LITTLE KNOWN BUT PACKED WITH CULTURE AND INTRIGUE, THIS ISLAND IS A NORTHEASTERN GEM. WORDS AND PHOTOS BY LESTER LEDESMA

DAY ONE

If you Google Tarakan, you’ll get anything from the name of a ship to an obscure school alumni registry. The fact is that aside from its oil supplies, most Indonesians – or the world, for that matter – know little about this island off the coast of East Kalimantan. While Lonely Planet once observed, “Tarakan offers little of cultural interest”, we disagree. Isolated and unsung, Tarakan boasts ample attractions to entice intrepid weekend wanderers.

Start your exploring around mid-afternoon when your stomach’s grumbling. Downtown Tarakan is small and compact, making most places of interest an easy walk away. Begin at Warung Kopi Indra with a serving of tasty kopi and roti kaya, or deliciously spongy bread topped with margarine and sticky sweet kaya spread. Housed in an aging wooden building, the family-run coffee house has a refreshing blue-collar vibe and is a favorite local hangout.

Your caffeine-high achieved, saunter to the Tarakan Mangrove Park, a nine-hectare forest reserve in the heart of the city. Walk down its elevated platforms and marvel at the pristine condition of its wetlands, home to mudskippers, freshwater shrimps and birds-of-prey. There’s also an entire family of rare endemic proboscis monkeys, known for their curiously large protruding noses. Stay until their 5pm feeding time to watch them feasting on their daily diet of tropical fruit. Afterward, head to a more familiar jungle – the shopping jungle – at the night market along Jalan Sudirman. Browse through stall after stall of leather goods, apparel, toys and movies, before a simple dinner at Grand Tarakan Mall’s food court. The centrally located Makmur Hotel is a good option for your night’s stay.

DAY TWO

Rise early to be at the Tengkayu Pier by 9am to catch a speedboat ferry to Tanjung Selor. The trip to mainland Kalimantan Timur district takes about 90 minutes, but brings you back to a bygone era, as the boat meanders down waterways hemmed on both sides by thick mangrove forests. The ride is a glimpse of what the entire eastern coastline must have looked like before urbanization began.

Your time-travel continues from the Tanjung Selor jetty, with a 20-minute drive via a hired car to the village of Jelarai, home to a community of Dayaks who are the area’s original inhabitants. While no strangers to modernity, the Dayaks proudly wield their distinct culture and language, spotted immediately in the elaborately carved and painted patterns adorning many dwellings. Keep your eyes peeled for antique rice granaries, little wooden huts guarded by wooden figures that date back to the 19th century. With luck, you may even meet a Dayak elder, sporting intricate arm tattoos and elongated earlobes.

Back at Tanjung Selor town, hunt for souvenirs of your visit at the Pasar Induk market. There is a section here reserved for Dayak sellers, many of whom arrive from the nearby countryside to sell some truly remarkable produce, including raw coffee beans plucked straight from the forest, beaded ethnic hats and trinkets, and wild boar meat.

All your tribal tripping will leave you starving, so head to the Tanjung Selor waterfront hawkers for a serving of ayam penyet – juicy deep-fried chicken first smashed with a mallet to tenderize the meat, then served with local vegetables, rice and chili-paste. Wash it down with freshly squeezed orange juice and you are well set to continue your day’s exploration.

Your next destination is the Museum of the Bulungan Sultanate, a riverside mansion sporting bronze cannons and delicate woodwork. Representing the 1800s, when this area was the domain of a semi-independent kingdom, its artifacts offer a glimpse of life under the Bulungan sultans. Don’t linger for too long, though – if the weather permits, you can still rent a motorboat from a nearby jetty, for a leisurely afternoon cruise down the Sungai Kayan. There is no better way to end this fascinating day than watching the sunset from an open boat, with the cool river breeze on your face and the dazzling sky above you.

DAY THREE

As you ride the 8am ferry back to Tarakan, contemplate the significance of this entire island sitting under vast reserves of oil – which has not only given it industrial and strategic significance, but led to battles fought over it by the Dutch, Japanese and Australians during World War II. This wartime legacy is recalled at the Tarakan Museum in the city’s downtown area. Housed in a restored army barracks building, it embodies the recent past through countless vintage photographs and military relics. Don’t miss the Japanese officer’s katana sword, and the propeller blade taken from a crashed airplane.

This collection is the proud handiwork of museum curator Dr Rajiman, who scours the island’s numerous battle sites. Ask nicely, and he may even take you to view some of them, including the restored air-raid shelter at Kampung Satu; or an abandoned gun emplacement on Tarakan’s north shore. Most impressive of all is a hillside bunker from where you can enjoy a God’s-eye view of the surrounding countryside. There are dozens more such spots in Tarakan, but it would take several days to enjoy all of them.

Continue pondering your history lessons over lunch. Try a sumptuous meal of sweet and sour prawns and black pepper crab at Rumah Makan Kepiting Saos, possibly the city’s most popular seafood joint. Follow this with a cup of coffee and pisang goreng (deep-fried banana slices) at one of the seaside stalls along Amal Beach. Here, amid wind and waves, you can savor your last few Tarakan hours, blissfully far from the beaten path.

Contacts

Crown Hotel
14 Jln Kol Soetadji, Tanjung Selor tel: (0)552 22488

Grand Tarakan Mall
Jln Gajah Mada tel: (0)551 30222

Makmur Hotel
18 Jln Jendral Sudirman tel: (0)551-31988

Museum of the Bulungan Sultanate
Tanjung Palas, Tanjung Selor

Pasar Induk
Jln Pasar Induk, Tanjung Selor

Rumah Makan Kepiting Saos
24 Jln Mulawarman RT.64 tel: (0)551 24636

Tarakan Museum (Rumah Lengkung)
Jln Danau Jempang Kampung Bahru tel: (0)81 254 645 426

Transportation and guide services
Mr Bobby Kaeng tel: (0)813-466-40808

Warung Kopi Indra
5 Jln Yos Sudarso RT 7 Lingkas Ujung