Banjarmasin Floating Markets

Banjarmasin is built on the delta of the Barito and Martapura, laced with rivers and canals, and its markets were traditionally held on the water: sellers, almost all women, paddle jukung loaded with fruit, vegetables, fish and cooked food out to a stretch of river before dawn, and trade boat to boat, hooking canoes together, with money and goods passed across gunwales. Two survive as functioning markets - Lok Baintan on the Martapura, the larger and more genuine, and Muara Kuin on the Barito, which has declined. Both start around five in the morning and are finished by eight. Buying a coffee and a cake from a floating kitchen is part of it. Bridges, roads and supermarkets have taken most of the trade, and both markets are smaller than they were.

The main sights

• Trading between canoes - jukung hooked together, goods passed across gunwales.
• Women sellers - almost the whole market, paddling loaded boats.
• A pre-dawn start - from around five, finished by eight.
• A declining trade - both markets much reduced by roads and shops.

When to go

May to September; you must be on the water before five. Half a day.

Things to know

You have to get up in the dark and hire a boat the night before. Lok Baintan is the real one; Muara Kuin is thin. Both are smaller than photographs from decades ago suggest.

Nearby

Martapura and its diamond market are east; the Barito river runs north.