I was fascinated as I watched the location on my phone tick down from 3 seconds North to exactly 0 degrees, 0 minutes and 0 seconds as I walked the 100 metres or so away from the equator monument. It doesn't take much to amuse me! The white line that I found there, running from East to West was only one metre from where the GPS was showing zero, so this must be the real equator, even though some claim that it has now moved south into the river. The problem with the monument, which was built in 1928, is that the method used was to look for the point where there is no shadow at mid-day on the equinox. But the sun can only be at one place along the equator's 24,000 miles and you'd be lucky to be standing exactly at that spot. That's why the monument is not quite in the right place.

I crossed the river by ferry to get to the monument, and by water taxi to see the sultan's old palace and mosque. I can tell I'm back in Kalimantan when there are no bridges, and 90% of the vehicles that pour off the rickety old ferry are scooters rather than cars. But it's nice to be back here - it's much more authentic than the theme park that is East Malaysia, but travel is more difficult, which is why most people don't come here. Pity!

The water village surrounding the sultan's palace and mosque was much more alive than the ones I'd seen previously, with kids following me around and firing odd words of English at me, and laughing after every attempt. The museum was excellent too, but a sad reminder that the displays here, and the longhouse replica across the road are as close as I have managed to get to the real Dayak communities. Modern ways have now encroached far into the interior of Borneo, and even though it's only twenty years since the head-hunters took their last head, you'd have to work very hard to find an authentic experience now.

I'd have liked to have completed the circuit and seen the orang-utans near Pangkalan Pun, and visited the hillside villages around Banjarmasin, but I am keen for a change of scenery, so will leave here this afternoon on a flight bound for Java. Farewell Borneo!

Posted from Yogyakarta, April 24th 2011.