Balikpapan, yummy crabs

During a business trip in Balikpapan last June'08 I stayed in Novotel which is located in downtown area. The hotel is quite new, with modern and minimalist style. So many foreigners were chatting and enjoying the bar besides the lobby. There are many oils company in Balikpapan, no wonder most guests are foreigners. In front of the hotel, a limousine is always standby, maybe it's for the vip guests. My friend was lucky, he gots a room with nice view, the beautiful swimming pool with sea as the background. It's very attempting people to swim with the blue clean and fresh water.


To find food, you could just walk near the hotel. That night we decided to have dinner in Dapeen restaurant located just across the hotel. The restaurant was not too crowded comparing to the one beside it, but my colleague had been there before and she said that the food was quite ok, that's why we prefered to try it. There were some seats on the beach, on the terrace and inside the room. On the beach was not too nice, because not enough light to enjoy the waves and the seat were wet by the sea wave. The moon was shining bright that night, it's very round, unfortunately I failed to show it in the photos, it looked like the electricity light than the real moon :-(. We sat on the porch, the wind was blowing so hard made the napkins flying, so we decided to move inside the room. Apparently the environment is quite nice too, there is a stage and bar tables, however no life band at that night. The food was quite ok, fried chicken was acceptable.

Balikpapan is hilly, the road is so gradient, if you're crazy about sports, please try riding bike here :-) I bet you will be sweaty. Our office is on the urban area, if I see from the opposite road, it seems that the building position is above the neighbour. Clean water is quite difficult to get, I heard they have to buy water everyday. We didn't realize that it's raining hard during the night, it's a pity that some colleagues had to cross the flood to go to the office. We got lost for a while, but lucky that we selected a different route so we didn't trap in the flood. People say that the lower part of Balikpapan is often flooding during the tide rises, rainy season makes them more suffering.


My colleague who knows well about Balikpapan suggested to have dinner in Kenari restaurant, which is famous of Kenari crabs. Of course crabs was the number one priority in our order list. We ordered a special sauce crabs, and butter fried crab, but steam shrimp, fried squid, and fish also in our list. We were very surprised when the first crab came, the portion was so huge, it's a dishful of 3-4 big crabs. We called the waiters to cancel the second one because we're afraid that we could not finish it, unfortunately she refused it. They had cooked the order for us, no chance for cancelation. We planned to wrap and bring it home if we could not finish it. When we started eating, some of our colleagues were not interested, the crab was very yummy, sweet, sour and piquant. Finally they attempted to try because we said many times it's very tasty. All of us were very ravenous to enjoy the crab, all of sudden it's completely finish off :-) When the next crab appeared simultaneously we gobbled it, nothing left on the table anymore. You should try if you love crabs, the crabs were very delicious with perfect combination ingridients.


All of us were satiated, as people say that it's not good to go to bed with full stomach. After riding the car around the city to see town square where young people are hanging around at night, Pertamina area where there is an eternal flame on the artesian well on the beach and some huge tanks for oil with the housing complex at the hilly side, we decided to enjoy the lobby hotel. We chatted and enjoyed the welcome drink, imperceptible time run quickly. Borrow my colleague's camera I also took some pictures at the spacious and luxurious lobby for our memory in the oil city, Balikpapan.