A Contemplating Trip to Toraja and Makassar

Pheww, i decided to write a new blog after abandoning my previous 2 blogs ^^ well, i actually wanted to share about what’s happening in my life since few months ago. Well yeah, what happened back in August? My ex was married, soooo.. i decided not to brood myself. I mean come on, he’s moving on. What the hell with me? Still stuck here? :D nah, not so good answer.

I went all the way to Toraja, Makassar. Yeah, i did backpacking for the first time in my life.. and alone *finger crossed ^^V. Every time i’m thinking about it, it’s like WHOA, i’m jumping out to the jungle. To a place i’ve never been for the first time. And surprisingly, i’m feeling FREE! 

I took evening flight to Makassar and it was delayed for about 30 minutes. I arrived almost at 8PM and i had to rush into a bus called “Damri” which took me into another bus pool that will take me to Toraja. Since the Damri bus still waiting for passengers, i rushed to get dinner. At airport canteen, i kept asking people what time Damri usually departs. And thankfully, when i was eating, some of Damri officer were also eating at the canteen. I asked them and... they looked at my “coto” (a traditional meat soup in Makassar) and told me it’s okay to get dinner first. They really waited for me to finish my dinner ^^ I know that’s very small thing, but when you were a stranger in one place, and some people was doing good for you, that feels so blessed! ^^

I took the bus and paid the fare for Rp 25,000/person. Well, it was night and i didn’t know the direction so i had to keep my eyes opened so i wouldn’t miss the road. Since this was my first trip alone, i learned that being talkative was a must for backpacker. I called the bus agency to wait for me, and the way she answered my phone the bus was getting ready to go. Well, i almost missed the bus, and had to take “ojek” to bring me to the bus pool.  Phew.

When I finally got inside the bus, I took a deep and long breath. That was a long night. Exhausted, but exciting. The trip from Makassar to Toraja took about 8-9 hours so i slept in bus. I arrived at Toraja around 6-7 AM in the morning. I was like WHOA, i couldn’t believe i really arrived in Toraja. I walked around to see some hostels and found one named “Wisma Maria”. The room was clean and good. Since they had to prepare the room for me, i didn’t want to waste my time. Actually I didn’t have any plan which places should I go at first. Many people said Toraja is divided to North Toraja and South Toraja. If you wanted to see the ancient cemeteries and folklore, you probably want to explore the south, which I decided too. 

Torajanese were mostly Christian. I arrived at Sunday morning, and people mostly in the church. So I walked around killing the time, and asked some local people about the transportation. I decided to go to Kete Kesu, a traditional Toraja house or “tongkonan”.

 

Kete Kesu is like "show room" place for Tongkonan, a traditional house of Torajanese

The place was still quite empty since people still in the church. The interesting part of Kete Kesu is not at the front, but at the back of houses. Torajanese buried the coffin in a cave. That’s the “standard” procedure. For those richer, they could build their own “death house” and put the coffin inside. For rich people, they usually built a statue complete with their clothing, it’s called “tau-tau” as a personal photo of the dead. The grander the house, the more lavish the “taw-taw”, it’s considered as rich people.

hundred-years-dated coffins at Kete Kesu, Toraja

Up in Kete Kesu, you need to do a bit hiking to see the cemetery at the top. The stairs made from the stone were a bit rough, so you’ll need to hold on a rope. For this cemetery, I don’t recommend you to walk alone into the cave and there were some coffins inside *LOL* you’ll need lamp, and you’ll need guide to accompany because the cave was very dark and the pathway was very scattered.

After Kete Kesu,  I took minibus to go into Londa. Londa was a short visit into a “stone cave”. A bit different with Kete Kesu. In Kete Kesu, you could see traditional houses and mini museum. But Londa, the cave wass the tourism spot. You’ll also need a guide to go inside. At Londa, there were many ancient royalty burials and their “tau-tau”. These cemeteries were aged from hundred years ago, so I wondered these people must be freaking rich in the past. Many jewels put together with the corpse in the coffin. When I got inside the cave, the guide showed me dozens of coffins from ordinary citizen. Because they didn’t have enough money to dig up a cave, so they let the coffins stacked together :(

Londa, an ancient royalty burial

 

There was a small pathway to a mini valley to see Londa from afar. I walked and found a gazebo to take rest, and I met 2 men. His name was Mr. Lucas and the other one, a photographer from Malaysia. Mr. Lucas asked about me because I looked like from Chinese or Japanese *LOL* well I’m Chinese but I was born in Jakarta, Indonesia ^^ after chit-chatting for about 15 minutes, Mr. Lucas asked me to join the trip with them. Whoa, suddenly I felt a bit cautious. They looked kind, but then I was on low budget travel, and they’re driving :D I decided to trust my instinct, hoped everything was going okay.

Okay, boarding to the car meant I would go wherever Mr. Lucas driving. Apparently, his photographer friend would like to explore North Toraja, which included Batutumonga, Ne’Gandeng Museum, Bori, and Pallawa. Well, North Toraja was a trip you shouldn’t do by feet. The road was extremely bad, so you’ll actually need a road off vehicle or a car but strong enough to drive on gravel surface.

First place, we were just driving around and passing by Pasar Bolu, a traditional market where you can buy and sell cows, a sacrificial animal when one family doing death funeral. Later, Mr. Lucas and his friend asked me to have lunch together. Errr, the photographer paid my lunch ^^ I really wanted to pay my lunch, but that man refused my money and just smiled. Whoa, I felt really blessed.. After lunch, we’re driving through Batutumonga. It’s not a one place spot for historical tourism, but Batutumonga was one big area where you just driving through valleys and sightseeing. You could see all those yellowy fields, fresh air, see the whole Toraja from the top. Well, this place was actually heaven for photographers. If you visit this place, you should bring SLR or just take a snap from your smartphone! ^^

 

pardon the feet due to rush editing *LOL*

During the trip, I talked much with Mr. Lucas and he’s such a good man! He’s quite old but I don’t know to be exact because I didn’t ask his age ^^ and apparently I was the same age with his youngest daughter, so yeah I felt like talking with a fatherly figure ^^ Mr. Lucas also asked me to stay in his house with his family. Ouch, that’s very kind of him but I already paid my room for one night at hostel, so I refused his offer.

Well, we didn’t get much time to explore all North Toraja, later the photographer man was a bit dizzy because the road was very bad and there were a lot of bends between the valleys ^^ so we’re going back to Rantepao. Mr. Lucas asked me to stay at his house and  I was like “awww..” he’s really a kind man. Well, a journey has an end. They drove me back into hostel and I shook hands with them. I exchanged my number with Mr. Lucas and he told me to contact him if I’m going back to Toraja or Makassar ^^  I think I was lucky to meet Mr. Lucas and his friend. If I hadn’t met them, I wouldn’t have gone to North Toraja.

It’s already late evening so I took bath.. after 2 days hahaha. I felt really clean :D I went out again to look for dinner and walked around to see the local markets. I pretty like the hostel where I stayed. It located in the downtown of Rantepao. There were also many food stalls so I actually had many options to eat. Rantepao was very quiet at night. I asked some people and looked around if there were local entertainments but nothing. I went back to the hostel and then… suddenly there’s this guy said hello to me :)

We talked for few minutes and got to know each other’s name. His name is Aron , a Hungarian guy, and he stayed in the next door beside my room. He asked me to have dinner together but I just went back from eating, so I suggested him to knock my door when he’s back J later that night, Aron knocked and we’re chatting for almost 2-3 hours. Well like I said from the beginning, this was my first solo trip. I felt blessed I could meet such good people like Mr. Lucas and the photographer guy. And I met another guy, this Aron. We talked, we shared, we laughed. I had million reasons why I did this backpacking trip alone. I wanted to get free from my parents. I wanted to get free from those workload, a job which I really hate working and living. I’m exhausted since I have to take care my mother who suffers cancer and she’s a total demanding patient. 

When I talked with this guy, Aron, I felt like I could stay relax from all those burdens. Well I guessed he’s a smooth talker :D ahahahaa well, we exchanged phone numbers and emails. We went our own way tomorrow afternoon, and said goodbye. He would continue his trip to Raja Ampat and I’m going back to Makassar :(

Baby graves. Each small doors consisted of one baby.

Scenery at Kambira, East Toraja

Too bad I couldn’t get to see the death funeral performed because that was actually a must-see-ritual! I visited on August and locals said most of the funeral performed on December. Well, I guess next time when I come back again, I have to see it! I took the bus to Makassar and arrived early morning. My flight to Jakarta was on 1PM if I’m not wrong, so I still got the time to visit Losari Beach and Fort Rotterdam.

Losari Beach

Fort Rotterdam

I walked around Losari Beach, just sitting and contemplating my mind. This was my first solo trip. I did this alone and I was glad I could go out into some places I’ve never been, going out of my comfort zone, recharged myself, and thinking about my future. I really thought I should put travelling into my new hobbies ^^V

Well, when you visit Makassar, it’d be weird if u didn’t try the famous Konro Bakar Makassar. It’s a famous food icon from Makassar, it’s a grilled beef ribs served with soup or dry. I went to the famous restaurant, Sop Konro Karebosi, but it still not opened yet. Since I had to catch up with the flight, I just ate dry konro from the stall in front of the “official” restaurant LOL. But….. OH MY GOODNESS!!!! This konro was zzzzuuuuuuppppeeerrrrrr deliciousssss!!!!

"Konro bakar" or grilled beef ribs. Super delicious!!

I’m not the type of person who like to do “culinary tourism” but that was the first time in my life I could really said about one food that was extremely delicious!!! Made me wonder, I meant I ate konro at the “non-offficial” stall and that was very good, so how delicious is the original one??? :D

Anyway, I took the plane back into Jakarta. Well, as I said from the early paragraph, I did this trip to move myself going forward. Glad I could go back to Jakarta with peace of mind, also glad to meet some good people :) As I was going back into my normal life, there was something strange in me. I started to see everything different. It's like i'm wearing new glasses, looking at old uniform. I'm not drastically saying I will pack up everything and leave my old life, but I started to learn to accept the things I cannot change and see everything with new perspective. Well, a good friend told me, "The reasons you went away? So that you could come back. So that you could see the place you came from with new eyes and colors. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving."

Well, actually I’m still thinking about Aron until now :) one month later, I texted him asked about his news and how’s he doing but he didn’t reply me :( I guessed he abandoned his Indonesian phone number. I just found him at Facebook few days ago, added him. But.. well he lives in Shanghai, where all social media are banned except at Shanghai Free Trade Zone *LOL* so I don’t keep my hopes high. 

Aron, if you read this blog and you still remember me, please make a shout.. because I would love to meet you again :)

 

Sculpted tomb at Lemo

Tomb houses at Lokomata, North Toraja

 

A labor digging up new "hole" for burial.It took 6 months for experienced labor. It cost 250 million rupiahs.