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Rabu, April 27, 2011

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 cafĂ©. 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



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