"Hello. Where you from?"
"Australia."
"Ah. Australia go Iraq."
"Yes. No good."
"Me too, I think. Tidak bagus."
Thus went a typical conversation I had with an Indonesian man as we waited for the boat at Bali's Benoa Port. The war started almost at the same time we left Australia. The message that seems to be fostered by the media to Indonesians of the Islamic faith is that while John Howard is supporting the attack on their brothers in Iraq, he is doing so without the general approval of the Australian people. Of course the Balinese have little sympathy with Muslim extremists anyway, after the bombings which have practically destroyed the tourist industry here. The site where the Sari Club once stood is covered in wreaths and Jalan Legian is quieter than we have ever seen it. But life must go on and the shops are all open and waiting for the odd tourist to come in.
We spent a night at the Aquarius Star Hotel, where we once stayed as part of a package deal. After a long first day of travelling we wanted a place with a pool where we could cool down and relax. And they are happy to store a bag for us while we travel around South Sulawesi.
The Garuda flight, after a stopover in Sydney, was uneventful, with plenty of newspapers to read. We
decided to walk from the airport into Kuta, after such a long time sitting down. It was a fortuitous decision because we passed the local Pelni office, thus saving a trip to the port, which would have been fruitless anyway. The very friendly attendant told us we could only buy tickets in the morning. He also told us that First Class was full. Second Class was available but this would have meant sleeping in single-sex cabins (of four beds). We were not prepared to take Ekonomi Class, which consists of large mixed dormitories with no security for luggage.
The attendant advised us to get Ekonomi tickets and then upgrade to First Class once we were on board, which seemed a bit of a contradiction if First Class was booked out. He said the best thing was to go to the office at the port in the morning and sort it out from there. He didn't seem to think there would be any problem.
There was some uncertainty about what time the ship would come in, but he seemed to think 8 a.m. would be a good time. To be on the safe side we asked the hotel for a wake-up call at 6.30 a.m. and got a taxi to reach the port by 7 a.m.
Waiting in the queue at the harbour Pelni office didn't seem to be getting us anywhere, as people were pushing pieces of paper through the grill in front of us, which a girl would come and collect and then disappear, returning some time later with the tickets. We had already filled in one of these pieces of paper at the Kuta office but soon realised nobody was going to attend to us unless we did it all over again. We duly filled out our name and age with a request for First Class tickets.
Eventually we got the expected response - First Class was booked out. As we were not satisfied with this answer, we were eventually ushered into another office where somebody higher up could deal with the troublesome foreigners.
Once again we were advised to buy Ekonomi Class tickets and upgrade on the boat. But this time we were actually given an explanation of why this would work. It turned out that each port was allocated a certain number of cabins they could book people into. Bali's Benoa port in fact has an allocation of one cabin, which, of course, was booked.
There were still too many uncertainties for our liking so we persevered. Eventually the agent rang through to Lembar port on Lombok to see if they had used their allocation of First Class tickets and, after a lot of waiting around, we were at last issued our tickets. We later heard from another passenger that if we had done it on board a bribe would have been expected. This lady, a local Chinese with a German husband, had been attempting for three days to get her tickets and had somehow succeeded at the Pelni office the day before. This couple were in the cabin next door to ours, but found their toilet didn't flush. It is a pity they reported it because it led to everybody's flush being out of order for the whole trip. They were moved to another cabin and a group of workmen came in to repair it. They really made themselves at home. In between the banging and hammering they were sprawled on the bed watching TV. Presumably they did not often get the chance to enjoy First Class facilities. They came into our cabin and tested the flush, then told us they had to turn off all the flushes to fix the one next door, but assured us it would all be okay in about twenty minutes. Our flush never worked again. But we continued to hear sporadic bursts of hammering next door.
Fortunately, like all modern Asian toilets, ours had a hose attachment which Muslims use instead of toilet paper and this was quite powerful enough to be an effective flush, so it wasn't as great an inconvenience as we thought it would be.
The only other hiccup was this morning when the water was cut off completely - fortunately just after I had finished shaving. It came back on half an hour later with much sputtering and muddy brown water before things were back to normal. It was all a part of the repair efforts going on next door.
Despite these minor problems, travelling by Pelni, the government shipping line, is a very pleasant way to go, at least in First Class. The cabin is more spacious than we expected and we have three decent meals a day in a restaurant with entertainment during lunch time - a good local band with an excellent female singer. There is a deck area where we can sit and read or watch the islands go by and then go back to our air-conditioned cabin when it gets too hot.
The ship stops for an hour or two at each port. Last night we walked around Lembar harbour in Lombok and bought a very nice gado-gado for supper. (Meal times are early - 6.30 a.m., 11.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. so we thought we could be hungry later.)
This morning, after breakfast, we stopped at Bima, in Sumbawa, and did the two kilometre walk into town, much to the disappointment of the dokar (horse cart) drivers who rushed up hoping for our custom. Later this afternoon we will stop at Labuanbajo on Flores, before heading off to Sulawesi. We will reach Ujung Pandang early tomorrow morning.
Although the meals have been good on board, the best meal we've had so far was our breakfast at Benoa port before boarding the boat. We ate at a little warung where we each got a plate of rice with a small portion of everything on display - meat dishes, like delicious curry chicken, egg, tofu, tempe, peanuts and so on. Indonesian food is often at its best in these small unpretentious warungs, but quite hard to find in the touristy places like Kuta.
We gathered from the news reports on television (all in Bahasa Indonesia) that the war started yesterday. There was some English news this morning where we heard the Americans carried out a limited strike in an attempt to assassinate Saddam and his sons and that Kuwait was hit in retaliation. So far nothing that should make our presence here particularly dangerous.
Saturday March 22
It's just before 6 a.m. and we are coming into Makassar (Ujung Pandang) port. The announcement came soon after 5 a.m. that we would be arriving in one hour (a few hours ahead of schedule). We were awake anyway due to the 4.30 a.m. call to prayer.
As it turned out we could not go for a walk in Labuanbajo. As usual we asked how long the ship was stopping. Normally we get a range of answers from about one hour to two and a half hours and make sure we are back by the shortest time suggested. This time the answer was "No stopping", a bit puzzling as a lot of people, including the few remaining foreigners, were preparing to disembark there. It turned out that the ship was too big to dock at the harbour so passengers were ferried in and out by smaller ships.
The only westerner left is a Swedish man with an Indonesian wife and baby who are heading for Luwuk, another day away in the north of Sulawesi. Normally Yoong would not talk to him as he has a tattoo, but he and his wife approached us yesterday and taught us an Indonesian card game.
This must be the smoothest voyage we have ever had on a ship. The sea is very calm and also the sheer size of the vessel helps. This ship carries 970 passengers - 14 in First Class, 40 in Second and the vast majority in Ekonomi. The First and Second Class cabins are far from full and even Ekonomi is not as crowded as it apparently used to be.
Last night we had two hours of entertainment, beginning at 9 p.m. - a band from Surabaya with three female singers. They were very professional and a lot of fun. They had also been on the night before but we had missed it, not knowing how good it was. At the end they got people up from the audience to sing. Very reluctantly I gave in to their entreaties to get me (the only foreigner) up. I could have refused if Yoong hadn't also pushed me to do it. I attempted to sing Bengawan Solo (a very old but well-known Indonesian song) and made a total mess of it, as I hadn't sung it since last year. I started off okay, totally forgot the words about halfway through, and remembered the last few lines for a dramatic finish. The audience were appreciative but I would have preferred to have had time to remind myself of the words, or even written them out in advance.
The reactions of other passengers were interesting when we asked whether they had been to the previous night's show. The Chinese Indonesian married to the German declined because she said they would be mixing with kampong people - the riffraff from Ekonomi Class. On the other hand, a young Canadian couple were worried that they wouldn't be able to meet the dress code!
We decided to head out of Ujung Pandang as we were very early and will have to come back here anyway to get the boat to Surabaya. (The direct boat to Bali only comes once a month.) We tried getting a bus to Bone or Sengkang, but only mini-buses were available. If there were any others nobody would tell us about them. However, as one writer on the internet said, buses between Ujung Pandang and Rantepao are as common as mosquitoes in Sulawesi so we decided to head straight for Tana Toraja on a big comfortable (and very inexpensive) bus. We will try to do the return trip in shorter stages.
Sunday March 23
We arrived at 5 p.m. in Rantepao, the main tourist area of Tana Toraja. There were lots of accommodation options as it is low season. The war has probably not made much difference to tourism here as most visitors are European, especially French, and they come in the dry season when funeral ceremonies are at their peak. This does not mean more people die in the dry season: bodies are preserved until the appropriate time - and treated as if they are still alive until the official ceremonies have taken place.
The main attraction here is the unique Torajan culture, centred around the funeral ceremony. They believe that you can take it with you and there is much slaughtering of buffaloes, the most prized possession of these people, a person's status being dependant on how many buffaloes are slaughtered at his funeral, especially the highly prized white (albino) buffalo. Despite these ancient traditions and beliefs, Tana Toraja is 95% Christian.
We are staying at Rainbow Homestay, which has actually changed its name to Pondok Pelangi. It is basic but very clean, with hot water (rare in these parts), ensuite and tea or coffee on request. (Torajan coffee is the best in Indonesia, though the very best, Arabica, is mainly exported to Europe.) We plan to stay here for four nights, then move to Toraja Indra Hotel, which costs three times as much but includes breakfast, has a nice garden setting and has television, with the French TV5 channel.
Today we set off to walk to some of the tourist sites, but got picked up by a school excursion - three busloads of students from a higher technical school near Pare-Pare on a weekend visit to Tana Toraja. We went with them to the main tourist sites of Keteketsu and Lemo, and they dropped us off at the third site, Londa. All these are touristy villages and charge an entrance fee. Apart from the Torajan-style boat-shaped houses we saw effigies of the dead (tau-tau) and coffins, skulls, etc. in caves and on cliff-faces - not as morbid as it sounds as it is so central to their culture.
We were surprised to find that the students did not actually go into any of these tourist sites. It turned out that the purpose of their excursion was to find tourists. They all had an assignment to do which was basically to find a foreigner and interview him or her. This was their reason for visiting the tourist areas. As they had not managed to find any foreigners yesterday, they were very pleased to find us. I had to sign endless autographs, answer the same set of questions over and over and have endless photos taken as everyone wanted a photo with their foreign friend. Obviously no tourists ever visited their home town.
We did meet two French tourists at Lemo, the first we had seen, but by that time all the students had done their assignments. The French couple (both men) gave us the latest news of the war. Apparently two English helicopters crashed and several people were killed. Yesterday a young boy tried to sell us an Indonesian newspaper, pointing out a news item and saying "Inggris mati" (English dead). So now we know what he was trying to tell us.
The students (Muslims) did ask some questions about Australia's involvement, but were satisfied with the usual line that the Australian people want peace and the fault is at government level. I sang Bengawan Solo on the bus as the inevitable guitar was passed around - and this time I remembered all the words. It got the usual enthusiastic response.
We got a couple of hand-woven bags at a souvenir shop, one for Yoong and one as a present for the teacher who looked after us, after she had given some strong hints that she would welcome such a present. It was all quite an interesting experience.
We had beautiful weather all morning. The rain began just as we got back to town and it has been shifting between heavy downpour and light drizzle the rest of the afternoon. So, after a late lunch, we just relaxed at the guest-house. We talked to a young Japanese man who seems to be the only other guest. He speaks little English but has studied Bahasa Indonesia so most of our communication, such as it was, was in that language. He likes this area because there are not many Japanese tourists here, unlike Bali, where they probably now outnumber Australians. He seems to be doing some kind of research on Torajan culture and is coming back later in the year.
We booked a Torajan meal for 7 p.m. at a nearby restaurant (Mart's) so we braved the rain and went for our first taste of chicken pa'piong, cooked in a bamboo tube for a few hours with local herbs and vegetables and served with black rice. I have read that it is not to the taste of most Westerners, but we loved it. We also had grilled local carp and a rather salty guacamole.
Monday March 24
We arranged for a guide to take us to a village where there was a funeral ceremony taking place. "7.30 on the dot," we told him, knowing people here can be quite casual about time. We got up early and went out before 7 a.m. to find a warung for breakfast. We couldn't find one and ended up at Setia Kawan restaurant where we ordered nasi campur and mee goreng, hoping it wouldn't take too long to prepare these simple dishes. Unfortunately it did. We ate about half the meal then asked them to pack the rest for us to take away. We were ten minutes late getting back to Rainbow and Andreano, our guide, was not there. I went out to find him at Mart's café, where he is based. He had turned up at 7 a.m. and been told that we had left at 6 a.m. He thought we had deserted him, which would have been very disappointing for him as he needed our business.
After this inauspicious beginning we set off for our first stop - the supermarket, to buy a carton of cigarettes as a gift to the family. Fortunately only close family members are expected to give pigs and buffaloes. Less important visitors have a choice of cigarettes or sugar.
Outside the supermarket I banged my head on a low corrugated roof. As the skin was broken we had to buy some antiseptic, which Yoong applied immediately and then at intervals throughout the day.
At last we were off in a packed bemo on the road up the mountain to Lempo and Batutumonga and then to an even smaller village. At one point the heavy rain during the night had caused a landslide and half the road was swept away. All the passengers had to get out and walk while the bemo negotiated the remaining piece of road. The last part was on foot. Fortunately the rain had stopped by the morning and it was a pleasantly cool day. We were just in time to witness the slaughtering of the buffalo, which is done on the second day of the funeral ceremony. For other occasions, such as weddings, lesser animals like pigs and chickens are sacrificed. Buffaloes are kept for the most important event in Torajan life - the funeral.
As we approached the village compound we found one buffalo lying on the road with its legs broken. It had fallen off a cliff during a fight earlier in the morning. As we entered the ceremonial grounds we saw another buffalo running towards us, lurching about in a rather threatening manner. However its throat had already been cut and it fell to the ground before reaching us, blood spurting all over the place.
We quickly went to the enclosure where we presented our gift to the family and sat down to watch four more buffaloes being butchered. The sight was almost enough to turn one vegetarian. The other (wounded) buffalo was slaughtered where it lay and dragged to the arena by two ropes pulled by a large group of excited children. As we sipped our coffees we watched the buffaloes being skinned and cut into portions to be given to the various family groups, more important guests being allocated a whole leg, others smaller sections. At one point there was a dispute about who was supposed to be getting the heart of one of the buffaloes.
There were a few other tourists there, each with their own guides. In the tourist season there would probably be about thirty or forty foreigners. As we walked across the blood-soaked ground out of the village we saw young children at work cutting all the little bits of meat off the skin of the first buffalo.
We walked back to Batutumonga to have lunch in a restaurant with spectacular views of the padi-fields and Rantepao down in the valley. The prices were quite spectacular too, but, as Yoong always says, double nothing is nothing.
We then walked through various villages down a small mountain road to pick up a bemo to Tikkala. Just before we reached Tikkala the rain started, at about 3 p.m. We took shelter under a stilt house until the downpour subsided for a while and soon picked up a bemo back to Rantepau. It was a very interesting day, thanks to our Torajan guide, Andreano.
For dinner we finished off our packed breakfast with tea and coffee. We wanted to get some news of the war so we went out for a drink at Toraja Indra hotel where we could watch the French channel. There are no English channels available as most tourists here are French-speaking. The hotel restaurant was darkened but this was due to having no customers rather than it being past closing time. They turned on the television for us and we ordered an orange juice and an avocado juice. Unfortunately when they arrived we were very disappointed to find they were watered down to the point of tastelessness. Even just looking at them it was obvious they were not right. We complained to the waiter, who took little notice of our comments. When we had watched the news for a while we took our unfinished drinks to the counter and complained again. The waiter insisted the drinks were good and said if we didn't pay he would have to pay for them himself. Eventually, at his request, we put our complaint in writing on the bill and signed it. We were not happy with his attitude and decided we would not be comfortable staying in this hotel, where he would probably be serving us breakfast, so, apologetically, we cancelled our booking at reception. We have had delicious avocado drinks at other restaurants here at a third of the price, and it seems reasonable to expect a luxury hotel to produce something reasonably palatable, especially as avocadoes are plentiful here and cost almost nothing. We went back to our friendly guesthouse for an early night.
One thing we really like about this guesthouse is that the lady who runs it believes us when we say we don't want sugar in our tea and coffee. A lot of restaurants cannot comprehend the concept of drinking coffee with half a cup of sugar and just ignore our requests (made in perfectly adequate Bahasa Indonesia). However she does give us a container of sugar anyway just in case we come to our senses.
Tuesday March 25
Yoong woke me up at 6.30 a.m. We should have started earlier as walking is best in the early morning. We had a simple street-food breakfast of sticky rice with sambal and coconut, then walked two kilometres to Bulo, where the bemo terminal is. We intended to get a bemo to Sa'dan, but first we wanted to walk to a couple of big hotels another kilometre away. On the way we saw a museum - Londorundu - so we went into the grounds to check it out. A woman came running out, very excited to have some visitors. It turned out we were the first foreigners in several months to find their way to her museum, which apparently is the only museum in Rantepao. It was a small building in traditional style, full of local artefacts, all of which she explained to us in excellent English. We ended up being served coffee and cassava (tapioca) and eventually a durian, a big treat, especially for Yoong. We had these under a rice barn which is a traditional place to relax. We also had a chance to climb up and see how the rice is stored there.
We had an interesting conversation with the lady, whose name is Beatrix. She was very thankful to America for declaring war on terrorism and also supported the attack on Iraq. Apparently there was an attack planned two years ago on Rantepao, not so much against western tourists as against the Christian churches, but it was thwarted and hushed up so tourism would not be affected. She advised us not to go to Surabaya or even stay long in Makassar, but said we were very secure here in Rantepao. She is right about the dangers of extremist groups but it is not likely we will be affected - most Muslims here are friendly and peace-loving and just as afraid of extremists as are non-Muslims.
Beatrix had been in charge of tourism in Toraja at one time and was obviously an influential person in the area. It turned out that Sa'dan was her native village, so we invited her to come with us. She closed the museum for the day and got her chauffeur to take us all to the village where she would leave us as she had some official business she could do there. She introduced us to various family members who showed us their houses. Sa'dan is a weaving village and Yoong couldn't resist doing some shopping. Just as well we've decided not to move to a more expensive hotel as we are really straining the budget.
We visited various other villages with a combination of bemos and walks over scenic mountain roads, and then had a repeat of yesterday's experience. We were on a remote mountain road when the rain started twenty minutes early at 2.40 p.m. We rushed for shelter under a house where a lady with three children and several dogs made us welcome. At last a bemo came along and we got a ride back to Bulo where it was not raining. We continued the walk we started earlier in the day to find the Toraja Cottages and the Prince Hotel. The first was totally deserted - not a tourist or staff member in sight. The latter had a Dutch tour group, but we found the rooms were extremely expensive (quoted in US dollars) and the restaurant likewise so we didn't even consider staying a night there. We would not have been able to go out at night to a local restaurant as it is so far out of town.
After we got home, at about 5 p.m., I went to Mambo restaurant to order a chicken pa'piong for tonight. It turned out to be not nearly as good as our first try at Mart's Café (and more expensive). Both this dish and a prawn kangkung were too salty and the black rice was served cold. (We sent it back to be heated up.) However we did have a very nice avocado juice, far better than the watered-down rubbish the Indra tried to palm off on us last night. Rain is continuing on and off and the lights went off halfway through the meal, but this is an everyday occurrence here and restaurants are always ready to handle it.
Wednesday March 26
It was a very lazy day today. We did an early morning walk on the outskirts of town along the river - just as beautiful as anywhere else around here. It's all so photogenic that we are regretting not bringing a camera, but we would probably have spent a fortune on film if we did. The internet café, which has been out of order since our arrival has got its problems sorted out and we were able to do an hour of e-mailing. There were 36 messages waiting for us. The boys are both concerned about our safety. Apparently there have been travel warnings about Surabaya. We asked a travel agent whether it is safe to go there and she just laughed and said "No problem." Apparently there are student demonstrations about the war but we have those in Melbourne too. However, we will try not to hang around for long. We will be getting a boat there and possibly a train to Bali the same day. Flying direct to Bali is possible but I'd feel safer on a Pelni boat than on a little plane. We are extending our stay here to nine days, partly for safety reasons but mainly because it is such a great place to spend some time.
Today we bought two live fish from the market and some long beans. We asked Nana, the lady at the guest house, to cook the fish for us, which she did - Toraja-style with black herbs and the beans with some fresh tempe (a soya-bean product) which we bought from a vendor on our morning walk. It was one of the best lunches we have had so far. For a simple dinner we have bought an avocado which we'll have on bread with tomatoes and cucumber. As usual the rain started while we were doing our shopping and we had to rush back home. Just as well I have a thick book to read - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It's the first one we've read, and fourth in the series but we have seen the two films.
We are having a few budgeting problems, partly because of all the shopping for local handicrafts but mainly because we had difficulty changing some of our American dollars in Bali. One place refused two of our four hundred-dollar notes as the serial numbers were apparently suspect (something to do with stolen money). Another place changed one of these but the other was judged by a dodgy-looking machine to be possibly counterfeit. We are confident we will eventually be able to change it, but in the meantime it has left us a bit short of rupiahs. No problems with Aussie money but they wouldn't change as much as we wanted as they didn't have the right small change for us. We may be able to use Mastercard for our boat trip out of Ujung Pandang, but it's totally useless in Rantepao.
Thursday March 27
Today is market day. Markets here have a six-day cycle, moving through six different locations, but the Rantepao one is the biggest, where people come from all over the surrounding hills to sell their prodiuce and buy and sell chickens, pigs and, most importantly, buffalo.
We walked along the river to Bolu, a few kilometres out of town, stopping at a little warung for coffee and ubi (tapioca) cakes. At the market we saw some albino buffaloes, the most highly prized of all. They sell for several thousand dollars, and may be considered the equivalent of the BMW in our society. We saw pigs trussed up and carried on bamboo poles or carried away in wheelbarrows. The fruit and vegetables were so fresh we couldn't resist buying up carrots, aubergines, avocadoes and marquisas (a type of passionfruit). We still had some long beans and tomatoes left from yesterday so we asked Nana to cook us up a mixture of the vegetables with some rice. It was a very nice healthy lunch after snacking at the market during the morning. The rain came early but we tried to do a short walk between cloudbursts. As usual we didn't make it.
Before lunch we went for a drink at Gazebo restaurant so we could watch French television. Of course it was all about the war, but it was mostly endless discussion about it rather than real news. The French love to talk. We have ordered a chicken pa'piong at Gazebo for tonight. We hope it is as good as at Mart's Cafe.
Yes, it was good. Not so the gado gado, as the prawn crackers were not crisp.
Friday March 28
It rained all night and was still overcast when we went out at about 7 a.m. We took a bemo to Makale, administrative capital of Tana Toraja, planning to get another bemo to Sangalla. At the terminal we met a young man (well, he was 32 and had four children ) who wanted to be our guide. We settled on a price and took a bemo to Sangalla where he was to meet us. He was an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver and had a passenger to deliver first. He took us to the tourist sites, a tree grave in Kembira where babies were buried in various niches carved out in the trunk and Suaya where we saw graves of royalty, including tau-taus (effigies). We walked across rice-paddies from one village to another but as this was very muddy we changed to the longer route along the road. He even cleaned our feet the same way buffaloes are washed, using the correct non-stinging grass. He turned out to be the best guide we have had. He was very informative about local customs, spoke good English and negotiated entrance fees down to half-price. We had lunch with him back at the bemo terminal, where we tried fish and pork pa'piong at a fraction of the price charged in restaurants.
Our guide told us that that the first missionaries who came here, from Holland, tried to change the local customs and ended up as human sacrifices. They were succeeded by missionaries who were trained in anthropology and therefore more sensitive to the culture. They managed to convert the Torajans to Christianity while allowing them to retain their traditions intact. Thus the churches are full on Sunday, while the rest of the week they can carry out their rituals as usual. Human sacrifices have been pretty much abandoned though.
We took a bemo back to Rantepao and did some short walks before the rain started. For dinner we had a simple warung meal of soto ayam and satay, with a delicious avocado we had bought in the market.
Saturday March 29
Up at 6.30, we went for another walk through mountain villages, then repeated the live fish deal for lunch. We had another chicken pa'piong at Mart's, still the best. There was a large student gathering there tonight, drinking and playing guitars. We met a German tourist who had just arrived at 6 p.m. and recommended Mart's to him. He was still there when we left at around 10 p.m. Andriano came and talked to us at Mart's and we arranged to go to lunch with him tomorrow at a local eating house.
Sunday March 30
Today is our last day in Rantepao. We went to church at 9 a.m. The service was in Bahasa Indonesia. Probably the 7 a.m. one was in Torajan. It was not very exciting but there was some nice unaccompanied singing from the choir and a group of youths sang with guitar accompaniment. Lunch at the local eating- house was interesting - chunks of pork in black sauce with rice. We booked a pa'piong meal with Nana. Last time we had done so, she had cancelled because she was unable to get the bamboo, even with twenty-four hours notice. We knew from our fish meals what an excellent cook she is and sure enough this was the best pa'piong we have eaten. It came in two separate bamboo tubes - one for each of us - accompanied by black rice and local green vegetables - a fitting end to our very enjoyable stay at Rainbow. The Japanese youth is leaving on Tuesday after sixteen nights and coming back in the dry season. We will miss this beautiful town and friendly accommodation.
Tuesday April 1
We are now in Sengkang, noted for its lake and silk-weaving. It is very hot after the mountains. Most of yesterday was spent on the bus - a very scenic ride, partly retracing our steps. We had a last breakfast of nasi ketam (the sticky rice dish wrapped in pandan leaves, which we have sought out every morning since our first try), and took two more for the journey, with some marquisas and avocadoes to eat on the way.
We are staying in Pondok Eka, in the old section of the building with bouncing floorboards. The new section is all air-conditioned, which we don't like. There is no shower (just a traditional mandi) and no hot water, but who needs it here anyway? However there is running water 24 hours a day, which could not be said of Rainbow, though it was generally available when we needed it. Furthermore, the toilet has a real flush, something we haven't seen for a while. The room is big and it's cheap enough at less than A$6 including a light breakfast and coffee and tea always available. The staff is helpful. The young man speaks English and arranged our boat trip and our bus for tomorrow. No doubt he gets commission but it's almost impossible to organise these things without a middle man, so it might as well be him that benefits.
The boat trip on the lake was pleasant, but not as exciting, or touristy, as Lake Inle in Myanmar. We saw a lot of birds in the reeds which have grown over most of the lake. The nicest part was along the river going there and back, with people washing clothes, and themselves, along the banks.
We walked out to the silk-weaving village, Sempangi, about seven kilometres away, and got a bemo back. Yoong bought one and a half metres of plain silk. We've heard that the coloured ones run. After a lunch of nasi goeing and tapioca and a very interesting local hot ginger drink, we found it was too hot to do much apart from reading and writing (and washing clothes).
Late in the afternoon two Dutch ladies arrived from Bira, where we are heading tomorrow. They were driven by Eriq, whose homestay the people here have recommended us to. We negotiated a price for him to drive us tomorrow for a little more than the bus, which the hotel duly cancelled for us. (The ladies paid three times as much to get here with Eriq, even though he was coming anyway to visit his mother. They were silly enough not to bargain, to his surprise and delight.) It was nice to talk to some other tourists for a change. One of the ladies was married for the first time after she retired. A condition of the marriage was that she could make this trip to Sulawesi. Her husband can not handle the food in non-European countries, having got sick when they travelled to Syria, but they do travel together in Europe. The ladies are here for six weeks so they have time to go everywhere in Sulawesi. We exchanged notes about Bira and Rantepao and gave them a letter to deliver to Beatrix, whose museum they are sure to enjoy.
We had ayam goreng at a canvas-fronted warung, with some soup and gado-gado. The place was patronised by several local people, always a good sign.
Thursday April 3
The ride to Bira beach with Eriq was a lot of fun. The car was ancient. He inherited it from his father and put in a new engine. It looked very dilapidated but seemed to drive okay. He entertained us all the way with stories of his exploits. He has travelled extensively in Asia and Europe, due to the fact that he was married to a Dutch woman for a while and now has a French girlfriend. He is obviously a bit of a gigolo. His English is very good (and he speaks Dutch and French fluently) and he has a great sense of humour. His homestay is Purnama, which he bought using his name and his girlfriend's money, the only way she would be able to buy property in Indonesia. He wants to change the name as Lonely Planet gave it bad reviews under the last owner.
We have the whole place to ourselves. Eriq lives downstairs with Hanafe, a young assistant from Lombok, unpaid at present apart from board and lodging. He is acting as a guide for us and is pleasant company despite his lack of English. This place is basic but we are very comfortable as they do their best to look after us. Since our first cup of coffee, full of sugar despite our requests to leave it out, we managed to get sugar-free drinks after demonstrating that we really couldn't drink it as it was served.
We went for a swim in the beach yesterday, with Hanafe showing us the best area for swimming. The water was warm and clear. As the sun set, he took us for a long walk along tracks through the forest back to the homestay.
Even in such a remote place there is an internet café. They seem to know very little English apart from "Minimum one hour". We had already stopped in Bone to do twenty minutes of e-mail but the connection was so slow we had not accomplished much, so we took the chance to catch up with our correspondence. The news from Singapore is frightening - the SARS virus seems to be spreading more and they have taken drastic steps such as closing down all the schools and screening incoming passengers at the airport.
We had dinner at Melati across the road - good barbecued fish and a miniscule piece of fried chicken with very nice chips. Fresh orange turned out to be sugary orange-ade so we sent it back, but otherwise it was a good meal.
For such a small town there are a lot of karaoke joints, all with their resident ceweks, including one establishment just across the road. This one is closing down in a few days because the owner has refused to renew the lease. It was supposed to be a restaurant, so the tenant opened the karaoke under false pretences. Last night was rather noisy, but a bit of music didn't really bother us.
This morning Eriq drove us to the market where we bought fish and vegetables for our lunch today. We then went for a long walk past the harbour, along the beach and through fishing villages. On the way back we were passing a karaoke bar and the owner called out to us, "Do you remember me?" It turned out to be a friend whom Eriq had picked up on the last part of our drive here and dropped at a hospital to visit his father-in-law who has asthma. He had left us with a big bunch of rambutans from his garden, the most delicious we have ever tasted. We joined him in his bar, had some tea and watched a bit of television. Eriq told us later that this man has had four wives (consecutively). His latest is about to bear his first child.
The fish we bought for lunch was a disappointment, nicely cooked but not fresh enough. However, Eriq had also bought some tuna pieces which made a tasty dish and the vegetable dishes were delicious, especially the fried tofu.
We had a sleep in the afternoon and did more walking. Hanafe took us up a small mountain where we got a great view of the whole peninsula. We just had time for a very relaxing evening swim, walking back in the dark. We took Eriq out to dinner at a small café and then listened to my CD on Eriq's player, the first chance I have had to hear it right through. Hanafe brought his guitar in (missing the top e-string) and we did some singing. He is a good guitarist and can sing very well.
Friday April 4
We got up early and after a breakfast of banana pancakes and steamed tapioca we went for a long walk with Hanafe along the beach to Bara beach, lined with coconut palms. Apparently this whole area is packed with local tourists on Sunday. The only Westerners we've seen here are people who have lived here for several years. Most of the sea-front land has been bought by foreigners, using local sponsors. Eriq picked us up by car and drove us back as Bara beach is only accessible from Bira beach at low tide.
Eriq had bought a big fish to barbecue for our lunch. It was fresh and delicious and far too big for four people. They also cooked chips and a dish of beans and tempe. We are really spoilt here.
Lonely Planet does not do justice to Bira. It is such a beautiful place. Life is very relaxing here and we feel a long way from the war and the SARS epidemic. Although they are all Muslims here they are not fundamentalist, and very welcoming of foreigners, as are most Indonesians. In Sengkang we did get the odd youth calling out, "American! Far queue!" but this was rare and hardly life-threatening. To be on the safe side we tell people we are from Brunei Darussalam, which creates a bit of confusion. Any longer conversation eventually reveals I am originally from Australia, but, in any case, there is no animosity here towards Australians. They just want the tourists to come back.
Saturday April 5
We had an early breakfast - omelette, but still wrapped up in a pancake, which is obviously Eriq's signature breakfast dish. Eriq arranged for a Kijang to take us to Makassar at 7.30, a bit early but we agreed as it is always better to travel in the morning. We went with the manager of another homestay and his driver. He had to pick up some tourists from the airport, hence the early departure time. An interesting story he told us: apparently dolphin-watching was a popular tourist activity in the nineties and there were always plenty to be seen. Then the tourist authorities put up a statue of a dolphin where the road meets the beach. Since then the dolphins have disappeared, apparently believing that that one of their number had been captured and turned into stone. Like everyone involved in tourism, our companion was hit hard by the downturn. "Tell your friends we love Australians here!" He is hanging on, hoping they will start coming back once things settle down.
We are staying at Legend Hostel in Room 1, the only decent room here. The rest are windowless boxes and dormitories. Eriq rang ahead and booked it for us, but we seem to be the only guests anyway - and this is the number one backpacker place here! It is the first place mentioned in Lonely Planet and very central to the (limited) attractions of Ujung Pandang.
At night we went to Pantai Losari, famous as the longest food street in Indonesia. It is certainly long, consisting of thousands of warungs and food stalls, but they all seem to serve exactly the same things. We had nasi goreng, a very good fried chicken dish and my favourite - avocado juice, liberally spiced with chocolate.
Our Pelni tickets are booked. We have decided to risk Ekonomi Class this time as it only one night, and our money is drying up.
Sunday April 6
We went to see Fort Rotterdam this morning, one of Ujung Pandang's few tourist attractions. We were asked for a donation as we signed in and, assuming that this covered the museum inside the fort, gave 2000 rupiah, the entrance charge mentioned in Lonely Planet. It turned out we still had to buy tickets for 1700 rp each. Yoong was very annoyed as the "donation" obviously went straight into the pockets of the guards so she went back to complain. They offered to give back the 2000 rp, but she returned 1000 as she saw locals were also giving a small donation. This way everyone saved face and we could enjoy our tour of the museum.
Every Sunday there is a formal discussion group in English at the fort and we were invited to join them. The topic for the day was what should happen in Iraq after the war is over. The students expressed very intelligent opinions and showed a good understanding of the issues.
We went to the Sedona Hotel for a small buffet high tea, a chance to have some Western food for a change before 24 hours of Ekonomi Class food on the boat, not a very exciting prospect. There were some very nice kebabs and pastries with unlimited soft drinks, juice, coffee and tea. We relaxed here enjoying the view of the sea and the swimming pool for a few hours, partly because it was raining, and also because the all-you-can-eat food came out only sporadically, the strangest buffet we have ever had, but very good value. The rain was actually a nice change from the oppressive heat of Makassar. Although our room has only a cold-water shower it is almost too hot to bear for at least five minutes.
Monday April 7
We are now on the Rinjani, which has just pulled out from Makassar port. Ekonomi Class is even worse on this boat than it looked on the Tilongkabila. In fact this ship is much older, and about twice as big. We would have preferred to take the Ganda Dewata later in the day, a much newer and nicer ship, except that it arrives in Surabaya at night, which we didn't think would be a good idea. As usual, there is a nice area on the top deck to sit and relax. The luggage should be okay in our sleeping area. The people nearby don't seem to want to move much and will no doubt keep an eye on it for us.
We met Stefan, a traveller from Austria who seems to be the only other foreigner on this ship. He is also travelling Ekonomi Class. He says it is closer to real life. He is a frequent traveller to Indonesia and is planning to stay a few weeks in Surabaya, so he obviously thinks it is safe. He introduced us to Simon, a member of the band which will be playing tonight. He took us to his cabin, shared with another musician, where he tried to play my CD, but it didn't work for some reason. He didn't have any other CDs to check if the machine was the problem. He played some tapes instead, including some of his keyboard playing and his friend's guitar work. He sold sarongs, shirts, etc. as a little business on board, catering for locals who needed presents for relatives. There were some very cheap shirts but nothing my size or I would have bought a few. Yoong bought one anyway as a gift for someone and he gave us a sarong as a present as well.
They will expect me to perform tonight so I'm making sure I have Bengawan Solo ready this time. We just had dinner, which is very basic - rice, an egg and a few vegetables. Lunch was the same, with a piece of fish instead of the egg. The rice is poor quality; you sometimes find a stone in it. No utensils are provided with the tray, as Indonesians normally eat with the right hand, but fortunately we still have a plastic spoon from somewhere. We brought some extra food with us and there is a little kiosk on the top deck selling coffee and snacks if we need it.
Thursday April 10
I sang Bengawan Solo to a small audience at the end of the night. Yoong said it sounded really good with the band's accompaniment. We were a bit late for the show as we were unsure about the time and we spent a lot of time on the very top deck relaxing with Stefan. At one point an official came and told us we should not be there, but Stefan, whose Bahasa Indonesia is very good, argued that the gate was open and there were no signs saying we couldn't enter - so he let us stay. It was a beautiful starry night. The sunset earlier was also spectacular.
It was not a very comfortable night. We put the sarong Simon gave us over our rubber "pillows" in an attempt at hygiene but it was noisy and dirty. I slept enough but Yoong couldn't get to sleep. Breakfast was a repeat of lunch and dinner - a tray of rice with a small "omelette".
Stefan convinced us that Surabaya is not at all dangerous, apart from the usual big city problems like pickpockets at the harbour and on buses. Simon wanted us to see a small hotel near his place so we went with him past all the touts to the public bus. The hotel was quite nice and very clean but did not have English television and was too far from the city centre for our liking. We said goodbye to Simon and his friends and took a bemo back to the city. Simon had paid for two bemos to this point and refused our attempts to reimburse him, a refreshing change from all the people here who always want something from you.
Back in the city we headed for Bamboe Denn, where we stayed thirty years ago and, according to Lonely Planet, still the number one backpacker place in Surabaya. A man who offered to help us told us it had relocated to Jalan Sumatra. Leaving Yoong at a shopping plaza I went to look for it. People in Jalan Sumatra knew nothing about it and becak drivers, who wanted to take me there, seemed to think it was still at its original location. On the way back I checked a couple of hotels, one cheap and one luxurious, both close to the train station. I soon realised that in Surabaya cheap accommodation is expensive and expensive accommodation is cheap. I didn't check into that first luxury hotel because, although reception said they had English television channels, when I tried it in the room I was shown, I found they didn't really have any. I had a look at Garden Hotel. They had BBC, French TV5 and in-house American movies. They only had a twin-bed room available, but I decided to take it. By the time I got back with Yoong a double-bed room had materialised so we had everything we wanted. For less than A$50 we had a big clean AC room, cable TV, swimming pool, international buffet breakfast and a welcome drink voucher for a "mocktail" in the bar. We decided to try the hotel's buffet lunch, which was also excellent value.
We wanted to see the sights of Surabaya so after lunch we went for a long walk to see the Majapahit Hotel, Heroes Monument, Red Bridge, Arab quarters and a famous and very holy mosque.
Majapahit is like the Oriental in Bangkok and the Raffles in Singapore - also built by the Sarkies brothers. The restaurant had a French buffet in the evening, which we would have loved to try if we hadn't already had a buffet lunch. They have a Dutch buffet on Wednesday so we thought we would try to fit that in and leave late at night for Bali.
The Arab area was interesting to walk through and the mosque was beautiful. At first Yoong could not enter but, by the time I got back, one of the vendors had lent her a headscarf which made her look Moslem enough to satisfy the dress requirements. We intended to visit Chinatown but we had walked a long way already. We wanted to get a bemo to Gubeng station, a short distance past our hotel so we could check on train times and perhaps book tickets. We walked back to the Red Bridge where the bemos passed and were told to take bemo Q, which would go to Gubeng station. When it arrived, we checked with the driver and the passengers and they agreed it was going to Gubeng station. After more than half an hour of driving in bumper to bumper traffic through unfamiliar market areas we checked again and were asked to get off and take another bemo in front of us, and overcharged for the first ride. The driver of the second bemo confirmed that they were going to Gubeng. We found out later that this did not mean they were actually going to the station, and they started saying we had to take a becak from where they would drop us. By now, we realised we were not going to get to the station and changed our destination to the Garden Hotel. They dropped us off and told us what bemo to take. The third trip was very short and we realised we were not really very far from the station, but we had had enough and it was already dark. It was unlikely that the ticket offices would be still open anyway. We went back to the hotel, checked out the swimming pool and found it was closing in ten minutes, and went out for a very good local warung meal and then back for some cakes from the hotel restaurant's bakery.
This morning after breakfast we walked the short distance to the train station and, sure enough, there were tickets direct to Denpasar. Everyone had told us we had to go by bus, even the tourist bureau. Stefan had warned us we would have to bargain hard to get the buses at a reasonable price. With the train, it is a fixed price, cheaper than the bus, with no touts to contend with and a more comfortable journey. When we reach Banyuwangi, the end of the train line, a bus will pick us up, take us on the ferry to Bali and then all the way to Denpasar.
On the way to the Majapahit we stopped at an exhibition of local artists held in a lovely old Dutch building. The artwork was of a very high standard with some interesting modern styles. A young man came around with us and gave a commentary on some of the paintings.
The meal at Majapahit was good but not spectacular. Well, I suppose you can't expect too much from Dutch food. Some of the meat was too tough and there was not enough salmon. However there were sufficient interesting dishes to make it worthwhile and it was a beautiful building to dine in. Unfortunately the rain started as we walked back to our hotel and it was still raining when we walked to the station. We did not want to risk taking transport as it was a one-way street the wrong way and we were afraid we would get taken for a ride again. To make things worse, the main entrance to the station was locked and it took us some time to find the small side entrance.
Surabaya really added another dimension to our trip and at no time did we feel threatened. We did notice, however, that there was heavy security at McDonalds, as these have been targeted in some Indonesian cities, including Makassar.
Saturday April 12
We are at Aquarius Star Hotel. They didn't have a cottage available but the room is good and they clean it every day and give us fresh towels and two bottles of drinking water. We haven't done much in Kuta apart from walking, relaxing, swimming and eating. There is a cheap internet place nearby so we've caught up with our mail.
I had a traditional Balinese massage yesterday and a second lady came up and started giving me a manicure. Naively, I assumed this was all included in the price I had negotiated so I let her go ahead, just to see what it involved. When the hour was up, and the manicure had moved on to a pedicure, all unsolicited, she wanted money for it, and the masseuse also expected something extra, so I ended up paying the equivalent of A$8 instead of the A$4 I had originally negotiated. I had made sure that was all I was carrying in case something like this should happen. When I returned Yoong was very angry about it. She thought I should have refused the manicure and pedicure and that these are only for women. I was a bit surprised at the intensity of her anger, as to me it was a very trivial thing. I suggested that today I might go for a temporary tattoo and have my hair braided, which didn't go down too well.
We both finished reading the Harry Potter book, which has kept us company since we left Australia. Yoong tried to give it to a young boy near the pool but he refused it. Maybe he didn't speak English, or maybe he has been told not to accept gifts from strangers. So we took it to a second-hand bookshop, which gave us 10,000 rupiah for it, not a bad profit as we had only paid 25 cents for it in Australia at a library sale of discontinued books.
Tuesday April 15
Singapore airport was almost deserted apart from a few Chinese groups wearing masks. Mel and A-Yin picked us up at the airport and whisked us home where we had our bags disinfected and a thorough wash. Singaporeans are understandably paranoid about the SARS virus, though they are doing such a good job of restricting its spread that it's probably one of the safest places to be at the moment.
Our MAS flight to Paris has been cancelled, so we booked a new flight on Thai Airways, leaving tonight and arriving tomorrow morning. We have enjoyed our brief stay in Singapore. The diet will start tomorrow when we reach France.