Kutai Kartanegara: 'Hot' property seeks spot on tourist map
Kutai Kartanegara: 'Hot' property seeks spot on tourist map
Pandaya, The Jakarta Post, Tenggarong, East Kalimantan
After a 10-minute walk from our hotel, we arrived at a small quay
right across from the old palace complex, packed with local
holidaymakers.
An army of port officials greeted us three Jakarta residents
like old long-lost friends. In no time they ushered us to a
waiting small speedboat that would take us to a dreamland nearby.
After a five-minute rollercoaster ride on the fast-flowing
River Mahakam, the boat's engine suddenly stopped when the
Island's gateway was still some 100 meters away. While the
skipper and his assistant were calmly trying to fix the engine,
we looked around for life vests, to no avail.
The dead boat tilted up and down in the undulating huge river,
intimidating us who were unaccustomed to such daredevil boating.
"Are you good at swimming?" a friend nervously mumbled,
looking around, with unclear to whom he was floating his question
to. His face pale, he swallowed hard and -- brrrrmm -- the engine
suddenly roared again, to our great relief.
Sweaty and still apprehensive at the just ended real-life
drama, we eventually managed to set foot on the oh-so hot 76-
hectare delta that locals love to call Kumala "island".
"About 12 meters," the skipper, turning his boat around,
replied when I asked him how deep was the water.
This island is the most talked about new family resort under
construction. The free-spending Kutai Kartanegara regency
administration, newly rich from its oil and gas reserves, is
shelling out Rp 4 trillion to turn the delta into a top-class
recreation spot.
The ambitious project aims to turn the delta into something
similar to the Ancol Dreamland resort in Jakarta, or Santosa
Island in Singapore. Already in place is a complex of villas and
cottages, swimming pools, sauna, an airstrip, a theater,
children's recreation facilities, a sky tower, monumental statue
of the mythical ox Lembuswana and a cable car system spanning
1,300 meters from Kumala to Tenggarong Seberang, on Mahakam's
east bank.
Although the project is only 30 percent complete, the
recreation island is already opened for the public at weekends
and on holidays.
"The Kumala Island is developed to keep the better-off
Tenggarong holidaymakers from streaming out to Samarinda and
Balikpapan," regent Syaukani told The Jakarta Post.
During the recent Kutai cultural festival, the island was
bathed in shimmering light at night with colorful lanterns put up
by Chinese artists.
Kumala Island's development, implemented by PT Pembangunan
Jaya, a real estate giant controlled by Ciputra (who partly owns
Ancol), is only one of the efforts to bring back the past glory
of Kutai Kartanegara kingdom as a center of civilization and to
turn Tenggarong into a "metropolitan" area of Kalimantan.
"The Kumala Island project will transform Tenggarong into a
new major tourist destination in Indonesia on par with Bali,"
said Rosalie Mboi Bachtiar, general manager of the project, in a
promotional publication.
To make the dream come true, Kutai Kartanegara is building new
roads, bridges and accommodation to attract visitors. An
international airport will be built on the border with Kutai's
southern neighbor of Samarinda and is expected to begin operation
by 2008.
Kutai Kartanegara is indeed a haven for cultural tourism. The
Kutai palace in the heart of the town offers an exiting glimpse
of the history of early civilization in Indonesia.
The old palace overlooking the River Mahakam houses a museum
with a collection of 4,732 artifacts, spanning from the 5th
century, when the kingdom began to the present.
Many Kutai artifacts are in the collection of the National
Museum in Jakarta and others found their way to the Netherlands.
Kutaians say they are longing to see the historical items
returned to the palace, where they belong.
A big attraction is the sumptuous "new" palace, which the
regency administration spent Rp 11.7 billion renovating last
year.
The regency has long been a favorite destination of tourists
who adore tribal exoticism and pristine tropical forests -- and
have time on their hands. The famed Dayak tribespeople live deep
in the hinterland that takes days to reach, mostly by boat.
Despite all the aggressive promotions and the fantastic
projects initiated as part of the effort to wrest Bali's title as
the top tourist haven, concern for basic facilities seems to have
been overlooked.
In Tenggarong, there are only two star-rated hotels,
Singgasana and Lesung Batu, both owned by the local
administration. Quite a number of losmen (simple lodgings) are
available for backpackers, but during events like the annual Erau
culture festival, the cheap hotels cannot accommodate revelers
streaming in from other regions.
In terms of service, residents could learn a thing or two from
the Balinese about how to entertain tourists. Unlike in places
like Bali and Yogyakarta, street vendors in Kutai do not hassle
visitors as much, but they do tend to inflate prices if they know
you are a visitor. The very same meal at the same sidewalk food
stall that cost you Rp 8,000 yesterday may go up to Rp 12,000
today, and the price will likely change again tomorrow.
The inadequate transportation system is quite a challenge,
too. Metered taxis are nonexistent in the main town (maybe
because the town is too small to cruise around). The most
dependable mode of transport appears to be ojek (motorcycle taxi)
and speedboats.
In Tenggarong, seeing the sights on foot requires a good sense
of humor and for you to keep your cool. Intersections are not
signposted and don't expect such things as roadmaps. Keep smiling
and don't hesitate to ask locals for directions.
And don't forget to wear your sunglasses, sunblock and
sombrero hat: Kutai lies smack on the equator and is a very hot
land indeed.