Location : Kota Sambas, Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia.

Leaving Laek on our third day, we drove through a slightly different route to get to Ledo to catch breakfast with our friend Pak Gunawan of Sebujit for a quick update of the upcoming Nyobeng Sebujit event.

adventure, native, village, Borneo, Obyek wisata, Tourism, transborder, dayak,
Breakfast at Ledo with Pak Gunawan.

The drive along the Ledo-Sambas route was a far cry from the Ledo-Bengkayang one. We hardly saw other vehicles during this 1hr drive of very good road surface. I guess not many people from Sambas go to Bengkayang town.

Anyway, we finally arrived at the town of one of the oldest kingdoms in Borneo if old maps are anything to go by.

adventure, authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, floating village, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, transborneo, 印尼三发, 西加里曼丹婆羅洲
Aerial view of Sambas town.

adventure, authentic, traditional, backpackers, native, malay village, floating house, Borneo, Indonesia, Kalimantan Barat, Kota Sambas, Tourism, obyek wisata, travel guide, crossborder,traditional, backpackers, destination, malay village, floating house, Indonesia, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, transborder, 印尼西加里曼丹, 三发婆羅洲 adventure, authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, Borneo, Indonesia, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, travel guide, crossborder, 印尼西加里曼丹, 三发婆罗洲 adventure, authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, Borneo, obyek wisata, tourist attraction, town, travel guide, crossborder, 印尼西加里曼丹, 婆羅洲旅游 authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, malay, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, transborder, 三发西加里曼丹, 印尼婆罗洲 adventure, authentic, traditional, Dayak Melayik, native, malay, Borneo, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, travel guide, crossborder,

bus terminal, transportation, adventure, backpackers, destination, Borneo, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, travel guide, transborder, 印尼西加里曼丹, 三发婆罗洲
At the bus terminal

adventure, authentic, traditional, destination, Dayak Melayik, malay village, floating house, Borneo, Indonesia, West Kalimantan, Kota Sambas, Tourism, tourist attraction, travel guide, transborder,Historically also, the first batch of Chinese to arrive in Borneo were Hakka gold miners arranged by the Sultan of Sambas at the end of the 18th century. So more than 300 years ago the Chinese first set foot here and moved slowly south wards and eventually the whole of Kalimantan.

authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, native, floating house, Borneo, Indonesia, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, 三发西加里曼丹, 印尼婆罗洲
Chinese temple

The next group entered via Kudat, Sabah brought in by the North Borneo Company to kickstart the farming industry in Sabah. The third wave was through Sarawak thanks to the Brookes in the early 19th century.

Coming back to birthplace of the famous ‘bubur pedas’, we took a tour of the town at a timely Ramadhan where Malay families were all busy making delicacies to be sold at the Ramadhan bazaar. authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, Borneo, Indonesia, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, travel guide,One super friendly family invited us in to taste her specialty ‘rojak’ which came in the form of a fruity drink rather than the usual salad. It was a mixture of pineapple, cucumber, syrup, ice cubes and little chunks of red hot chilli! Strangely unique but nice and I would not mind a second round after a long hot stroll along the river bank. Be sure to try it when in Sambas. Nowhere else in the world would you find this.

fruits salad, authentic, traditional, backpackers, Dayak Melayik, native, malay village, floating house, Borneo, Kalimantan Barat, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, travel guide, 印尼西加里曼丹,
Ibu Anong of Dusun Cempaka produces this special drink every Ramadhan, Rojak of Sambas

Many traditional activities and products can still be found in this ancient Malay town, like blacksmiths, rattan weavers, perahu tambang or boatmen.

adventure, authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, native, floating village, Borneo, West Kalimantan, Obyek wisata, Tourism, travel guide, crossborder, 印尼西加里曼丹, 婆罗洲旅游
Perahu taxis are still popular here

perahu tambang, adventure, authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, native, malay village, floating house, Tourism, tourist attraction, travel guide, transborneo, 印尼西加里曼丹, 婆羅洲旅游景点,

Rattan products, adventure, authentic, traditional, native, malay village, Borneo, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, transborder, 婆罗洲藤, 三发西加里曼丹,
Rattan supply is big time business here.
crafts, rotan, authentic, traditional, Dayak Melayik, native, floating village, Borneo, Obyek wisata, tourist attraction, town, travel guide, transborder, 印尼婆罗洲, 三发西加里曼丹,
This town is full of rattan products.

machete, authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, malay village, floating house, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, transborneo, 印尼西加里曼丹, 三发婆罗洲

Parang, adventure, authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, malay village, floating house, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, travel guide, 印尼西加里曼丹,
Suhardi and son hard at work.

I was surprised that the traditional broom made from ijok hair was still produced here. Ready peeled nipah fruits were popularly sold in the market. Most of the green oranges sold in Indonesia come from Sambas. Chinese and Malay food can be easily found within walking distance be it day or night.

local fruits, authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, Indonesia, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, travel guide, transborneo, 三发西加里曼丹, 印尼婆羅洲
Sambas is perhaps the biggest producer of green orange in Borneo
Kolo mee, authentic, traditional, destination, native, Borneo, Indonesia, West Kalimantan, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, crossborder, 印尼西加里曼丹, 婆羅洲旅游
The best Hakka noodle in town

adventure, authentic, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, malay, Indonesia, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, travel guide, 印尼西加里曼丹,

adventure, authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, malay village, Borneo, Obyek wisata, Tourism, town, travel guide,
KFC = Kalimantan Fried Chicken

Pasar Sayur, authentic, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, malay, Indonesia, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, travel guide, crossborder, 西加里曼丹婆羅洲 vegetable market, adventure, authentic, traditional, destination, native, malay village, Borneo, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, travel guide, crossborder, 印尼西加里曼丹, 三发旅游景点, authentic, traditional, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, floating village,, Borneo, Kalimantan Barat, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, travel guide, 三发西加里曼丹, 印尼婆罗洲adventure, authentic, traditional, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, floating village, Indonesia, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, transborneo, river, adventure, traditional, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, Indonesia, Obyek wisata, Tourism, travel guide, crossborder, 印尼西加里曼丹, 婆羅洲旅游

adventure, authentic, backpackers, destination, Dayak Melayik, native, Kalimantan Barat, Obyek wisata, Tourist attraction, sungai, travel guide, transborneo, 印尼西加里曼丹, 三发旅游
Bathing time is socialising time

adventure, authentic, traditional, backpackers, Dayak Melayik, native, malay, Borneo, Indonesia, Obyek wisata, Tourism, travel guide, transborder, 印尼西加里曼丹, 婆罗洲旅游景点 adventure, backpackers, destination, native, malay village, floating house, Indonesia, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, 印尼西加里曼丹, 三发婆羅洲

adventure, authentic, traditional, native, Indonesia, Obyek wisata, Tourism, tourist attraction, town, travel guide, crossborder, 婆罗洲游踪
Night time street food

Hotels here are very reasonably priced. I would highly recommend those who drive through from Kuching to Singkawang and Pontianak to spend at least a night here. Charter a boat to do the river tour and visit the kampungs on the opposite side of the river. Most Sambas folks are shy and would not make the first move to talk to foreigners but once they open up, they do have a lot of stories to tell. Next…….Keraton Sambas

To see more photos, please click our FACEBOOK PAGE

Also please check out our posts on

2 COMMENTS

Leave a Reply to Puteri Cancel reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.