It had been arranged by Kura Kura through their contacts that we would be staying in Benny’s Guest house in Pontianak. We booked into the hotel and went to Joseph’s café where we had arranged to meet someone called Alex (another of the contacts from Kura Kura). After a warm welcome from football mad (Man United fan) Joseph....
....we were soon sat down with a large Bintang (brand of beer) and some grub. Alex then turned up and we got chatting. As it turned out he could not only give us a few pointers on what to do but his business consists of providing packages for tourists wanting to discover Borneo, with trips ranging from day visits to traditional Dayak Villages to grueling 21 days jungle treks right across Borneo! We were in good hands. So what we thought would be a difficult time was turning out to be a little more straight forward with one point of contact for finding out what to do and where to do it. Sweeeet (Alex loved this saying, as well as coooool! We taught him those of course). So we sat down and talked through what we would like to do and when. We looked through many of his photos and our excitement grew as we worked out a plan for the next week or so!
In basic terms, we worked out that we would like to go to the Equator Monument, a Long House (traditional Dayak dwelling) and then head to Central Kalimantan to go to the Tanjung Puting National Park, where the Orangutans live. We would be spending a few days in Pontianak itself in which time we would spend a day driving out into the countryside to visit the Long House.
The next day we started by spending some time getting to know Pontianak a little under the helpful guidance of Alex. We wandered around market stalls and shopping centers getting a feel for the place and the locals, whom were all very friendly and were all shouting “Hello Misterrr!” sometimes followed by “How are you?”. Super friendly and smiley people! That goes for Borneo in general really. They say Thailand is the land of a thousand smiles (should be the land of a thousand prostitutes and grumpy arses) but Borneo has been very friendly and deserves the Title thus far!
Anyway, after our morning of wandering around we decided that we would tackle our first tourist attraction and also the closest, the Equator Monument. Pontianak lies slap bang on the Equator and as a result a monument was built in 1928. In 1990 a duplicate was made but was five times the original size of the monument and was used to house the original one in order to protect it. Every March 21-23 and September 21-23, at midday, the sun passes over the equator line therefore making the shadow of the monument disappear! We were on the wrong side of the river for the monument so we had to cross it on a ferry in order to get on our way.
Boarding the ferry with a mass of locals on foot, bike and in car.
View From ferry.
We jumped into an opelet (small van with two rows of seats in the back and more people than seats) on the other side of the river and communicated to the driver where we wanted to go. After an abrupt stop and lots of finger pointing we literally popped out the back of the opelet and onto the street where we could marvel at the Equator Monument!
View from outside the Monument.
Some stuff about the Monument.
Us stood right on the equator!
It was very novel and quite cool!
The second item on our “to do” list was to visit the traditional Dayak Long House. This was presented as a package item by Alex and included the hire of a car and driver for the whole day (we needed the whole day). We could have taken a local bus but that would have been painful beyond belief! Plus with your own car you can stop where you like and take photos and what have you.
So early one morning we set off in our hired car for the long house. The journey itself was quite eventful as Alex filled us in on all sorts of history about the area, Borneo and himself (he is a very knowledgeable bloke).
We also passed through some interesting villages and areas where we were able to see how people lived day to day. The cities are an eye opener as it is but the countryside and jungle are another story. People live in shacks and small huts, bathing and washing clothes in the rivers etc etc. It’s difficult to describe to be honest, but it makes you thankful for our mod cons and a good lifestyle. At the same time they also put you to shame with their happiness and smiles! It would be nice to go into detail with regards to the real cultural and living differences on here but it is best saved for chats over a drink on our return. Let’s just say; we got it easy!!
Alex filled us in on the different tribes and immigrants within Borneo, one of which were the hard working Maduras who migrated from another island in Indonesia. He told us of how they would quarry stone and minerals from the area in times of hardship when the crops were bad or whatever it was they were doing at the time went pear shaped. They were industrious people who never gave up and worked very hard. This actually lead to their downfall as the locals became jealous of their wealth and drove them out of the country or simply killed them. They then claimed the land / areas back from the Maduras. We stopped at one of the remaining Maduras owned quarries for a quick sneak around.
Alex talks us through what we are looking at and some history as the fires used to crack the rocks sit smoldering in the background.
The stone you can see here was once a hill just like the one in the back ground.
Some of the fools gold we found. There was a big vein of it running a good few meters through the quarry. Dipi loved it! (well it did sparkle)
Onwards we went and after a while it was time to stop for some grub and refreshments. Where we stopped was an area of historical importance. Cutting a long story short, West Kalimantan was taken over by the Japs between 1942 and 1945 where they massacred 21,000 of West Kalimantan’s people. They were then overthrown by the people of Kalimantan after they were weakened by the A Bombs in Japan. Nine mass graves were found at the site where we stopped for lunch and a memorial was built along with a carved stone wall depicting the full story. This was a nice little surprise for us as Alex didn’t let us know about this within the itinerary.
The main tower within the monument.
The carved stone story board.
A close up depicting the japanese arresting the heads of authority from all the tribes and races within west Kalimantan. (They were betrayed by an insider and this is how the Japanese managed to get all the heads or chiefs)
Another part of the wall depicting the slaughtering at the mass grave sites. As the people were lined up they were shot one by one and fell into the graves.
Borneo is rich in natural resources (google the full list because I’m not going into it all on here!), one of which is gold! “His friend” had once worked at an illegal gold mine (of which there are many, along with illegal logging and other such activities in Kalimantan) so he was quite knowledgeable of what goes on. He pointed out a sound in the distance and identified it as a gold mine, so we went for a closer look.
We had to be careful not to be spotted by anyone as he explained what we were looking at and that the area had been burnt in order to make way for the mine. After the mining process the only thing left were piles of sand that in essence was good for nothing. The land had gone from lush jungle to bare sand with the obvious by product of mercury being washed directly into the rivers and water system (thus entering the food chain).
Kalimantan suffers as a result of its natural resources with people only seeing the short term dollar and not the long term effects or sustainability of their actions, illegal or not.
After lots of head shaking we headed back to the car pondering the future of other such areas and the environment in Kalimantan outside any of the national parks.
We woke the driver from his lunch time kip and off we went to the long house.
This particular example had been built for 7 generations, and scientists have dated the wood back to 1875 (seems like less than 7 generations to me, but there you go, maybe they don’t live very long!) It houses forty families side by side down the 180m length of the building.
Long Houses are built on stilts (they house animals and what have you underneath), so we had to pick the safest looking "ladder" or "steps" up.
The long house is made up of three sections....
Outside terrace....
Inside covered terrace....
And living areas, all stretching the 180m along the houses total length.
We were shown around one dwelling and the fella who lived there was an artist and wood carver. He talked us through some of the very deep meanings of his work!!
One of the dwellings serves as a shop for the long house and their families.
The longhouse was an interesting experience, and again I would echo what I say above with regards to our lifestyle and what have you.
We headed back to Pontianak and took a few more snaps with our heads filled with all sorts to ponder over.
Kids in the river.
Sunset over the mountains.
On our weary arrival back in town, our sights were now firmly set on our third and final visit (and the whole reason for visiting Borneo) which would involve us leaving Pontianak and travelling to central Kalimantan and onto Tanjung Putting National Park, home of the Orangutan.....
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