The provincial capital of South Kalimantan was once the booming epicentre of Dutch Borneo, and before that an energetic trade town that oscillated between the British East India Company and the sultanate powers of Indonesia. Today, the city’s rich and multicultural past shines through; between the rickety stilts of the traditional Banjarese timber houses, atop the spiked tips of the 300-year-old Masjid Sultan Suriansyah Mosque, and along the walkways that cling to the Barito and Martapura Rivers, a tad redolent in their concept of the romantic, canal-side streets of Amsterdam.

First-time visitors here should be sure not to miss the floating markets that cluster their way along the banks of the various waterways running in and out of town, with bobbing farmers’ canoes laden with spices, seafood, aromatic fruits and kaleidoscopic selections of local veg vegetables. Banjarmasin tour guides also champion the regional cuisine, which pops up in earthy eateries and makeshift cooking shacks all around the city’s back alleys in the form of soto rice soups and klepon buntut coconut sweets.