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Pontianak

Travel Guide Asia Indonesia Kalimantan West Kalimantan Pontianak

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Introduction

Pontianak is the capital city of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. It has the distinction of being located on the equator, earning it the nickname of Kota Khatulistiwa, or Equator City. The equator is marked by several monuments, including a big one at Jalan Pontianak.

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Sights and Activities

  • Sungai Kapuas is the longest river in Indonesia. A bridge spans the river, but there are also boat owners who can take you on a river crossing ride.
  • Monumen Khatulistiwa (Equator Monument) - a monument to mark the earth equator line. Located about 3 kilometres from the city centre.
  • Museum Kebudayaan Dayak (Dayak Culture Museum) - a museum about Dayak, one of the local tribes in Kalimantan. The museum architecture is based on Dayak traditional house, Rumah Panggung (Stage House).
  • Monumen Bambu Runcing (Sharp Bamboo Monument) - a monument located inside Untan roundabout consists of 5 big sharp types of bamboo.

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Events and Festivals

Festival Meriam Karbit (Carbide Cannon Festival)

  • What: Lots of Carbide Cannon (made from bamboo trees) are placed on opposing sides of the Kapuas River. On the festival day, there is a cannon fight between the two sides. Noisy!
  • When: Every year, weeks before Id Mubarak (tentative)
  • Where: Two sides of Kapuas River

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Weather

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg Max32.4 °C32.7 °C32.9 °C33.2 °C33 °C33.2 °C32.9 °C33.4 °C32.6 °C32.6 °C32.2 °C32 °C
Avg Min22.7 °C22.6 °C23 °C23.2 °C23.4 °C23.1 °C22.5 °C22.3 °C22.6 °C22.8 °C22.6 °C22.4 °C
Rainfall260 mm215 mm254 mm292 mm256 mm212 mm201 mm180 mm295 mm329 mm400 mm302 mm
Rain Days151321222018162514272522

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Getting There

By Plane

Supadio International Airport (PNK) serves as the main gateway to Pontianak and also West Kalimantan. There are about 10 airlines connecting Pontianak with ten domestic cities, including capital city Jakarta and two international cities. There are about ten flights everyday from Jakarta to Pontianak.

Domestic Flights:

  • Garuda Indonesia - Jakarta
  • Batavia Air - Jakarta, Batam, Pekanbaru, Semarang, Surabaya, Yogyakarta
  • Sriwijaya Air - Jakarta
  • Lion Air - Jakarta
  • Mandala Airlines - Jakarta
  • Dirgantara Air Service - Ketapang, Pangkalanbun, Sintang
  • Indonesia Air Transport - Ketapang, Putussibau
  • Trigana Air - Ketapang, Putussibau
  • Kal Star - Ketapang, Pangkalanbun

International Flights:

  • Batavia Air - [[Singapore (< ERROR: the link title is too long!), Kuching

By Train

There is no train facility in Kalimantan.

By Car

The only road connecting the Indonesian and Malaysian part of Borneo is the road from Pontianak to Kuching.

By Bus

There are buses connecting Pontianak and Kuching, which leave in the morning. It takes about nine hours to complete the trip.

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Getting Around

By Car

Pontianak's main road spans from the city centre to Supadio International Airport. Some government buildings, shopping malls, and museums are located along the main road.

Taxis can be found easily at shopping malls and other public places. Taxis in Pontianak use a variety of car type. Many of them are sedan or city car and small number of them are small SUV/MPV.

By Public Transport

There are only two main public transport options in Pontianak, city minibus and manual pedicab. A manual pedicab can fit about two adult people and two small children (based on local people size).

By Foot

Getting around by foot is not recommended as Pontianak can be quite hot. It is better to take a pedicab first to the city center and get around from shop to shop by foot.

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Sleep

PropertyAddressTypePopularity
Hotel Aroma InnJl. Dr. Setia Budi No. 93HOTEL-

Mid-Range

A lot of medium-sized hotels (mostly 3-star) are spread across Pontianak.

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Learn

Universitas Tanjungpura is the main university in Pontianak. It's owned by the state and located around Monumen Bambu Runcing (Sharp Bamboo Monument).

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Keep Connected

Internet

Internet is becoming more widely used in Indonesia, and warung Internet (warnet) - Internet cafés - are emerging everywhere. A lot of restaurants and cafés in big cities normally have wireless internet available for free. Internet connection speed in Indonesia varies between ISP and location. Prices vary considerably, and as usual you tend to get what you pay for, but you'll usually be looking at around Rp3,000 to Rp5,000 per hour with faster access than from your own mobile phone. In large cities, there are free WiFi hotspots in many shopping malls, McDonald restaurants, Starbucks cafes, 7 Eleven convenience stores, and in some restaurants and bars. Some hotels provide free hotspots in the lobby and/or in their restaurants and even in your rooms.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

You can use 112 as an emergency number through mobile phones. Other numbers include 110 (police), 113 (fire) and 118 (ambulance).
The international phone code is 62.

If you have GSM cellular phone, ask your local provider about "roaming agreement/facility" with local GSM operators in Indonesia (i.e.: PT Indosat, PT Telkomsel, PT XL Axiata). The cheapest way is buying a local SIM card, which would be much cheaper to call and especially use internet compared to your own cell phone's sim card.

The Indonesian mobile phone market is heavily competitive and prices are low: you can pick up a prepaid SIM card for less than Rp 10,000 and calls may cost as little as Rp 300 a minute to some other countries using certain carriers (subject to the usual host of restrictions). SMS (text message) service is generally very cheap, with local SMS as low as Rp129-165, and international SMS for Rp400-600. Indonesia is also the world's largest market for used phones, and basic models start from Rp 150,000, with used ones being even cheaper.

Post

Pos Indonesia provides the postal service in Indonesia. Pos Indonesia is government-owned and offers services ranging from sending letters and packages to money transfers (usually to remote areas which have no bank branch/ATM nearby) and selling postcards and stamps. Sending a postcards, letter or parcel is relatively expensive, but fairly reliable. It takes several days at least to send it within Indonesia, at least a week internationally. It is recommended to send letters from a Pos Indonesia branch, not by putting it inside orange mailbox (called Bis Surat) in the roadside, because some of the mailboxes are in very bad condition and aren't checked regularly by Pos Indonesia. Opening times of post offices usually tend to follow general business hours: Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 4:00pm (sometimes shorter hours on Fridays), Saturdays from 8:00am to 1:00pm, closed on Sundays. Bigger cities, tourist areas and central post offices tend to keep longer hours, into the evenings.

Private postal services based in Indonesia include CV Titipan Kilat (CV TIKI), Jalur Nugraha Ekaputra (JNE), Caraka, and RPX. There are also foreign postal services that have branches in Indonesia, including DHL, TNT, UPS, and FedEx.

Contributors

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This is version 20. Last edited at 9:08 on Jul 15, 14 by Utrecht. 13 articles link to this page.


Except where otherwise noted, content of this article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License
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