We spent last weekend in a city called Balikpapan on the island of Borneo. It was my first trip to an Indonesian island other than Java, where we live!
We left from Semarang airport which has only one tiny baggage carousel and no sky bridges- you just walk out onto the tarmac to board your flight.
Upon arriving at the Balikpapan airport we were shocked to be greeted by a giant, modern airport that looks a lot like the new Raleigh-Durham terminal.
Balikpapan’s largest industry is oil so I guess oil money builds nice airports.
We found a restaurant called Ocean’s and ate there twice because it was delicious and right on the water.
There were people sitting on the very end of this drooping pier during both of our meals but it didn’t look quite sturdy enough for me to venture out.
Joel and I were celebrating our anniversary so our goal for the weekend was some beach relaxation.
Indonesian beaches are typically pretty dirty so our hopes for a trash free beach are a tall order.
Our hotel, Le Grandeur, has someone comb the beach daily so there was a stretch that is moderately clean.
However, they pick up only directly in front of their building so you can still see giant piles of plastic bottles on one side and washed up debris on the other.
It’s sort of like if someone were to take great care in manicuring their lawn but then throw all their garbage in the neighbor’s yard- it doesn’t really help the overall ambiance of the block.
Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Weekend in Borneo
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