Selasa, 29 Desember 2009

The Office

For working on marine issues in Berau, TNC is working together with WWF. Therefore, the two organizations decided to have a joint program which means they have one office.




The TNC-WWF joint program office is located on a main street of Tanjung Redeb


The office is a house

The office is located at Jalan Pulau Derawan, facing the Segah River. The joint program has one Floating Surveillance Station (FSS) and two speedboats stationed on the river.









Two speedboats for operational purposes

Senin, 28 Desember 2009

Tepian

Tepian is a certain spot in the Segah River bank which is filled with beverages vendors. The crowd is started in the evening.

It is nice to sit along the river, feel the river breeze, chatting with friends while enjoying some beverages. The beverages available are, of course, non alcoholic ones. Hot drinks like coffee, tea, hot chocolate as well as fresh juices are available. Some simple snacks like friend banana can also be found here.

Tepian is the most famous spot to hang out in Tanjung Redeb. You never have been to Tanjung Redeb if you haven’t visit Tepian.

Gunung Tabur Museum

Ancient Berau was consists of two small kingdoms: Gunung Tabur and Sambaliung. Gunung Tabur is located near the Segah River while Sambaliung is near the Kelai River. These two rivers meet at the tip of the cape or tanjung which form the recent Tanjung Redeb.

Part of Gunung Tabur palace becomes a museum. Here, one can see remaining treasures of the kingdom. Next to the museum, there is a house lived by the princess.








The entrance












The symbol of Gunung Tabur kingdom









A dragon boat









Old cannons

Crocodile Farm

Outside the city of Tanjung Redeb, there is a crocodile farm managed by the government. This farm is located after the city forest if we start from the city.


A croc sunbathing

Here, there is a big pond as a home for the crocs. According to the animal keeper, there are more than 20 crocs inside the pond. However, the crocs are not the showing-off type. Only one to two crocs appear on the surface at a time. One has to be patient to wait for another croc to appear.

Me, trying to take a pic of an appeared croc
Photo courtesy of Candhika Yusuf

If you are generous enough, just donate a 60 kg of chicken meat for the crocs. This place has limited funding which makes the crocs underfed.

Cendana City Park


Near the office of the Head of the Berau District, there is a city park named Cendana.

A water fountain is located in the middle of it, and some animal statues are spreading out around the park.

The park is clean; and unlike other city parks in Indonesia, there are no street vendors inside. I hope this situation will stay forever.

Odong-odong

Just when you thought this ride is only available in Java; surprisingly odong-odong is pretty famous among children in Tanjung Redeb. Children are lining up to play it!

This ride is a mini carousel modified from a bike. The operator has to pedal the bike to make each seat moves up and down.

Odong-odong or mini carousel
Photo courtesy of Candhika Yusuf

Singkuang Café

This is another surprise for me. In the small city of Tanjung Redeb, there is a café with nature-style design.



The entrance


The café is called Singkuang Café. It is made mostly from woods and surrounded with lush garden. The café has two levels, the first one has sofas and chairs while the second one has mats with pillows. In addition, the café has wi-fi facility!

First floor


It’s really a nice place to relax or hang out with friends. For music lovers, there are band instruments for jamming, and karaoke set for singing.










Band instruments and a big screen







Second floor with mat and pillows

What an oasis in a desert!

Praying Houses


Although the city is small but Tanjung Redeb has all the praying houses of acknowledged religions in Indonesia. Mosques, Churches, Pura or Hindu temple, and Vihara or Buddhist temple are present. What a melting pot!

The Grand Mosque








A Protestant Church

Parking

No parking fee in Berau. I hope it’s gonna be forever.

Supermarket


Some supermarkets are present in Tanjung Redeb but all of them are local companies. No national companies like Alfa Mart or Indomaret are present. Of course no hypermart also.

Although they are local companies but they can provide a wide range of products, similar to what I can find in Jakarta. So far, no complains! :)

The Price

Prices in Kalimantan are more expensive than in Java and Sumatra. This is just normal because most of the populated cities are in the two islands, so the distribution chains are stronger there. However although the prices are above standard, the difference is not so much.

So far the only shocking price that I found is the price of ‘Aqua’ drinking water. The price of a refilled gallon is three times than the one in Jakarta!!! This is somehow odd as the price for one liter of plastic bottle packaging is almost the same like in Jakarta.

The price for gasoline in Berau is no different as in Jakarta. Of course this price is the one sold in an official gas station of Pertamina. The gas station is as standard as the ones in Jakarta. However, the logo used in the Pertamina stations is the old one. Some thing is not updated yet…

Prices for food in food stall are somewhat normal. One meal with home-made drink is averagely cost Rp.13.000,- (less than € 1). Since prices of bottled tea and any other packaged drink are more expensive than in Java, it is better to have a home-made drink like ice tea or orange juice.

Minggu, 27 Desember 2009

Japanese Food

Of course I am not expecting to find any fast food in Berau, but still I am surprised to find foreign food stall.

Yes, there is one Japanese food stall in Tanjung Redeb. It’s called ‘Isaku Iki’ which means ‘the only thing I can’ in Javanese language. Pretty funny!

The taste is quite good. The teriyaki and katsu are close to the Japanese style. So if I were in craving for foreign food, this stall will be the option.

Clothing

Tanjung Redeb is a small city yet it has many surprises. For instance: clothing. There are many distros in Tanjung Redeb. Really!

Although most of them sell t-shirts mostly, I guess I still can be fashionable here. And just when I thought it would be difficult to find batik clothes, there is one distro specializing in selling batik from Jogajakarta! Nice!

Accommodation

Accommodation here means a room to rent or a house to rent. Starting from my arrival to today, I am staying at my co-worker’s house. She rent a house and she allows me to stay there. My co-worker is having her annual leave until the New Year holiday ended; so at the moment I live alone in her rented house.







Living room


Central room








TV room


The house is pretty big. I don’t how much the total area exactly, but it has three sleeping rooms, one living room, one kitchen room, one bathroom, and one central room. It’s really big for living alone.

By the end of January, my co-worker will not extending her work contract and she will move out from Berau. So she offers me to continue the rent. It’s a nice offer as the price is reasonable and the house is fully furnished, which means I don’t have to think about buying furniture or even buying any utensils. Beside, I don’t have to search anymore, I just have to change my room. However, as I said, this house is too big for living alone. If I continue to live alone, then I’ll waste two other rooms. And even if I don’t mind about it, still, cleaning the whole house alone will kill me softly. With my standard of cleanliness, I think I need a whole day to clean each room!!! In addition, the house has garden!!!







The kitchen



Sleeping room






Ah well, I don’t have to decide now…

Fruits

As a tropical girl, I like to consume tropical fruits. In Jakarta I used to have condensed fruit juice for breakfast.

In Berau, I wanted to continue my healthy habit. Luckily, there’re fruits outlets nearby my home.

However, the price of fruits is fairly expensive as they come from outside Berau, and even from outside Borneo! Avocadoes come from Sulawesi, apples and mangoes from Java. Some apples and oranges are even imported! Local fruits from Berau are duku, rambutan, and orange.

TV Channels

Surprisingly, in Berau it is common to have a parabola antenna. Maybe it is because there are no relay TV stations like in big cities. However, using parabola antenna means having TV channels from abroad as well as from Indonesia. Channels like HBO, Star Movies, ESPN, Arirang, etc. are available.

Almost every household, big and small, has parabola antenna beside the house. Sometimes, one parabola antenna is shared by some houses. For me, this is very special because I don’t have HBO channel in my house in Jakarta. I have cable TV in Jakarta, but to have HBO I have to pay extra. So surprise, surprise… I can watch HBO everyday in a small city!!!

Having parabola antenna is common, like in this decent house.

The only annoying factor is: the electricity is not stable. I hope the electricity won’t go blackout when I were watching something very interesting.

Electricity

In Indonesia, even big cities have problem with electricity…! Having blackout is normal even in Jakarta. I personally don’t understand with this situation; Indonesia is rich with sunlight, winds, waves, and or waters, electricity supply shouldn’t be a problem.

Anyway, so it’s not surprising if small city like Tanjung Redeb always having blackout more than once a week :(

Banks

Major Indonesian banks are present in Tanjung Redeb like Mandiri, BCA, Danamon, BNI, and BRI. So no worries, any bank cards using visa electron, link, alto, or cirrus network can withdraw money in ATM all over the city centre.

Of course there is also a local bank like East Borneo Provincial Development Bank (Indonesian: BPD Kaltim). But probably it is not needed for visitors or immigrants like me.

Mandiri has the most ATM outlets which are three.

Airport

The airport in Berau is called Kalimarau. Today, it has an airstrip for Boeing plane.

Two local flights service and one national flight company are available to provide a route of Tanjung Redeb – Balikpapan. However on weekends, only the national is available. If one searches for a ticket from outside Kalimantan, most likely one will get the national flight company.

According to other people who have been travel to Berau a lot, the national one is often delayed. Nonetheless, the national one is the one with Boeing aircraft; it is easier to get its ticket. The locals are Fokker aircrafts.

The locals are ‘Trigana’ and ‘Kalstar’ while the national one is ‘Batavia’.

The airport building of Kalimarau is very small and decent. It only has one conveyor belt; and people can just go in and out freely. It reminds me of an airport in Labuan Bajo, Flores in eastern of Indonesia.

Sabtu, 26 Desember 2009

City Forest

At the suburb of Tanjung Redeb, there is a city forest of Berau. The forest here is a natural one. It means, no special arrangement or management is present.

No trekking route available, one has to have a bold adventure nerve to go inside.

There is no entrance fee to explore the forest, so it is really worth to see. However, take care of yourself as land leeches are abundant. I got one of these bloodsuckers on my right foot and it felt pretty painful. My blood kept spilling out after some hours :(








1st and 3rd photos are courtesy of Candhika Yusuf

Time Zone

Berau is included into the central time zone of Indonesia or WITA. It has one hour difference to Jakarta. If Jakarta is GMT + 7 hours, then Berau is GMT + 8 hours.

Weather

The weather in Berau is the same as the rest of Indonesia: it’s hot and humid. But since it’s a small unpopulated city, the air is pretty clear.

Going by bike or on foot is still possible here; things that almost impossible to do in Jakarta due to the high level of pollution. Although it’s hot and humid but walking around in the city for an hour doesn’t make my face feels ‘thick’ or my hair feels ‘itchy’. And since every place is walking distance, I think I’ll enjoy my life here.

The streets of Berau are relatively 'empty'.

Jumat, 25 Desember 2009

The Rivers



I never have been to Kalimantan before so I have no idea about the city or the river size. And I was amazed in seeing the river size; it is the biggest river that I’ve seen in my life! It is so incomparable with rivers in Java, Bali, Sulawesi (Celebes), or even in Europe!

So far I only have seen two rivers which crossing around Tanjung Redeb. I can’t imagine other rivers as Berau has 21 rivers!

Small boats called ‘Katinting’ are common to see as public transportation.

Tanjung Redeb

Tanjung Redeb is the capital city of Berau District. Its total area is 23.76 km² and it has 55,000 inhabitants. While Berau itself is 34,127 km² in total area and has 164,501 inhabitants.

Since Tanjung Redeb is a very small city, to Indonesian standard, sometimes people just say ‘Berau’ to refer Tanjung Redeb.

Tanjung means ‘cape’ or ‘peninsula’. Tanjung Redeb is a cape where at the tip of it, two rivers meet into one which goes toward the sea. The two rivers are called ‘Segah’ and ‘Kelai’; while the united one is called Berau River.Although it's not clear on this picture, but this is the tip of the cape where the two rivers meet.

Tanjung Redeb is a growing city due to coal mining companies that increase in number. Immigrants like me are increasing lately, so it is difficult to notice any local dialect. In fact, most of the food vendors are Javanese; which makes me have to practice my poor Javanese language skill.

Although the city is growing but the city planning is still messy. Garbage is everywhere which make the city looks slum. The good thing is, the air is still unpolluted.

Also, although the city still has much available lands, but people and houses are concentrated in certain area. They live densely in a rumah panggung on a peat land. The houses are somehow pretty, made on wood and have flowers around, but as I mentioned before, it surrounded by garbage.

Departing to Berau

Finally I got news that I have to start my working period by December 14th. In the first week, I had an orientation session about the office and the program in general. TNC has a country representative office in Jakarta and a marine program office in Bali; so I have to visit both.

With Jakarta office, it is not a problem as I am living in Jakarta. But going to Bali office, it is another story. Bali is the no.1 tourist destination in Indonesia, it means that the business trip will be mixed with holiday. In addition, I lived and worked in Bali before; so going there means visiting old friends also. For these reasons, many people couldn’t believe my luck.

On December 14th and 15th I had my orientation session at the Jakarta office. By the night of December 15th I had to fly to Bali. I won’t go back to Jakarta after Bali, instead, I had to continue flying to my field office in Berau. Knowing this, I asked my office to let me stay longer in Bali before start working in Berau on December 21st.

Bali stop

So there I was, staying in Bali for four nights. I met my old friends and enjoying a little bit of holiday. Since I will live in a small and remote city, I had to maximize my leisure time; by having a spa!

Finding a spa in Bali is like finding a dust, they all everywhere! It is a matter of one’s budget. As for me, I wanted to have an outdoor spa, like having a massage in a garden environment or having a floral bath with a waterfall sound. And for these, it needs big budget!

Outdoor spas are only available at fancy hotels and resorts; and I didn’t have that much budget right now. I have to start a new live in unknown place; I’d better prepare much money for it.

As a solution, I chose a mid-range spa. The spa is called ‘Jamu’ or herbal medicine in English. It has a nice garden environment. However, the massage place is in a closed room with AC. The good thing is, each customer is treated in a private room. The room has a closed space for massage and an open space for bathing. To get the outdoor feeling, I decided to open the door of the massage room.

The treatment took 1.5 hours starting with massage using candlenut oil. It followed by body mask using papaya mixed with peppermint oil and the body is wrapped by banana leaves. It felt wonderful; it smells nice and refreshing. The treatment was finished with warm flower petals bath. Very rejuvenating!

I think I am ready for my new life;)

Balikpapan stop









On December 19th I flew from Bali to Balikpapan in East Borneo. Since there is no direct flight to Berau at that time, I had to stay overnight in Balikpapan.

My accommodation was arranged by the office so I just took it for granted. Apparently I was placed in a pretty fancy hotel. The hotel room has its own kitchen and living-room space! Wooow, this is very fancy. I think I should stay longer there too…!














Final stop: Berau


On December 20th I was ready to start my new life in Berau. However, the start was not easy. My flight was supposed to depart at 10.40 AM, but until 11.00 AM there was no boarding call. And the nightmare began...

The flight was delayed to 13.00 PM! I started feeling anxious because I had felt tired of traveling. This would be my last trip but I had to wait longer than expected. I hated it!

While waiting, I had chat with other passengers. Apparently the flight that we used is the unreliable one. It often delayed! :( The worst thing is, the flight is served by a national company. So if one books from another city, most likely one is offered to fly with this one. One passenger told me that she flew from Jakarta and has waited there since 08.00 AM; while other told me that he flew from Samarinda and has waited there since 05.00 AM!!! Oh well, what am I complaining for…?

There are two other flights operated by local companies. But these flights did not operate on weekends. Too bad! But for sure, I will use them for my next trip. I don’t believe this national company…

Finally, at 13.40 we were boarding to Berau. The trip took 40 minutes. I was picked up by my co-workers and directed to ‘my new home’.

Well, hallo Berau!