Blogs from Makassar, Sulawesi, Indonesia, Asia - page 4

Well. Aren't we glad that we gave ourselves the most time our visa would allow (2months) in this beautiful archipelago? Beautiful beaches, beautiful coral, delicious food, hills covered in jungle, and enough 'HELLO MIISTER' and 'HELLO TOURIST' comments to last a lifetime. We arrived into north sulawesi and promptly took a boat even further north to bunaken island, a national park and 'world class' diving centre. It was a beautiful place, with a coral drop off 30m off the beach where the beautiful hard and soft corals suddenly plunged from 2m to a deep blue depth....pretty exilharating. There were a few disappointments though, as it is so close to Manado, the major city in the north, there is A LOT of rubbish around, plastic bags etc floating on top of the water. I believe tim even ... read more

In Makassar I realised that my original plan of getting to the far side of Nusa Tengarra (South East Indonesia) by taking a ferry to Java then using small ferries and buses would take me 87 hours of travel time (not including waiting for transport). So I decided to wait for a ferry going straight to Kalabahi which was going in 5 days. It was a good decision and the fact that I made it just after I boarded the boat to Java does not make it any less brilliant. Just by Makassar is a small island which I decided to visit for a few days but once I got there I realised it was like the butlins of indonesia. I only stayed one night and on the morning after I was strolling on the ... read more

leaving tana toraja with a fello english man, we both had our eyes set on a cheap and cheerful travel plan. 8 hours on a cramped bus seat took us to malili, in the north of south east sulawesi. we had our sights of traveling south but with every map we could find having a 100km section showing no roads and no way through we decided to chance it. fed up of buses and arguing about prices we tested our ability to hitch hike the 300km plus route to kolaka. with just about every form of transport available we made it, the invisible map roads took the form of logging routes and pot holed dirt tracks. we could only hitch from village to village- changing transport often and mixing the infrequent passing vehicle with stretches of ... read more

new years was spent visiting a few churches, the gospel type of singing attracted my attention but the noise from roaring motor bike and cars attracted it more. at midnight i wondered into town a short walk from my hostel, the streets were dead and no one around. i followed the noise and turned a few corners, to where i found the midnight club, rantepaos street racers. the streets were now packed and like any street race the pavements and curbside have to be filled by stupid people who want to get 'too' close- so i took my seat and jumped and dodged the speeding, out of control bikers watching them handbrake turn their 125cc scooters was quite impressive but the falls and pile-ups really got the crowds excited- getting hurt was just part of the ... read more

MAKASSAR......ANKUNFT IM HAFEN DER LEGENDÄREN SEEFAHRER.....HEIMAT DER BUGIS.... mit der billigfluglinie lion-air gings von bali / denpasar in richtung norden. der spektakuläre flug über den vulkan gunung agung mit seinen über 3000 metern dauerte knapp eineinhalb stunden und brachte uns auf eine insel, die sich von bali oder auch lombok wesentlich unterscheidet. SULAWESI.... in der vergangenheit ein gefürchtetes wort weil damals (bis heute?) die bugis, die besten navigatoren und seefahrer, als piraten und brutale plünderer in der region bis nach china und indien ihr unwesen trieben! ihr schiffsbau ist legendär und sie durchkreuzen bis heute mit ihren gewaltigen holzschiffen die ozeane. die bugis leben im süden der insel, die hauptstadt ist makassar. wir bleiben ein paar tage in der boomenden stadt mit der tollen promenade am strand, dem alten paotere-hafen mit viel geschichte und... read more