Incredible Thailand: Hat Yai, Trang and Koh Lanta

Saya hanya butuh lima hari liburan di empat kota di Thailand untuk menyimpulkan bahwa negara ini betul-betul mengagumkan. Bukan hanya pantainya yang indah, melainkan juga orang-orangnya yang ramah dan makanannya yang enak. Satu lagi, untuk liburan di Thailand, kalian tidak butuh uang yang banyak. Pengeluaran kalian akan sama halnya jika liburan di Indonesia. Saya bahkan belum pernah menemukan penginapan di Makassar dengan biaya THB 200 per malam atau sekitar IDR 60,000.

Perayaan Festival Songkran di Hat Yai

Saya dan tiga teman saya, Fia, Muhe dan Saskia, memulai perjalanan liburan kami di Thailand pada 12 April 2011 setelah kereta api yang kami tumpangi tiba di Hat Yai pada siang hari. Waktu itu, Hat Yai cukup ramai karena esoknya adalah perayaan tahun baru berdasarkan penanggalan Thailand yang mereka sebut Songkran Festival. Pada perayaan ini, tua-muda, laki-perempuan dengan timba, ember kecil ataupun pistol air, mereka turun ke jalanan untuk saling menyiramkan air kepada semua pengguna jalan, tidak terkecuali kami.

Kami tidak begitu lama di Hat yai karena kami harus menuju ke Koh Lanta. Kami pun mendapatkan tiekt murah dari travel agen yang ada di dekat mall di Hat Yai seharga THB 450. Untuk kalian yang berencana liburan di Thailand, supaya lebih murah, belilah tiket di terminal kota yang kalian kunjungi :) Sebelum ke Koh Lanta, minibus yang kami tumpangi transit di Trang. Perjalanan dari Hat Yai ke Trang memakan waktu tiga jam. Kami sedikit takjub ketika minibus kami berhenti sesaat untuk mengisi bensin dari sebuah gudang kecil.

Pom bensin di dalam gudang? :)


Landmark kota Trang


Muhe, Fia, Saskia dan Saya di kota Trang


Jajanan dan makanan khas Thailand di pasar malam di kota Trang. Favorit saya adalah roti isi seharga THB 20 (Gambar paling bawah)

Di Trang, kami harus menginap karena bus terakhir tujuan ke Koh Lanta sore itu sudah berangkat. Kami pun menyewa kamar di PJ's Guesthouse dengan membayar THB 200 per kamar. Trang adalah kota kecil yang mengagumkan. Dari sini, kita bisa naik kereta tujuan Bangkok. Landmark kota ini adalah sebuah jam yang berada tepat di tengah kota. Kami pun sempat menikmati pasar malam di Trang yang menjual pakaian, tas dan makanan. Saya pun lebih memilih menikmati kuliner-kuliner khas Thailand, khususnya Trang.

Berfoto dengan pemilik Guesthouse sebelum meninggalkan kota Trang

Setelah menikmati kota Trang, esoknya kami berangkat menuju Koh Lanta. Perjalanan ditempuh selama dua jam dan melalui dua pelabuhan fery karena Koh Lanta terdiri dari dua pulau besar yang saling berdekatan.

Penyebrangan feri di Koh Lanta dan ferinya.

Di Koh Lanta, kami turun di Sala Dan Pier untuk menaiki feri tujuan Koh Phi Phi. Ongkos untuk perjalanan ini adalah THB 250 di travel agen di sekitar pelabuhan itu. Biaya ini sebenarnya bisa lebih murah jika kalian tidak membelinya di travel agen, melainkan langsung dari empunya feri.

Muhe' di Sala Dan Pier, Koh Lanta, Krabi.

Toradja: Land van de Mystici (Part II)

Third Day in Toraja: Batutumonga, Lokomata and Pana

Bolu market, they're also selling buffalos, including the most expensive buffalo


Sirih seller explaining how to 'nyirih' to Dragos

We started our journey at 7 pm. Aldy woke up late so we left him behind but it was not really far, he could reach us. The route for the day was the route that I, Fia and Aldy were supposed to take with Alex and Sascha. We took a minibus to Pasar dan Terminal Bolu for Rp 3000. In Bolu, we separated with Mark and Dragos for buying things to eat. I bought a milk and baroncong, a traditional Makassar food. We took quite much time for breakfast, so I decided to take pictures of famous buffalo in Toraja, one with pinky white skin and blue eyes. This buffalo is said to be the most expensive kind of buffalo.

Narrow shorcut to Batutumonga. Salute to the driver :)

A village on the way to Batutumonga which just held another funeral ceremony, could be abig one

View of terracing on the way to Batutumonga

When we met, Dragos wanted to have coffee but he didn’t want to pay Rp 5,000 for a glass of coffee. He said it was expensive for a glass of Robusta coffee. However, he found one which was only Rp 2,000 for a glass. Dragos and Mark then had their coffee while I and Aldy had a cup noodle for Rp 5,000. After we had breakfast, we went to a minibus that could take us to Batutumonga. We had to pay Rp 10,000 to reach the place. The driver took a shortcut to reach the place. It was a climb and narrow road which made my heart beat a little bit faster :D but the view was so much awesome. It somehow became a distraction for me. The terracing of paddy land was so beautiful, like they carved Sesean Mountain. Batutumonga and some palces we visited were in the foothills of Sesean Mountain. From these places, we could see Rantepao.

Left: View of Rantepao from Batutumonga; Right: Me with awesome view


Left: Place for bathing a buffalo. I bet he enjoys bathing in this awesome place; Right: A Stone graves on the way to Lokomata


Left: A very beautiful greenish rice paddy on the way to Lokomata; Right: A stone graves in Lokomata

From Batutumonga, we did trekking to Lokomata. In our journey, we met an Italian Antonia who had the same route to us. I was enjoying the trekking coz I could see a beautiful green paddy and a place for buffalo to bath with very clear and cool water. In Lokomata, we saw such a big stone with some quadrangle hole for putting coffin inside. From Lokomata, we planned to trek to Pana. After a long trekking, unfortunately, I got a wrong map. I argued with Antonio about this until I asked the local and she said that Pana was far in downhill. We left Mark and Dragos because they were busy to take picture of Torajanese house one place. We did hitch-hiking to get Pana.

Hitch-hiking from Lokomata to Pana with Antonio

Welcome to Pana!

In Pana, you can see one of the oldest stone graves in Toraja and one of two place with baby grave on tree. You have to pay Rp 5,000 for entry fee if you are a local tourist and Rp 10,000 if you are foreign. There is also a mini museum where you can try a Torajanese royal costum.

One of the oldest stone graves in Toraja which is located in Pana

Left: View of stone graves in Pana from another angle; Right: Tree used for grave for unborn baby. There are only two baby graves in Toraja. One of them is in Pana

Me in Royal Torajanese costume

View of Rantepao from Tikala

An old man playing a traditional Torajanese instrument made from Bamboo. He offered me his for Rp. 10,000

We planned to do another trekking to Tikala but we didn’t do it since it was quite long road. So we took a minibus back to Bolu for Rp 7,000. I was really tired at that time so I was kinda sleep in the bus. We then took another bus to Rantepao. Here, we wanted to have lunch while Antonio wanted to go to internet café. We planned to back to Makassar together with the same bus the next day. The trip for that day was quite tiring but fun.

Fia, Aldy and Me on the way back to Makassar

We went back to Makassar in Sunday. We took a morning bus for Rp 85,000. Unfortunately, we could not go with Antonio since we took different bus.

Left: Hills in Enrekang; Right: Beach in Pare-Pare

Toradja: Het Land van de Mystici (Part I)

I have been waiting for going to Toraja since thousands years ago. Well, technically, years ago. I really wanted to see Lovely December festival in Toraja in the end of the year but I couldn't make it. So, when there is a chance to go there, I'd be very happy.

Fia, Me and Aldy

One Romanian guy, Dragos, and his friend, Mark, in couchsurfing.org contacted me. He said he wanted to be my guest even in the last minute he canceled, but it's okey. He also said that he wanted to go to Toraja. I've never been there so I guessed it was kinda awesome to travel with them. I also contacted my friends who were willing to take the trip and there were three friends. We were supposed to go to Toraja together by taking a morning bus but for some reason I cancel it and took the night bus. I booked and paid for four tickets (RP 80,000 per each) but one of my travel mate canceled, so I went to Toraja with Fia and Aldy by taking a night bus.

First Day in Toraja: Bolu and Poroktedong

We arrived in Rantepao, North Toraja, at 6.30 am then we were headed to Losmen Familie. Thanks to Dragos coz he booked one room for us for Rp. 50,000 per night. It was quite cheap for a touristic place like Rantepao. We didn't really rest well coz at 9.00 am, we were going to see a Torajanese funeral ceremony in a place called Poroktedong (Buffelo's butt) which some of my Torajanese fellows don't think that there is a city named so. To reach the place, we had to take a minibus to Bolu (Rp. 3000) and take another one (Rp.4000). In our way of taking a bus to Terminal dan Pasa Bolu, we met Sascha and Alex who also joined the trip. I wondered Dragos has already known them.

Let's get the ceremony started as the gong banged

The man lifts the small Tongkonan, the women makes things to eat

Let's put the lovely one in her throne

In the place where the funeral ceremony was held, I was amazed by how the treat the one who already passed despite the fact that they spend millions rupiah for the ceremony. The people who held the ceremony were also nice. They were really welcome to the tourist who wanted to see the ceremony, even a local tourist like me. They invited me to have their beverages. That was the first day of the ceremony. People there said that there were seven days in total for the ceremony. That was why I didn't see such climax of it like the cutting of the buffalo's throat.

Left: Porks as gifts; Right: Let's start making food for lunch :)

Left: Grilled porks; Right: Me, 'One please!'

We left the place about 1 pm. Dragos and Mark planned to go back after taking some stuffs in the losmen. They wanted to sleep over in the ceremony's place with the locals. On the way back to the losmen, Mark and Sascha asked me whether I, Fia and Aldy wanted to join their trip in Northern and Western Toraja in the next day. I said yes coz that would be awesome.

Left: Torajanese house 'Tongkonan'; Right: Small Tongkonan for a dead one and family in it

Second Day in Toraja: Londa and Trekking to Kete'kesu

Left: Googling for some places to see in Toraja; Right: Making my own map of Toraja

We planned to go to the North and West of Toraja, around Sesean Mountain. I myself had no idea about how to go there so I decided to rent a minibus but it was too expensive, Rp 60,000 per each. So, we only went to Londa. We paid for Rp 7000 per person to go there.

In Londa, we paid another Rp 20,000 for some kinda lamp to get in the place coz Londa is such a cave with two 'doors' and it was very dark inside, of course it was. You can see hanging graves here. The higher the coffin placed, the richer people in the coffin is. I, Alex and Sascha wanted to get deeper in the cave. When we reached a big room in the cave and Sascha dropped her camera, we decided not to go deeper. On our way of leaving Londa, we saw the highest place of the coffin that we thought that one might be the richest.

Left: Alex really enjoyed to be inside Londa's cave
Right: Outside Londa where you can see new and old coffins

Left: Some skulls in Londa; Right: Puppets representing the dead ones

Can you see a hole in the cliff? This could be the richest! Imagine how to took the coffin here :)

This is how they made the puppet and souvenirs

I asked the local about how to get in Kete'kesu by walking. He who is a merchant said that we could get Kete'kesu by walking through the rice fields and it sounded fun. Some kids guided us when we were about to find a church. There I asked another locals to show us path to Kete'kesu. On our way, the path became long because some locals gave us regular path to get Kete'kesu, not the one through rice fields, though the scenes were very awesome. One tip is when you lost in Toraja, you better only ask about how to get somewhere, not how many kilometres left to get there. Some people doesn't really know how to count the length of the way and somehow it will disappoint you ;D Like when I asked about how many kilos left to three guys in different place, they all said 'two kilometres left'.

View on the way to Kete'kesu

View on the way to Kete'kesu, a knoll that we thought grey sand

Left: Alex taking picture of a millipede; Right: Rice paddy on the way to Kete'kesu

For entering Kete'kesu you must pay Rp 5000 if you're a local tourist and double of it if you're not. I insisted to the man in the ticket counter to pay the same price for Alex and Sascha, and he was okey with that :D

Kete'kesu

Two toms which are separated from those hanging on the cliff

Very old coffins and some skulls and bones on it

Again! Skulls and bones.

Once again, skull on the bones and coffins in a cave in Kete'kesu

In Kete'kesu, you can see some Torajanese houses with buffalo's horn, again, the more the richer. There is also hanging grave with a cave on the top but we didn't enter.

Me in Kete'kesu

Me, Alex, Sascha and Fia

We went back to the losmen by taking a minibus and paid Rp 3000 for it. Before we were back to each other losmen, we exchanged mobile number and e-mail. Dragos and Mark were back from sleepover in Poroktedong. They said that they were disappointed of the funeral ceremony because they didn't see such an excited thing. Well, it might because it was not climax yet. They also said that they wanted to go to Batutumonga the next day and I said that I, Fia and Aldy wanted to join.