BEST BUYS

SHOP FOR ONE OF THESE BEST BUYS AT YOUR NEXT DESTINATION AND SUPPORT THE LOCAL ECONOMY IN THE PROCESS

Bali

Indonesia’s best-known tourist spot is also home to a startling range of cultural and artistic traditions.

Best Buys: Head to Jalan Seminyak for bold, stylish modern furnishings, and home accessories with an ethnic twist.

The designs in the boutique shops dotting the road feature unusual and eye-catching combinations of color, structure and material. Many items, which for the most part are locally manufactured, will ultimately be exported overseas and sold at an appropriately marked-up price.

Balikpapan

Once an isolated Bugis village, Balikpapan is a major seaport specializing in timber, mining and petroleum exports.

Best Buys: From blowpipes to baby carriers, there’s something for everyone among the Dayak handicrafts available at Inpres Market on Suprapto Street. Wood, old beads and baskets are just some of the treasures for sale, produced by the legendarily fierce tribe. Today, many Dayaks have taken on the trappings of modern life – all the more reason to bring back a memento of their proud past.

Banjarmasin

Banjarmasin presides over an area laced with rivers and rich in natural resources, including petroleum and coal.

Best Buys: For good value commercial diamonds, visit the villages of Lukaas and Sungai Tiung in Cempaka, south-east of the Banjarmasin delta, where local miners dig for diamonds in groups of 10 to 20, carrying the slurry out of the ground by hand. The area produces black diamonds, lower-quality yellow diamonds, brilliant pink diamonds and, rarely, colorless diamonds.

Batam

As well as being an industrial center, Batam has developed into a resort island known for its many golf courses.

Best Buys: Batam is a dream for those seeking golf packages. With six lush courses on the island, some designed to world-class standards and with sweeping views of the sea, there’s something to suit everyone, from nine-hole to 27-hole courses. Batam also has hotels, karaoke, and family-friendly water parks, making for a comfortable and relaxing holiday.

Bengkulu

This resource-rich province is famous as a producer of export commodities including ginger and coffee.

Best Buys: Large-bean Bengkulu coffee of the Robusta strain is heavy-bodied and full, with a bold buttery taste and kick that keeps you up for the day. Mount Curup is one area where coffee is planted. Bengkulu is a major Robusta coffee producer, which, along with the rest of South Sumatra, accounts for a major part of Indonesia’s production.

Jakarta

This financial and political hub is home to more than 10 million people and continues to grow.

Best Buys: Take advantage of the momentary lull in the contemporary Indonesian art market to scoop up some relative bargains. Several well-known and reputable galleries offer a wide selection of paintings, sculptures and installations from artists throughout the nation. Buy based on enjoyment rather than fickle investment value, and you’re sure to have a keeper.

Jambi

This busy port city on the Batang Hari River is also close to several excellent parks.

Best Buys: Jambi batik is considered distinctive for both its pattern and colors. Although the painstaking process of creating the fabric is similar to that of the more familiar Javanese batik, different motifs – some possibly originating from the days of the Melayu Jambi kingdom – and colors are at play, including a red hue made from local plants.

Jogjakarta

The heart of Central Javanese culture, Jogja is also a major center of higher education and learning.

Best Buys: Searching for magical powers? Serangan Village, a center for the production of keris weapons, is the place to start. Traditionally, keris daggers were valued heirlooms passed from father to son. The empu, or keris smith, could spend anything up to a year making it and imbuing it with special powers, in keeping with the personality of its owner.

Kupang

Kupang has been on the trading map for centuries as the gateway to East Indonesia’s riches.

Best Buys: A thousand years of trading history cannot be wrong when it comes to shopping – East Nusa Tenggara has been producing sandalwood and sandalwood oil for more than a millennium and the quality is still considered excellent. Today, the wood is widely used for carvings, handicrafts, incense and traditional medicines, while the oil is distilled and exported throughout the world.

Medan

Medan, the third largest city in Indonesia, offers one of the country’s most varied culinary scenes.

Best Buys: After feasting from the enormous range of food that Medan has to offer, walk it off by browsing for Dutch ceramics and pottery items at the various arts and crafts shops in the city. Several such stores are located on Ahmad Yani Street. Make sure you compare prices, and do try to bargain. Also, beware of buying expensive pieces without some expert guidance.

Padang

Besides its cuisine, found throughout Indonesia, Padang plays host to some excellent surf sites.

Best Buys: Consider investing in surf lessons – a great way to take advantage of the clear seas surrounding the quiet and orderly city, and to work off the traditional nasi Padang buffet. There are surf sites to suit all levels, from beginners just finding their sea legs to expert surfers. Those looking for a real challenge should hit the nearby Mentawai Islands for a taste of world-class surfing.

Pangkalpinang

Pangkalpinang is Bangka Island’s largest city, and is also a noted as a major center for the tin mining industry.

Best Buys: The area of Muntok on Bangka is famous for peppercorns. Muntok white pepper, named after Bangka Island’s main port, yields a rich flavor suitable for braises and marinades – which has seen it become well known throughout the world. The original peppercorn berries are hand picked, and then soaked in mountain water for a week to loosen the outer shell, leaving the pale inner fruit.

Pekanbaru

The hub of a large oil industry including many multinational companies, Pekanbaru is known for its clean, wide boulevards.

Best Buys: Wild forest honey harvested by tribes in the Riau province is delicious, healthy and eco-friendly. Honey sales provide local communities an economic incentive to preserve their forested surrounds. The trees favored by wild bees as sites for their beehives are called sialang and are usually higher and stronger than other trees in the forest. Honey is an important part of the local tribal diet.

Pontianak

Renowned for its ship building industry, Pontianak was formerly a major center for gold extraction.

Best Buys: The intricate and time-consuming hand-woven songket cloths, made with trademark threads of silver and gold, are excellent buys in Pontianak. The best of these hold their value through generations. The cloths, sold openly in the market, have great symbolic value, and can either be framed and hung as a wall decoration, or paired with the traditional Javanese kebaya.

Semarang

The numerous influences that came together to make Semarang are evident in the variety of its city architecture.

Best Buys: You can’t put a price on health – and natural medicines are better straight from the source. Semarang is a thriving center for traditional herbal medicine, or jamu, with several major national producers based in the city. Stroll around and collect some health-inducing potions according to your particular ailments, or simply try one of the readily available tonics for general health.

Surabaya

Indonesia’s second largest city, Surabaya, is a major industrial site and an important commercial port.

Best Buys: Next time you are visiting Surabaya, consider investing in a top quality carpet at the Ampel Market, in the city’s intriguing Arab quarters. Once you’ve chosen a design you like, look for the number of knots per square inch on the back for an indication of quality. Prices vary according to the knot count, size and material, with silk usually commanding the highest price.

Tarakan

Quiet and peaceful, this sparsely populated island is located on top of extensive reserves of oil.

Best Buys: Surrounded by pristine waters, Tarakan is an excellent place to buy seafood – particularly fish. It’s guaranteed to be fresh and flavorful, no matter how it’s cooked. From the most humble seaside eatery, to the town’s more upscale restaurants, the barbecued fish (ikan bakar) is a safe and delicious choice. Alternate versions include steamed or Chinese-style dishes.