Balikpapan

Black Gold storage areas. The coals are actually burning on its own at some spot because of the heat generated. It was would have been an eye opener to understand how they are mined, but unfortunately we did not make the trip to Grogot coal mines, which is 5 hours of backtracking.

BALIKPAPAN - POPULATION OF JUST 500,000. This is the state that reaps from its natural resources of " Black Gold " - charcoal, and oil rich. On the way in from Manjarmasin, we passed thru friendly kampongs. Pic below shows - a sun morning with the villagers. " Two strange chinamen ? in town - most of them posed for us to take some memorable shots.

From our Hotel Novotel, we could see the beautiful seafront.

Ending our trip to Borneo island covering some 6000 km, Neo Chian and I tried to finish our blogs . Planning for our 3rd leg towards the Nusa Tenggara island is now on the drawing board.

Our plan. Upon arrival at Surabaya on 14 Nov, we have to decide whether we should go up to Mt Bromo first and have time to catch up with our wives who will RV with us at Bali on 19 Nov. If we can't make it on time, then Mt Bromo would have to be covered on our return trip