turn at the traffic lights, you'll go past a monument dedicated to the East Kalimantan freedom fighters who gave their lives in the struggle again the Dutch. Sad to say while the monument itself was magnificent, there was rubbish strewn all over the place. Right next to that is an excellent seafood restaurant or so I'm told. Continue down the road and you'll go past the HQ of Pertamina, the state oil company, on your right and the harbour on your left. You can take a ferry to Jakarta from the harbour, it's an 8-hr ride.

Why do I like Balikpapan? Well, since it's right on the coast, there's always a sea breeze blowing and it keeps the air in the town fresh. You can actually see stuff, it's not covered in smog as it usually is in Jakarta and in KL. I like my al fresco mamak dining in KL and I've missed that since moving to Jakarta where you simply can't eat out due to the pollution. So it was pretty nice to be able to sit out under the stars and eat your meal. The only downside is the night sea breeze is so strong, food gets cold real quick!

I'll be going out today to Balikpapan Baru. The driver told me that the area I'm in is the old town and there's a newer bit. Life here moves at a much slower pace here and I'm told most of the activities for expats are either going to the bars (not my thing) or doing the nature bit; they have a world-renowed orangutan conservation society here.

Dear Hubby asked me what "Balikpapan" means. I said I didn't know but literally, it means "behind the plank". Thanks to Wikipedia, I've found out the legend behind the name. A folk story tells of how a local king threw his newborn daughter into the sea to protect her against his enemies. The baby was tied beneath some planks which were discovered by a fisherman. Ta-dah!

Our driver tells me the symbol of his town is the bear. How about that? I've just come back from bear country in Canada and arrived in yet another bear country!

My international jet-setting lifestyle

Eat your heart out, guys. I am now living the life of an international jet-setter.

Of course, while other international jet-setters set off for locations such as Paris and Milan, I set off for... er... Balikpapan. Dear Hubby's company has a base office here and he had to come here to oversee things for a week. It made no sense for me to hang around alone and bored in Jakarta while he was alone and bored here in Balikpapan, so we both flew here yesterday.

Since we arrived at night, there wasn't much to see. But it's now 10am here in Balikpapan and I've discovered my hotel is right on the beach. Woo! I love the sand and sea. Very strange because I can't swim. I'll be out in a mo to take some piccies. No idea what the place is like but it looks nice and quiet and the air is a LOT cleaner than Jakarta.

I have to sit down and rest right now instead of going straight out to explore because I've just (as usual) over-eaten at the hotel breakfast buffet and now feel like I've swallowed a beach ball. At 21 weeks pregnant, my belly has suddenly decided to swell up. I never looked very pregnant before this, just er.. fat, I suppose. But now I look decidedly pregnant and for the first time, the hotel staff at our regular hotel in Jakarta have started asking me about the baby. I guess before this they thought it was impolite to ask me why I was so fat. I've found that I now get breathless after some meals, maybe it's because I don't have much space inside me anymore and after meals, the stomach presses against my diaphragm? Dunno. The scary bit is that my Little Monkey isn't done with the growing yet, he's got another 4 months of growing inside me to go!

Ooh.. the beach is looking so tempting... really have to go now. Will continue with my Canada holiday memories when I have time to sit down, I really, really had fun there.