Not such a bad day for black Friday

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After struggling with the receptionist over the bill, we were a little late to the airport. Thankfully we had left enough time, but the lines were huge and check in did not close until long after it was supposed to. Fiona's indonesian friend, Budiman always insists on checking in for domestic flights 2 hours before and we could see why this was a good plan.

Some travellers had obviously missed checking in for their flight and there was a huge screaming match going on. In all her travels in Indonesia, Fiona had never seen a row before. It seemed to be unusual for the locals too as many were crowding around not just to hear but to take photos too.

The flight was uneventful, but cramped as expected and so it was a relif to step off the plane. The weather seemed a relief too, as it was cooler and less humid.There was no left luggage at the airport and we really didn't want to get a bus to Samarunda with all our stuff on our knees for 2 hours, so we werent sure what to do. Luckily we noticed you could prepay for a taxi all the way at a reasonable rate. It is comforting to know that we don't have to do everything on a shoestring budget and that there are other options.

The taxi ride took 21/2 hours. The scenery was quite different to North Sulawesi, mainly because it was much flatter. We knew when we had arrived in Samarinda because the huge mosque on the riverfront loomed into view. It is apparently the biggest in South East Asia. However it seems every city is trying to claim this.

At check in we asked to see the rooms and chose the cheaper one as it was nicer than the more expensive cottage option. We couldn't figure out why the other was dearer. Toby insisted we had the pool view as he thought it was quieter. We had arrived on a Friday and the mosques were all blasting out whatever it is they blast out on a Friday.

We lunched at the mall across the road and gave Harriet pizza hut as a treat/break from rice. The we came back to rest (girls)/ go to the gym (Toby). We thought the pool looked inviting and went down for a dip. It was freezing! And both Harriet and Fiona felt very self conscious as everyone else was male. Also since them we have noticed any women swimming wear much more than a bikini! The Muslim culture here makes it a very different feel to Manado.

For dinner we knew we had to eat the local prawns. They are huge river prawns, similar to Morton Bay Bugs. We passed the place we were looking for 3 times before we realised it was what we were after. But when we finally got the food it was fantastic. Definitely a good recommendation from the Lonely Planet. However we realised we had missed it because they had misnamed it. There was a coffee shop across the road where all the trendy young kids were hanging out and so we finished our meal there and headed off to bed.

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