Jan 18, 2010 - Sulawesi, Tana Toraja

The blond curly haired guy, mid-twenties, walks across from the bus bay opening of the covered Makassar bus station to the bench where I am sitting on the right hand side: “Water is 4.000 rupees”, he says in Dutch to the slightly Indonesian looking guy on the left, while he sits himself between us. He is wearing a thin purplish shirt and an almost indecently thin rainbow striped pair of trousers with a hint of a flare; are these the seventies again? “So where are you guys headed?“, I ask, continuing in Dutch, when the other guy has left to...

Sep 26, 2009 - Bicycle Touring Tana Toraja's Highlights

Well, it's 6 p.m. at our hotel - the Duta 88 - here in Rantepao. Having negotiated a late checkout, I am sitting on the deck of our bungalow waiting for the bus we booked to drop us at the airport near the city of Makassar to pick us up at some point within the next hour. The bus picks up the passengers within an hour window of 6 to 7 in the evening. Yes, I know, it sounds odd that the bus would actually pick up the passengers, but apparently that is the case here. And it better be, as we have a flight to Bali at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning....

Sep 25, 2009 - Back to Rantepao from Batutamonga

9 p.m. Well, Vikki and I just returned to our hotel here in Rantepao, the Duta 88, from dinner at Mart's Cafe, a popular local restaurant. Tonight I tried Tana Toraja's best known culinary specialty, called pa'piong. Essentially, pa'piong consists of pork with cabbage cooked in a coconut-based sauce inside a bamboo tube. As the dish takes several hours to prepare, I had to leave my order with Mart's Cafe 3 hours before dinner. I can confirm the wait was worth it: pa'piong is a delicious dish! We left Mama Sika's Homestay in Batutamonga...

Sep 23, 2009 - Funeral or County Fair? Our First Day in Tana Toraja

It is around 9 p.m. I’m sitting on the front porch of our communal sleeping room at Mama Siska’s Homestay, located in the village of Batutumonga here in Tana Toraja. We have packed a lot into our day today, a fact made even more suprising when one considers that we didn’t even arrive at our hotel in Rantepao until slightly after 3 o’clock this morning. Upon waking up this morning at around 8, rather than spend the day easing into our new surroundings, we jumped right into things. At around 10 a.m., over breakfast at Duta 88’s restaurant we...

Apr 30, 2009 - Tana Toraja - Hanging Graves at Londa

The Toraja live in the hills in southern Sulawesi. Their culture is quite unique, from their traditional houses - "tongkonan" - to their beliefs (special gods), and in particular their approach to death and their belief in the afterlife. The Torajans believe that you can take your worldly posessions with you to your afterlife. So burials included posessions. Theft of the burial items led the Torajans to build grave sites in caves hollowed out in cliff faces, and to "hang" coffins from the cliff faces - as you will see in the attached...

Jan 19, 2008 - Buffalo Slaughter...in the heart of Toraja

After flying into Makassar from Mataram, we take an 8 hour bus ride to Rentapao, which is the principle city from which most people explore Tana Toraja. The indigenous culture and people of Toraja make it perhaps one of the coolest places to explore in all of Indonesia. The land is famous for its spectacular coffee and out of this world funeral celebrations. Because Torajans are a very proud people, most speak their own language, not Indonesian. Some cannot even speak the national language. This makes it necessary for us to hire a guide....

May 18, 2006 - Rantepao, Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia

FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2006. TANA TORAJA, SULAWESI, INDONESIA. After a nine hour bus ride along the coast and up into the mountains, past lush forests and numerous terraced rice fields, I arrived late yesterday in Rantepao, a perfect place to explore the Tana Toraja region of Sulawesi. My original plan was to hire motorbike and tour the region on my own. However, I met August the last night and he offered to be my guide and take me around on this motorbike (Rp 150,000). August picked me up at 9:00 a.m. and we headed straight for a local funeral...

Apr 1, 2005 - Sulawesi

Makassar, Sulawesi for us, didnt stand up to the enthusiastic rap it was given in our guide book as an energetic city to spend some days, so we gave it the flick and made a bee line to the bus station. Our only interest this time, on this island, is Tana Toraja, a facinating area of funeral traditions, unusual architecture all set in the very picturesque green countryside. The bus trip took most of the day and we arrived by evening. We were tired and pleased that we had already made arrangements to be picked up and escorted to our...

Sep 12, 2003 - Indonesia - Sulawesi - Tana Toraja

In my next life I want to come back as a water buffalo. Sure, they're not the prettiest of animals, but until the age of around 8-10 years they lead a blessed, pampered life in Tana Toraja. They no longer work in the rice fields (unlike the Indonesian farmers who work very hard all day), they get to roll around in the mud and leisurely graze in the harvested rice fields all day, and they get bathed every evening ... just cause they're special! Of course the down side is that because they are such special animals (and we never really did...