Muara Kuin Floating Traditional Market Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia
Muara Kuin Floating Market is a traditional market located above the Barito river at the mouth of the Kuin river, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. Traders and buyers use jukung, the name for a boat in the Banjar language.
A floating market on the banks of the Barito River, namely Muara Kuin Market which is the oldest traditional floating market in Indonesia. Initially, this market has existed since the 14th century, before the Banjar Kingdom was established. However, with the establishment of the Banjar Kingdom, this market became more and more alive.
The city of Banjarmasin has natural conditions that are passed by many rivers. No wonder this city is known as the land of a thousand rivers. Due to these natural conditions, the people in the area use river transportation infrastructure. The people's livelihoods are influenced by the cultural heritage of the Banjar people, namely trading.
They take advantage of natural conditions in the form of rivers to trade. They open stalls on boats along the river and sell merchandise in the form of agricultural products.
This market starts after Fajr prayer until after 07:00 in the morning. The rising sun reflects the light between vegetables and garden produce transactions from the villages along the Barito River and its tributaries.
By watching the panorama, tourists seem to be sightseeing. Jukungs laden with merchandise of vegetables, fruits, all kinds of fish, and various household needs is available at the floating market.
When the sun began to appear gradually the market began to quiet down, the merchant began to leave the floating market with the results obtained with satisfaction.
The unique and distinctive atmosphere of the floating market is the jostling between large and small boats looking for buyers and sellers who are always milling about and always playing with the waves of the Barito River.
The floating market does not have the same organization as the mainland market, so there is no record of the number of traders and visitors or the distribution of traders based on merchandise.
The women traders who sell their boats for themselves or their neighbors are hamlets, while the secondhand who buy them from the hamlets for resale is called panyambangan.
The specialty of this market is that there are still frequent barter transactions between boat traders, which in Banjar language is called bapanduk, something unique and rare.
This tourist attraction is often considered a fantastic attraction, Banjarmasin is like Venice in the East of the World because both have river tourism potential.
However, the two cities have different natural and cultural backgrounds. In Banjarmasin, there are still many floating houses called lanting houses along the river, which are always swayed by the waves.
The Kuin area is a type of settlement located along the river (waterfront village) which has several tourist attractions, both in the form of natural tourism, cultural tourism, and cultural tourism.
People's lives are closely related to river life such as floating markets, riverside villages with their traditional architecture.
The back and forth of various traditional boats with various cargoes is an attractive attraction for tourists, and it is even hoped that it can be developed into a tourist village so that it can form an image in the promotion of tourism in South Kalimantan.
Still, in the same area, tourists can also visit the Sultan Suriansyah Mosque and the Sultan Suriansyah Tomb Complex, Kembang Island, Kaget Island, and Bakut Island. In Kuin there are also carvings for ornaments of Banjar houses.