The Journeys ... The Current Trip

After having a hard time on the bicycle from Makassar to Parepare, we have found our cycling legs again. A good thing as well, as two tough days lay between us and the mountain highlands of Tana Toraja.

Tana Toraja is the most famous area in Sulawesi – well outside the attention the sectarian trouble around Poso received a few years back. And this is really a pretty special place. To get up to Toraja, we had two tough days of climbing to complete first. Especially the second day was more or less exclusively going up. Sounds tough. It was. But some of the vistas we got were absolutely stunning: wide valleys flanked by majestic mountains covered in dense forests. Also, the traffic had considerably thinned out, so it was actually rather pleasant riding. By the time we reached Makale, Toraja's administrative capital, we felt as if we had been hit by a truck. But we had made it through another day of more than 1200 meters of climbing.

Toraja's fame originates from its people and their customs. Despite centuries of Dutch occupation, the region has preserved some of its architecture, ceremonies and rituals. The landscape is doted with tongkonans, massive houses built in traditional style with a a roof that look much like a ship. Along these houses you often find several miniature versions of tongkonan's, which are storage barns for rice. Those houses definitely give the region a 'exotic' feel.
The other thing that makes Toraja famous are their funerals. Torajan's belive, that if the deceased is not farewelled properly he or she will bring misfortune to the family. This results in very elaborate funerals with hundreds of guests that last for days and cost dozens of buffaloes and pigs their lives. Yes, the tomates (that's what the funerals are called) are meaty affairs: while some buffalo is being a slaughtered, you find a pig (minus entrails) being roasted on an open fire while the raja (king) of the village is standing on a platform giving away chunks of meat by throwing it towards the waiting people. Interesting.

From Makale it's only 17 kilometers to Rantepao, Toraja's tourist hub. We figured, that we would get off the Trans-Sulawesi Highway (it's not really a highway the way you might imagine it – just the main road going North-South in Sulawesi) and take the back roads to Rantepao. Our first stop was to be a small village called Sangalla. We couldn't find the wisma (guest house) so asked for directions. This resulted in us ending up staying at a well-to-do local politician's house. This was not only considerably cheaper, but also offered us a view into the local life that most tourists will never see. We chatted, sat, smoked (well, Erika did – I'm still of the cigarettes) and drank with four generations of Torajans, got shown around the touristy places and invited to places that showed the true beauty of Toraja. (If you are interested in staying with that family in Sangalla, send me an email and I'll give you the details and phone number.)

This is one of the reasons why we are traveling by bicycles. We get much more up-close and personal with the locals and once in a while we get lucky and get to part take in their lives. The hotel taut waiting for you at the bus station won't do that.

We got to experience the difference once we had arrived in Rantepao. After eating at a overprice retaurant which served crap food and was in cohorts with the aggressive tauts, we lost all interest in seeing what they had to show us. After experiencing the warmth of those people in Sangalla, the business attitude surrounding their culture here in Rantepao appalls and we have decided to just stay a few days more, explore a bit more on our bicycles and then head towards the eastern coast. (Yay, downhill!)

I will upload photos later. I had to reinstall the computer and currently can't use Photoshop as you have to activate it online. Thank you Adobe for making it very complicated for me to use the (expensive) software that I purchased from you LEGALLY! However, I have uploaded a new Vlog Episode on YouTube. I hope that'll entertain you until I've got more photos. Until then.