I woke at 0400; the result of retiring too early last night and the early wakeup yesterday. I popped half a sleeping pill and that took me back into dreamland till 0700. I enquired with the hotel about onward travel to Singkawang. As the bus station here is out-of-town (which requires a separate bus or taxi), a normally a door-to-door service works out cheaper, faster and more convenient. The earliest one they could find for me was at 1300.
So the morning was spent sightseeing across the river on the Siantan side of town. I took the boat across the Kapuas (Borneo’s longest river) and visited the Sultan’s palace. The lady in the palace told me he is still in residence, but with Indonesia being a republic, he doesn’t have power or much dough. The place is rather run down.
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- At the wharf in Pontianak.
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- Crossing the Kapuas; looking back at Pontianak city.
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- Crossing the Kapuas; looking back at Pontianak city.
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- On the Siantan village side of Kapuas river.
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- House in the village.
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- Palace of the Sultan of Pontianak.
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- Canon and ball.
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- Inside the Sultan’s palace.
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- Sultan’s throne.
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- Sultan’s and sultanah’s thrones.
I continued to the mosque and the village adjoining afterwards. In contrast to the centre of Pontianak which was very Chinese, this side is very Malay. Unlike much of Indonesia which I’ve visited, people do identify themselves as Malay (in other places, they’re proud to be from other races such as Minang, Bugis or Acehnese – these people in Malaysia/Singapore have become assimilated into Malay culture).
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- In the village by the Kapuas; the black-coffee coloured river is actually a good sign … a milk-coffee coloured river suggest mud runoffs from deforestation.
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- Water-taxi sampans carrying people across the river.
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- Looking back at Pontianak City.
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- In the village by the Kapuas; the black-coffee coloured river is actually a good sign … a milk-coffee coloured river suggest mud runoffs from deforestation.
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- Barber; I like the old-fashioned chair.
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- At the market by the river.
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- At the market by the river.
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- Eeewww!
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- The Abdul Rahman mosque by the river.
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- The Abdul Rahman mosque by the river.
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- Plankwalks link the various homes by the river.
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- Plankwalks link the various homes by the river.
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- By the river.
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- On the Kapuas.
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- On the Kapuas.
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- On the Kapuas.
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- Pontianak street scene.
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- Big river barges in the background, when the water is high people in the canteen (on right) sit ankle-deep in water.
