On Our Way There

Day 1 (24 Oct 2008) - Tarakan Surprise

Today we (me & Alie) started our journey to Sangalaki for our long awaited diving trip. The journey will be very taxing coz it requires a stopover and a few means of transportation along the way. We already expect the worst.

We started our journey by taking a ferry from Tawau to Tarakan. Tawau port was somewhat horrible and smelly coz it's very near to the wet market. We felt like we were in Indonesia already hehe. The ferry supposed to leave at 11am but as usual, it delayed until 12pm. The journey to Tarakan took three and a half hours and it felt like forever hehe. One thing about travelling by ferry to Tarakan is that the Indonesian immigration officer will hold our passport. Even we felt suspicious still we had to surrender our passport to him. Thank god, we got it back at the immigration office there.

Surprisingly, Tarakan port was comparatively much more organize than Tawau port and we were quite impress. Since we had to overnight in Tarakan, we took a cab to the most luxurious hotel in Tarakan i.e Belmont Swiss Hotel. The hotel was good for the rate that we paid and we need luxury after the long ferry ride. After that, we took the opportunity to 'jalan-jalan' around Tarakan town and headed for our late lunch. I had my 'a must' dish when I go to Indonesia i.e Ayam Penyet. In my opinion, Tarakan town was better looking than Tawau town and it's surprisingly clean.

After lunch, we did some window shopping at Tarakan Mall and again surprisingly I bought some t-shirts and shorts in Tarakan. Never in my life I imagined that I'll shop in a small town as Tarakan. Surprisingly, the t-shirts and shorts selection & quality there was quite good. Since I didn't change much Rupiah, I have to limit my spending, I might buy more if I had more Rupiah with me at that time hehe.

We slept early today coz we need to catch an early flight at 7am to Berau tomorrow. I'll continue on our second day journey later on.....