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Published: September 12th 2009
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It has been a wile ago since I last updated this travel blog. Traveling the remote islands of Maluku - Indonesia makes it very difficult to stay in touch. A dead slow internet connection and mobile phone service are only available in capital of Kota Ambon, a place were we didn't stay very long and we only used as a hub to get to the different Islands of the region. A full update on this great experience has to wait for a wile.
First things first: Because Tana Toraja was one of my highlights last year, I didn't mind at all to go here again and relive it again with each other. As a result Anna could enjoy this (mostly on the back of the motobike, wile I could show of with my knowledge on the culture and locations of the various places of interest.
Pak Botak (Mr. Bold) In Bali we have met Ciska, an Indonesian girl who lived in Bali. Her dad and sister, Pak Botak (he's got not to much hair on his head) and Maya, are living in Rantepao (main city from where the Toraja region can be explored). When we told her
that our next destination was Tana Toraja she invited us to stay at here family's place which we of course accepted gratefully. After our AirAsia flight landed in Makassar (Sulawesi's Capital and birthplace of my mom) in the afternoon we took a taxi straight away to the Daya bus terminal half an hour from the airport to catch a bus to Rantepao. Makassar had to wait till just before our take of to Maluku a week later. There are many bus companies offering the 8 hour ride to and from Rantepao, from which some are very luxurious with fully air conditioned executive class couches. Unfortunately only one crappy slightly cheaper bus was scheduled to depart in the afternoon. Our luck was that the bus wasn't fully booked, so we could use the seats in front of us as a foot bench to stretch our legs, which made it a very comfortable ride. When the bus driver dropped us of late in the evening at Ciska's house we were warmly welcomed by Botak, Maya and Ina. Botak a man in his late 70's who enjoys most of his time sitting in his chair overlooking his backyard, smoking Kretek (Clove Cigarettes) and
eating Sate Madura (chicken skewers and rice cake covered with a delicious slightly spicy peanut sauce). Maya a mother, who had lived practically all over Indonesia and has returned to her dad recently to run the toko (shop) attached to the house, selling groceries. Ina is the best friend from Ciska and friend of the family. She speaks good English (Maya a little and Botak even less).
Torajan Funeral Ceremony Most of the Torajans are Christian and have adopted a special ceremony to bury their loved ones, which may take as long as 5 days!When someone has died, and the family gathered enough money (this can take sometimes several years), they organize a big funeral ceremony. Usually in August, because that is the period that most Indonesians have their holiday, so they can attend the funeral. They choose an outside location and build a small village containing bamboo shelters around an empty field. In these shelters the different families can sit, chat, eat and smoke and are protected against the burning sun. Highlight of the ceremony is the slaughtering of water buffalo's (Kerbau) and pigs (Babi). Our first full day in Rantepao we attended such a funeral. There
was a guide who could tell us where and when a funeral took place and was willing to accompany us for the day, combined with some site seeing in the direct surroundings. To pay our respect we gave a present to the family (a carton of clove cigarettes is always safe to give, families however give usually pigs, but t hat was a but over our budget ;-) ). After spending some hours at the ceremony site, they started to slaughter 3 buffalo's and even more pigs. The place looked like a battlefield. Wile kids were playing with the dead animals, we left the site. Lucky it wasn't lunchtime yet!
Bikin' Toraja The rest of our week in Toraja we spend biking around to explore every corner of the area (everyday another direction). A lush, green mountainous area, with good paved roads, picturesque villages, plenty of places of interest to see, the famous architecture of typical Torajan style houses everywhere (to keep crops and sometimes the dead) and loads of ricepaddies makes it a perfect setting to do this. We saw several burial caves and graves of babies in trees in where the honored ones find their final
resting place. One of the best views in Toraja can be seen from Batutamonga, from which you can see endless rice fields and if the weather is clear enough, Rantepao can be seen in the far distance wile enjoying our lunch. After bragging about my knowledge of the area, I have to confess that a couple of times we took a wrong turn. Once we even ended up far in the mountains after we passed several tiny villages along a heavily potholed dirt road, whose inhabitants apparently, judging to their reactions, never had seen tourists.
Animal talk Surprisingly, during the last months, we saw most animals (dead, alive and roasted) in Toraja!: In the neighborhood of the family's house are a lot of
dogs hanging around who bark at you when you pass by. After a wile this ends when they start to recognize you. They own a
cat (don't ask me the name), she is pregnant (don't ask me from which cat) and she lays the whole day in the garden, holding Botak company. In that same garden we witnessed a
cockfight (yes I mean "rooster" here, or a male "ayam" (=Indonesian for
chicken)). According to Ina
(24 years old), all guys in Toraja are lowlifes and are addicted to gambling in card games and cockfights. Since this is illegal and they don't have always a discrete place to hold these fights, they sometimes ask Botak if they can use his garden. This time he allowed it, knowing that it would be a special event for us to experience. We saw the amazing live stock market. People have to buy the
buffalo's and pigs, which they use for the ceremonies, to work on the land or as a source for their meat dishes. On the market we saw hundreds of buffalo's and even more pigs standing (buffalo's) and laying in rows tied to bamboo poles (pigs). Anna didn't feel really comfortable when we passed some of the giants (as you can see in one of the pictures). When the week came to an end and we had to catch our night bus to Makkassar, the family prepared a nice barbecue with
fish and babi. We could arrange the bus to pick us up from the house. So we only had to wait for the bus to come, wile our mouths had to cool down after burning from
the delicious but spicy food they had prepared.
Take care out there.....Anna and Floor
Next blog: Maluku, but you have to be patient!
One request: Leave a note or comment, we'd like that.
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Liesbeth
non-member comment
klinkt goed!
Ha die Floor, Leuk om je bericht te lezen. Het is alsof ik zelf ook weer even weg ben. De foto's geven een goed beeld van het leven daar. Nog veel plezier! Grtz, Liesbeth