Samarinda

Viewed from the deck of the _Negros_, Samarinda, which is the capital of the Residency of Koetei, was entirely satisfying.

Where the Strange Trails Go Down Sulu, Borneo, Celebes, Bali, Java, Sumatra, Straits Settlements, Malay States, Siam, Cambodia, Annam, Cochin-China 1918

Built 10 years ago to echo San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, the suspension bridge connected the bustling towns of Tenggarong and Samarinda.

Bridge-Collapse Toll Hits 11 Eric Bellman 2011

Samarinda's population has more than tripled in the last ten years and incomes have been soaring.

Bridge-Collapse Toll Hits 11 Eric Bellman 2011

At left, a low-income community along a stream that snakes through the heart of downtown Samarinda, near new high-rise buildings.

Boom in the Jungle 2010

Some are even predicting Samarinda will someday be as big as Jakarta -- if the coal boom lasts long enough.

Boom in the Jungle 2010

At left, a tug boat pulled a load of coal through the Samarinda harbor.

Boom in the Jungle 2010

Patrick Barta/The Wall Street Journal There are also new opportunities for international retailers and investors, who are moving into communities like Samarinda at a rapid pace to capitalize on the surge on consumer spending there.

Boom in the Jungle 2010

Patrick Barta/The Wall Street Journal Samarinda, a city on the far eastern coast of Indonesian Borneo, has seen its population more than triple to 750,000 people over roughly the past decade.

Boom in the Jungle 2010

Patrick Barta/The Wall Street Journal Samarinda has also benefited from "regional autonomy" reforms passed in the last decade to decentralize Indonesia's government and return more tax revenues and decision-making to local governments.

Boom in the Jungle 2010

International companies are betting Indonesia will become Asia's next big consumer market after China and India -- in part because of booming jungle outposts like this one, Samarinda, a coal-mining center on the far eastern edge of Indonesian Borneo.

Boom in the Jungle 2010