Wedding in Balikpapan, Kalimantan

We flew Air Asia to Balikpapan in East Kalimantan (The Indonesian side of Borneo) on Saturday, 9 May to attend Harry and Lita’s wedding celebration on the Sunday, 10 May. We were excited to attend our first Indonesian, Muslim wedding.

There is not much to see or do in this industrial mining and oil town, so definitely not a place I would recommend for a weekend getaway. Unless of course you are planning on visiting the Orangutans. It seems there are two places where you could go see the Orangutans:

Samboja Lodge approx. an hours drive from Balikpapan or the Orangutan Survival Centre which is actually closer and this can be arranged through the hotel. The Hotel quoted us USD50 per person for trip incl. lunch, which I'm sure one can arrange for less if you contact the centre directly.

Our plan was to try and visit the Orangutans while we were in Balikpapan but unfortunately the lodge was full and they didn't have any guides available for a day trip. And to visit the other survival centre you have to book a day in advance which meant we missed that boat too; damn. Seeing the Orangutans is still very much on our to do list, so who knows...maybe we'll be back in this one horse town sometime soon.

After checking into the Le Grandeur Hotel, we went for lunch at Jack's Place (also called Jack's or Lyla's), which is apparently popular with expatriates.
The view from our table at Jack's Place. Which I can imagine will be perched on the ocean at high tide.

Saturday night we decided to have a seafood dinner at The Beach Restaurant at the Le Grandeur is a semi-outdoor restaurant in a lovely setting overlooking the ocean.

The view from The Beach Restaurant at the Le Grandeur Hotel.

Since Marc is able to eat crab after many years of a selfish allergy, we wanted to try the pepper crab and I was looking forward to eating yummy Kalimantan prawns (which Marc hasn't been brave enough to try just yet).

Marc enjoying the taste of grab.

It turns out that the view and the music is what one pays for at this restaurant though. We found that the food is heavily overpriced. Even though it is a four star hotel, I'm not sure how they could justify charging such absorbent prices. Especially when we compared it with the seafood we ate on Gili Island, that was half the price and a lot nicer.

On Sunday morning, 10 May I went for a cream bath and a blow dry at the salon, Magnolia Spa across the road from the hotel.

Address:Jl Jend Sudirman Ruko Dusit Arcade Bl L/4
Phone : 0542-744938

I was done just in time for the wedding reception that started at 11am, in the Ballroom at the Le Grandeur Hotel. There were approx. 150+ guests (Family and friends) and it was a happy and very colorful affair.

I got information on Muslim wedding traditions off the internet. And having spoken to people that have attended weddings in Indonesia there are many different accounts of what actually happens at a Muslim wedding. It seems that there are a lot of various wedding traditions that reflect the diversity of the Muslim world.

The happy couple actually had their legal service on the 5th of April. On Saturday, 9 May there was a public wedding party (Walima), held at Lita's family home for approx. 700 guests, which we unfortunately didn't make.

Lita and Harry entering the hall with Lita's mom on her side.

The bride and groom made their entrance, dressed in beautiful gold clothing, decorated with flowers around their necks and on their heads.
They were up on the stage for the duration of the reception (not a drink or a bite to eat). The wedding guests on the other hand had a selection of Indonesian dishes to choose from while listening to an excellent local band performing international covers. In between dishes the guests walked onto the stage to congratulate and to have their pictures taken with the newly weds.

"Congratulations, Lita and harry. We wish you all the love an happiness in the world".

At around 2:30pm we left the wedding reception and decided to check out the market at Kebun Sayur (Pasar impres) where we wondered through the market admiring the beautiful gems, jewellery and other Kalimantan handicraft incl. bead work items, wall hangings, rugs etc.

The Pasar Impres (Kebun Sayur) market.
Colourful beaded Kaltim purses that came in so many different shapes and sizes.
A mobile pet shop.

On our way back to the hotel we went past Magnolia Spa for a 1 hour foot massage. Later, we enjoyed drinks and dinner with Harry and Lita, hearing first hand about all the wedding preparations, and learning more about the Muslim Wedding traditions.

Early Monday morning, 11 May we returned to a very wet Jakarta.
They say when it rains it pours…well, in Jakarta when it rains it more often than not, floods. The streets turn into streams.

Driving home from the airport, Kemang Raya was so badly flooded that our taxi driver kept going "Oh, Oh-Oh-Oh" He kept looking around to see where he could turn as he was clearly not sure if he was going to get through the deep water.

I had visions of us having to get out and swim but luckily we made it home, dry.