EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Right out from Muara Muntai, watch for the slate-grey backs of pesut, freshwater dolphins and, in the woods, proboscis monkeys, as you pass through the channels into Danau Jempang's hundred square kilometres of reed beds, waterfowl and fishermen. It takes about an hour to reach TANJUNG ISSUY , a small township of gravel lanes, timber houses and fruit trees. Turn right off the jetty, past a couple of lumber yards, stores and workshops, and follow the street around to Losmen Wisata, a restored Dayak lamin (traditional house) maintained as tourist accommodation ($5-10). It's not that "authentic", but the place is surrounded by carved wooden patong posts (spirit posts), and tour groups get Benuaq dances performed for them. Out the back is a six-tier mausoleum where Tanjung Isuuy's founder was laid to rest in 1984, decorated with carvings of dragons, hornbills and scenes from reburial ceremonies. The Rumah Makan Jempang Sejahtera just down the street does chicken curry in the evenings. There's also an unrestored lamin with bigger patong to check out near Tanjung Issuy's mosque, or spend the day a couple of hours' walk or ces ride south through farmland at MANCONG , a pretty Benuaq village built on boardwalks like Muara Muntai, whose own two-storey lamin can house two hundred people. Continuing your journey from Tanjung Issuy, you could either return to Muara Muntai, or hire a ces to take you across the forested northwest corner of Danau Jempang and back to the Mahakam west at Muara Pahu (Rp30,000).