The journey to Pontianak, land of the Equator

Date: 1st October, 2008. 

A brief by Alim, saying that at Balaikarangan there was an authorized money changer. That was the final place for us to get our RM changed. Over here, the rate was RM1.00 to RP 2,670.00. After about 30 minutes stop at the Pedagang Valuta Asing Berizin, Balaikarangan, our journey continued.

The road was winding and the condition was like the old Kuching-Bau road (in the 70’s), and the size was far smaller than the roads in Malaysia. Our bus driver was an experience driver, and could maneuver his way like reading the palm of his hand. Every time when there was a smaller vehicle in front, the bus driver would horn to alert the other driver that there was a heavy vehicle behind. The bus driver would do the same if he wanted to overtake. This honking also applied to pedestrians or bike riders to sort of like telling them to move aside or give way. It is a very common practice in Indonesia for a driver to horn but not in Malaysia, you seldom do that, and you try not to. If you do, the other car driver would not take it kindly, and you might end up having a blue eye in the worst scenario. In Indonesia, you can horn as and when you desired. In Malaysia the car horn failed because we seldom use it, but in Indonesia it failed because of over usage!

After a few hours journey, we stopped at a town called Ngabang. It was an administrative town of Kabupaten Landak, the only administrative Kabupaten town to have a modern administrative building in KalBar, constructed by the current governor Drs. Cornelis, MH, while serving as Bupati. He had no chance of occupying the building after his successful election as governor of KalBar. There, we had lunch, the food was nice which comprised of white rice, long bean (cooked with black soy sauce and mixed with pork slice), pork soup(ribs and bones), and fried chicken. After lunch we took some pictures with the administrative building as a back-drop and at the same time admired the Dayak motifs and statutes surrounding the building.

Here, in Sei Pinyuh we eased ourselves at the toilet with wall not more than 1 inch thick! As a very curious person, I looked and studied the wall. It was in fact just cement spreaded on a piece of wire mesh. It looked neat but very fragile. No brick! Then we had hot coffee and tea here. The tea aroma smelled and tasted nice. It was the Sri Wangi tea, an Indonesia tea bag just like our Lipton or  Boh tea in Malaysia.

Another 45 KM to reach Pontianak, we passed Segedong, Jungkat, Batu Layang, Tugu Khatulistiwa, Pasar Siantan, and Landak Bridge which was the 2nd bridge before reaching the city. Another bridge, Jambatan Kapuas, had a very interesting story while undergoing construction. It was said in the old days, sampan was used to ferry commuters from Siantan to Pasar Tengah. Ferry service took over later. It was also said that the construction of the bridge failed several times when the structures simply collapsed. Australian engineers, who undertook the engineering works, were summoned. They explained that they have exhausted all relevant formulas for such soil condition and possible earth movement. Then the KalBar governor summoned a Dayak warrior. During the ritual, it was believed that he buried several skulls under all the pillars. Till today the bridge proudly stood erect. Thus, whenever a convincingly smiling jamu lady trying to promote her jamu, she would use the phrase "Tegang seperti Jambatan Kapuas, pak".  After crossing over the bridge, we finally reached our destination. 

The Kapuas Palace hotel, a 3-Star hotel, was beautiful and had all the facilities needed for any function. It was at about 6.15 PM Indonesian time when we reached the hotel. We picked our bags and moved to the hotel lobby and get in line in front of the counter.

Here, Alim handed over the room keys to us. Briefly, he told us to check in to our assigned rooms and get ready in 45 minutes time to go to Mega Mall to have our dinner. 

There at the mall, everyone ordered his or her food, and after eating, some even started window shopping. Not to be left out, Mr. Redline bought about 5 or 6 CDs of the singing padre. 

It was around 10.00 PM (Indonesian Time) when we got back to the hotel. As all were tired and sore from the long journey, we retreated into our own rooms immediately. But Kaddy, Peggy and I, MBSY, continued at the lounge to consume about 3 bottles each of the famous Beer Bintang and Guinea Stout drinks. We finished our drinks untill 1.40 AM. The light at the lounge was off except at the place where we were drinking. We knew that we had to go so we retired to our own room. As each door closed, none would have known what the others were doing after that. The following morning, at breakfast, everyone seemed to smile broadly from ear to ear.  No sign of fatigue. All looked fresh and ready for the next event.