Tourists on religious visit in Kalimantan

BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan: Nine Californian tourists have just completed a visit to South Kalimantan province.

Instead of visiting normal tourist attractions during their visit to the province, the Californians opted to concentrate on religious and educational institutions. For example, they paid a courtesy call on prominent Muslim cleric Zaini Abdul Ghani in Martapura, the capital of Banjar regency, and visited a number of English language teaching institutions in Banjarmasin, the capital of South Kalimantan.

"The tourists were delighted with the visit. They said South Kalimantan people were friendly and open-minded, and that people here were not hostile to foreigners," said Yuseran, a former activist with the Indonesian Muslim Students Association (HMI), who accompanied the tourists during their visit, which ended a few days ago. -- Antara