As the sky changes and the swallows cue the dawn— watching over from my 6-story high window, the flat-lined profile of the city’s landscape pokes to the horizon as the sun rises. A hint of the boats’ diesel engine and its horn signals the beginning of a busy day along the banks of the Kapuas River, where the city’s ethnic Chinese, Dayak & Malay inhabitants are warming up their hands to embrace the biggest celebration of the year, celebrating the last day of the Lunar New Year in the form of a festival called ‘Cap Go Meh’. (… to be continued)
I have just returned from a trip to Borneo’s Jewel, West Kalimantan Province’s Capital—Pontianak; where for the first time of my life, I learned how this nation came about. It’s a humble city with a big pile of historical record in its belly, I am still attempting to process all the information I gathered during the 6 days I stayed there, during which, me & my camera were breathing along this city of 500.000 souls, eating, walking & celebrating nature’s indigenous creation of people & its way of life.
Stay tuned for massive influx of pictorial flood & wordy rumble of this amazing place, people & culture; meanwhile, an Indonesian Na’Vi, Statue of Little Barry, Indonesian Forest and its inhabitant—the tigers, are part of the 36 brilliantly curated recent scenes from Indonesia that will be an appropriate prelude to the excerpt above.
Happy March, everyone!
Pontianak Sunset—from the Kapuas River. March 1, 2010, 5:46 pm. © Will Wiriawan.