Sulawesi Surprise! : It is raining in Makasar

After dinner, we were herded to our hotel. It took some time for us to check in and as we enjoyed our welcome drink in the dining hall, a fellow traveller went up the stage to sing a Chinese song, the late Teresa Teng's number Tian mi mi, which originally, was an Indonesian folk song called Dayung Sampan. She came down the stage, lamenting that the lyrics were all romanized, not a single Chinese character was in sight, which was of course, was to be expected since Sulawesi is part of Indonesia. Chinese schools and Chinese characters were banned during the time when Sukarno, the first president of Indonesia was in power. I had had a good sleep that night and no wonder - it was raining when I woke up. When I took a step out of the hotel, I was confronted by the sea and there were coconut palms to remind me of home. If not for a building with the distinctive Toraja roof in the distance, I would have thought that I was in Terengganu, Malaysia...

Can you find the building with the distinctive Toraja roof?

And here, enjoy Teresa Teng's song, in the Indonesian language and in Chinese...

Traveling Tip: Sing!