Explore Derawan (Part I)
"I'm happiest when floating in the sea"- anonymous .
I think that quotes remind me about Derawan Island - East Borneo perfectly. So here I am, sharing my travel experience to one of the blissful place in Indonesia. To share a detailed story, I will divide my experience into 4 parts.
Here's how the story began. I went to Derawan on April 2017 with my husband to celebrate our first anniversary combined with my husband's 27th Bday. Why Derawan ? Because I love beaches and underwater life and I heard that Derawan is a tropical paradise with secluded white sand beaches, clear blue water and beautiful ecosystem.
To reach Derawan, you have to transit in Balikpapan then continue by taking flight to Tarakan or Berau with smaller plane. After a short discussion. We decided to stay for a night in Balikpapan before taking another flight to Berau in the next morning. Long story short, we got a fantastic deals on airfares from Garuda Travel Fair. For return ticket (JKT-BPN-BERAU) , we only spent Rp 5.400.000,- (2 persons)
We were super excited. Even though visiting Balikpapan is not my first-time experience (I've stayed there for a month) but wandering around Balikpapan recalls my happy memories. Balikpapan is a small coastal city with a huge economy, it offers a nice blend of commercial city with nice beaches and so much more to see.
On the awaited day, we took a morning flight with Garuda Indonesia (took around 2 hours by plane to Balikpapan) and shortly after landing, we went to Pasar Inpres Kebun Sayur (Vegetable Garden Inpres Market), a unique market because they sell not only veggie, but also "Kalimantan's merchandise" especially gemstone.
The weather in Balikpapan was very hot, hence we only bought few souvenirs and continue our trip by having lunch in restaurant named Cendrawasih. Cendrawasih is famous for its soto Banjar, it's an Indonesian traditional soup originating from the City of Banjarmasin-south Borneo, in every plate of Soto Banjar, there are slices of ketupat, vermicelli, chicken, eggs, carrots, fried garlic, plus a piece of perked (a dish made out of potato). We did not only ate soup, but also order Es kacang merah (Shaved Ice with Sweet Red Beans).That combo feels like an oasis in the middle of the desert.
After having lunch, we checked in and dropped our luggage at Hakaya Hotel. We chose this hotel for its convenient location, it was close to Sepinggan Airport. Without wasting any more time, we immediately headed to one of the best sea food restaurant in Balikpapan which is Kenari Restaurant. Kenari Restaurant is special because they provide big coconut crab with authentic homemade sauce like black paper, sweet sour sauce and their own speciality kenari sauce but I personally like the black paper one. We chose 1 portion of Male Crab with price Rp 220.000,- , compared to Jakarta, the price is relatively cheap for its generous portion. Overall, the crab really met my expectation, we will surely come back again on our next trip to Balikpapan!
The journey is not yet over. After our stomach full, we went to Teritip - Crocodile Farm, located in Teritip area, around 30 minutes drive by car from the airport. Teritip is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Balikpapan where you can see around thousand living crocodile from 3 different species making it the biggest crocodile breeding centre in Kalimantan. At this destination, you can take picture with the crocs from the doorway of the enclosure. Most of the time, the crocs stayed still and lazy but if you threw dead chicken into an enclosure, they would suddenly move fast and fight over the chicken, it was pretty scary. I'm not a big fan of reptiles at all so after enough taking pictures we returned to the city centre to have a sightseeing.
Time flies so quickly, we didn't want to miss the flawless sunset near the beach, therefore, we chose to enjoy it by having an early dinner in Biru Laut Restaurant - a new seaside restaurant. This time we had companies. My Aunty and her families joined with us. At the dinner table we ate like there would be no tomorrow. There was nothing better than good food and good company :)
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