Wednesday, July 1, 2009 by wahyu

Jembatan Barito


The official birthday of the city is 24th of


September in the year 1526,

but its history are older than that date. From the time of the ancient kingdom of Nan

Serunai, to the Buddhist kingdom of Tanjungpuri and the Hindu kingdom Negara Dipa and its succesor Negara Daha,

the rivers of Southern Kalimantan were always been the favorite spot of the Malay people. That’s why Banjarmasin old name was “Bandar Masih”, meaning the port of

the Malay in Dayak Bukit dialect. In the chaotic time of civil war be

tween the rightful heir of Negara Daha, Pangeran Samudera, and his uncle, Pangeran

Samudera was forced to flee for his life. At this time, Bandar Masih received him warmly, stopped paying taxes to

his uncle and support Pangeran Samudera’s fight to get his throne back. When his uncle finally surrendered, Pangeran Samudera decided to make Bandar Masih his new capit

al, converted to Islam, and begun his rule over the new Islamic Ki

ngdom of Banjar. His day of victory was then celebrated as Banjarmasin’s birthday. The name "Bandar Masih" slowly changed into "Banjarmasin" as the water tastes salty when in dry season (salty is "masin" in Banjarese language). The

Kingdom flourished and back in its golden era, its power enveloped almost all of the area of what is now Indonesia’s part of Kalimantan. After the fierce Banjar War which produced a lot of highly-revered local heroes such as Pangeran Antasari, however, it was forced to surrender the colonial Dutch,

following the total destruction of the palace ground and the capture of the last Banjarese Princess (Ratu Zaleha). Banjarmasin continued to be the capital of Dutch Borneo throughout the colonial era. Even after the forming o

f the Indonesian Government, Banjarmasin was the capital of Kalimantan province until it was divided into 4 Provinces (West, East, Central and South), t

hen it became the capital of South Kalimantan. Few is left of its previ

ous glory, but Banjarmasin silently kept her forgotten charm in unexpected places for the persistent travelers to find.

Get in

By plane

Banjarmasin’s airport is Syamsuddin Noor (BDJ), half an hour drive from the city. To go to the city, you can take a taxi (with fixed rate) or better yet, tell your hotel to pick you up. There are da

ily flights from many Indonesian cities including Jakarta and Surabaya. The airport is 26km from Banjarmasin.

By car

The roads of Trans-Kalimantan are in bad condition, but if you’re

patient and adventurous you can try to reach Banjarmasin from the neighboring provinces of Central Kalimantan and East Kalimantan by car.

By ship

Another alternative to get to Banjarmasin is by ship from various places in Indonesia to Banjarmasin’s main harbour, Trisakti. Be forewarned that the condition of passenger ship transportation in Indonesia is poor, albeit cheap, and you might

want to consider that before spending the night (at least 1 night if you come from Java). You best bet is Express Ferry where it’s available, only 8 hours from Java, and 2 days + 2 nights of seatrip from Jakarta Tanjun

g Priuk Harbor Passenger Terminal.

By boat

Alternatively, if you are coming from the neighboring provinces of East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan, there are a lot of boat transportations through the rivers of Kalimantan. This c

ould be an adventurous or boring ride depending on your taste. A range of boats are available, from slow moving boats to speedboats. It’s a great choice if you are extremely adaptable with the locals’ way of life.

Get around

Your best bet would be the metered taxi, insist the driver to use the meter if you have to. Alternatively, you can use “angkot” or “bamikro” or public shuttle microbuses, which interesting enough are also called “taxi” too

by the locals. Also available is by "ojek" (motorcity taxi) and "becak" (Tricycle Rickshaw), that cost around USD 2.00 - 2.50 or Rp. 15,000 - 20,000 for inner city trips.

See

Floating markets.
Floating markets.

Architectural Heritage

Banjarese, the name of South Kalimantan’s ethnicity, have a

unique way of building their houses and other st

ructures in harmony with nature. There are at least 12 types of traditional Banjarese houses, which have unfortunately lost their popularity in modern times. Still, you can see a few houses that were built with tradit

ional techniques all over Banjarmasin if you really search for them. The palace ground was totally destroyed by the colonial Dutch, but you can still visit its remnants in Kampung Kraton, alongJalan Pangeran Samudera. There, you can see Masjid Sultan Suriansyah. Built during Pangeran Sam

udera’s rule, it is the first Mosque in South Kalimantan and contains the royal burial site.

  • Museum Waja Sampai Ka Puting - this was an old and genuine Banjarese traditional house in "Bubungan Tinggi" style (one of the 12 styles and the most bona fide one) before it was transformed into a museum.
  • Masjid Sultan Suriansyah - The oldest mosque in South Kalimantan, 300+ years old.
  • Masjid Raya Sabilal Muhtadin - a giant modern mosque completed in 1981, the second largest in Indonesia.



Rivers

Pulau Kembang
Pulau Kembang

Banjarmasin is abundant with wide and mighty rivers. The rivers have always been a part of Banjarese way of life. To this very day, every morning there are floating markets in which farmers and traders brought their goods to trade on boats. It has always been a farmers’ market and it’s interesting to see the genuine river-based way of life. The rivers are also the main venues for boat races and other festivities. The main attractions are the waterlogged suburbs traversed by canals; much of the city's commerce takes place on water.

  • Floating markets - trading is from dawn until around 9am. Get there early. Journey takes around 20 minutes by boat.
  • Canal trips
  • Pulau Kembang (lit. Flower Island) - visit the long-tailed macaques at the decrepit Chinese temple, 20 minutes by boat. You can buy nuts to feed them. The monkeys are quite aggressive if you have food and will try to steal it from you.
  • Pulau Kaget (lit. Surprised Island) - see the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus), the mascot fauna of South Kalimantan. No guarantee you would have a good look at them, though, as they are really shy.

Do

In Sunday mornings, people from Banjarmasin have a tradition of walking, running, jogging, cycling or go with whatever you want toward the suburbs that is called "Pal Tujuh". There, they would go to the "Pasar Ahad" or "Sunday Market" which, obviously, opens only on Sundays. Enjoy local treats such as Ketupat Kandangan and Apam as your warm breakfast over there.

Buy

Semi-precious gems and stones. Rattan products.

  • Borneo Discovery Tours, Jl. Gudang Lima - Banjarmasin (Floating Market at Queen River), ☎ 08125361221, [1]. 3 hours. Local Tour operator experience for handling tourist visit Floating market at queen river and adventure trip along the barito river, martapura gemes, exploring cempaka and amandir river bamboo rafting tours. Usd.8,-. edit

Eat

Banjarese love their foods and even though they are most of the times very excited about other kinds of foods, they adore their own local specialties more than others. The ones in restaurants, malls, or foodcourts are fine for beginners, but to find the real taste of Banjarese food, you have to go to hidden places in small streets because there you’d find the ones that are famous among the locals.Foods that are available throughout the year and are very popular with the locals:

  • Soto Banjar - "Soto" is a type of Indonesian soup. Soto Banjar is a uniquely Banjarese variant of Soto, popular in other places throughout in Indonesia. Don't miss the chance to try the real and genuine taste in its place of origin! Soto in Banjar meant that it is served with lontong, while Soup is served with rice, for the same meal.
  • Apam - Although not specifically Banjarese, the Apam here has its own twist. Enjoy it sweet and warm, accompanied with tea.
  • Bingka - A specialty of Banjarese, it came in many flavors. The pride of the Banjarese people, it's very sweet and creamy.
  • Ketupat Kandangan - It's actually a specialty of Kandangan, but you can also find it in Banjarmasin. Known as a festive food, especially favored during Eid al Fitr.
  • Klepon Buntut - Similar to Klepon, a palm sugar filled snacks coated with grated coconut found across Java, however this one has smoother texture and the flling is more liquidy.

However, in the month of Ramadhan, the Banjarese went all out with their traditional delicacies. Heaps of wadai (traditional cakes) and other treats mostly unavailable throughout the year will suddenly appears in Ramadhan. Though most travel guides won't suggest you to travel during the month of Ramadhan in Indonesia, it's an amazing experience to see the emergence of many "Pasar Wadai" (Cakes Market) all over the city, with treats such as:

  • Amparan Tatak - banana pudding
  • Bingka Barandam - Although named "bingka", tasted nothing like it. It's somekind of a cupcake soaked in sweet syrup.

Apart from localities, there are 3 KFCs, 2 Pizza Huts, and a Dunkin Donuts. If local taste doesn't suits you, go to Duta Mall and you'll dicover National as well as International renowned outlets.


Drink

One should try the Banjarese tea, which is somewhat different with the teas found elsewhere in Indonesia. It is a strongly Muslim area, so don't expect to find alcohol outside large hotels. if you are have interest to find tropical fruit theres one new agrotourism area at banjarmasin its named Mek farm. there you can find and try some original tropical fruit its might be hard to find at other place. like durian, avocado, keledang, some kind of kalimantan local manggo and ther a restaurant too. the restaurant serve ony indonesian traditional food it's easy to find the farm its only about 5 kilometer from the airport and we can use taxi, car rent or local tranporation service like what they call angkot and becak


Sleep

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