Sulawesi Surprise! : Goodbye, Makassar!

Perhaps, the antics of the local people at Losari Beach might amuse you, perhaps not. Find delights in the small time peddlars there then and even if there is nothing interesting for you to buy home, it would perhaps give you a glimpse of the life of the local people. Perhaps too, you'd just want a breath of fresh air and to wait for the sunset. Look into the horizon and you'd get to see the world's third largest indoor theme park, Trans Studio which is located on the main road of Metro Tanjung Bunga Street, Makassar. Goodbye, Makassar!


You'd be amused with the antics of the locals in Makassar!

Traveling Tip: Take notice of the peddlers!

Sulawesi Surprise! has ended!

Coming up next: Beautiful Bali

Sulawesi Surprise!: Have Some Dessert!

One night, some fellow travellers and I just took a cab to a shopping mall in Makassar. The very next day, the busload of us were taken to the very shopping mall. There was nothing that caught my interest in Makassar DeCentre and during the second visit, some of us just hung around the place and had some dessert and what I believed to be a more appealing version of pisang epe. Makassar boasts the first underground shopping centre in Indonesia called the Karebosi Link but I am still not sure if it was the mall which we had visited. If it is, then the place is not very posh and you'd not get to buy international branded items. As lately as 2010, there is the first exclusive shopping centre called Trans Mahagaya Mall which boasts famous brands like Hugo Boss, Armani Jeans and the like. Shopping here, I think, is never anything like shopping in Hong Kong or Singapore. Maybe, you would just want to just sit down and have some dessert instead. You would still want to complain about the ice kacang here though!



Pick your dessert at MTC!

Traveling Tip: Try some local dessert!

Sulawesi Surprise! is coming to an end!

Sulawesi Surprise!: At Losari Beach

While in Makassar, some evenings would be spent strolling Losari beach which was located just near our hotel. Losari Beach is supposed to be a Makassar attraction but don't expect golden beaches and much greenery here. One night, we would walk, scouring for the longest buffet dinner table in the world that a fellow traveller said could be found here but that was all in vain. There was not even a fancy restaurant in sight. Most of the time, we got to see local people enjoying an idyllic moment. I have read about street musicians performing here but no one was performing while we were there. Things have changed, I suppose. Once, I read there was not even a pavement for you to walk on and the place was polluted. Unless you like to look at the antics of the local people, you would not get particularly excited here in Losari Beach. Just settle for the sea breeze that would slap you into reality then!

At Losari Beach...

Traveling Tip: Watch the people!

Sulawesi Surprise! is coming to an end!

Sulawesi Surprise! : What's for lunch?

I remember being taken to a supposedly famous eating place in Makassar for lunch after coming back from Tana Toraja. It was not so much of a posh place like what most tourists are expected to frequent when they are traveling in style but more of the dish served. It was buffalo meat we were going to get and it was the eating place's specialty! I suppose it was Coto Makassar we were talking here, a stew of nuts and spices with beef parts which sometimes include the brain, tongue and intestine. Some of us were eager to sink their teeth on the meat but I was not so sure of the Indian ladies who were traveling in the group. Indians, if they are Hindus, do not take beef, but I was not so sure if buffalo's meat is counted as beef and is forbidden. The beef dish didn't appeal to me anyway and together with the Indian friends, we had some chicken rice instead. At times like this, I'd rather that we were served other types of traditional food like pisang epe for instance. Many street vendors especially around Losari Beach sell Pisang epe, which are bananas, pressed, grilled, and covered with palm sugar sauce and sometimes eaten with durian. Bananas probably appeals more to the Indian ladies and God knows if there is a religion in the world that forbids the consumption of bananas- the fruit served in whatever way, I mean!

Can you guess which is Coto Makassar and which is pisang epe?

Traveling Tip: You can choose your food!

Sulawesi Surprise! is coming to an end!

Sulawesi Surprise!: Shop, Eat and Drink!

While in Makassar, many of us would take the opportunity during those free afternoons to shop in shops near our hotel. There were many shops selling gold behind our hotel but if you take time to scrutinise, you'd find some interesting souvenir shops around, selling cheap artifacts but if that does not interest you, perhaps, you'd want to buy a batik shirt or two from a batik shop or perhaps, some jamus, too from where else but a jamu shop. Jamu or Djamu, is a traditional herbal medicine made from natural materials, such as the roots, leaves and bark of plants. Shopping apart, you'd have to take time off for food, too and in the case of my companions and I, we would always stopped at a coffeeshop a few doors away from our hotel where we would have some noodles and dessert. The lady who served us was a fair lady who looked very Chinese. She called herself Mary.

Do you think these dishes are Chinese?

Traveling Tip: Shop, Eat and Drink!

Sulawesi Surprise! is coming to an end!

Sulawesi Surprise!: A Similar Port

When you are in Makassar, sometimes, you would think you are in Java. If you are at the port of Paotere especially, Pinisi boats there probably remind you of Sunda Kelapa, the old Jakarta p0rt on the estuarine of Ciliwung River. Pinisi boats are traditional Indonesian sailing boats with two masts. If you had thought that you have seen the same boat at these two places, you probably would be right too since the boats ply these two places to trade. It would not be too boring to be at a similar port again especially, if you are lucky like us - At the port of Paotere, we got to enter one of the Pinisi boat there and had a first hand look at what was inside. You'd believe then that you only live twice!

Come in and have a look at a Pinisi boat!

Traveling Tip: Nothing is similar!

Sulawesi Surprise!: Strange Tales

Sometimes, you'd hear strange tales about the place you visit if you talk to the tour guide. A fellow traveller who was also an avid reader tried to confirm with the tour guide about the existence of some Indonesian mechanics who use magic to repair cars . A dented car purportedly could be rendered dentless if you'd to leave the car overnight with these mechanics. It seems that you would not be allowed to watch them work but you could stand outside their closed garage and hear them banging away at your car with the simplest tool available and hey presto! Your damaged car would be as good as new! Then, there was talk about a man from Java who was then imprisoned in a jail in Makassar. It seemed that nobody wanted or dared to share the same cell with him as the man was a cannibal! Fort Rotterdam had once served as jail too for a religious leader who opposed the Dutch and if you were at the fort, you could visit his cell and see paintings of him. You could also see painting of past kings too. Perhaps, you'd like this picture of a sultan (inset). Forget about cannabilism and embrace history!

Traveling Tip: Talk to the tour guide!

Sulawesi Surprise! : A Fort in Makassar

I remember wandering a little further away from our hotel one afternoon and seeing a long stretch of stone wall in the distance. That was actually Fort Rotterdam . On the last leg of our tour, we got to visit it. Built in 1667, this fort which is also known as Benteng Ujung Pandang, used to be a Goanese fort. The king of Gowa had built the latter and the wall then was made of clay. The fort was a walled city during the 17th and 18th centuries and it was here that the governor's residence, the military officers' quarters, government offices, the armory, library, warehouses, garrisons and a protestant church were located. Today, the fort houses the La Galigo museum and is an art centre where theatre performances are held in the evening. Some of the best Dutch buildings are said to be located here. So, while there, drink in the buildings even though they look rather new and recent and pay attention to every corner. Fort Rotterdam, supposedly has five bastions in every corner of its wall ...

Are these Dutch?

Travelling Tip: Look every corner!

Sulawesi Surprise! : A Museum in Makassar

For an old city like Makassar, there is definitely a museum in town -the Balla Lompoa Museum. You'd probably want to visit it but don't raise your hope too high even though the museum is supposed to be housed in an old palace. This is not Paris's Louvre Museum and it would not even hold a candle to the Elephant Building in Jakarta. Paris's Louvre Museum has the Mona Lisa and the Jakarta's National Museum has the Java and Flores man to boast about but in Balla Lompoa, maybe you'd find solace in some old scripts, that is if you are lucky to be able to enter the museum in the first place. It has been said that the museum is sometimes closed because of lack of visitors. If that's the case, maybe you'd just take some photos in the museum compound and perhaps pose for a photo with the old rickshaw exhibited there...

Would you pose for a photo here?

Traveling Tip: Take photos!

Sulawesi Surprise!: Relics from the past

Even without the Portuguese and Dutch, I suppose the locals were always on a warpath. In the 16th century, when the Goa-Tallo dynasties were dominating the political and economical scene in Makassar, there was another kingdom called Bone kingdom made up of resentful Bugis who were bent on destroying Makassar. They allied with the Dutch East India Company in 1669 and became the next most important kingdom in southwest Sulawesi. Some of these Bugis then became traders and began to migrate to the Straits of Malacca and became involved in the local politics there. Today, at the district of Gowa, particularly at Bukit Kale Gowa, you'd get to see old tombs that remind one of that era...

Relics from the past...

Traveling Tip: Tombs tell!

Sulawesi Surprise! : More Graves!

If you have thought that when you have left Tana Toraja, you have seen the last of graves, well, you'd better think again! Makassar, as you know, has been a city with a colourful past. With spice merchants and sultans forming the backdrop, and foreign powers the likes of the Portuguese and the Dutch trying to wrest control of the spice trade, here you are bound to see old graves especially of local heroes and sultans. Old tombs abound at Makam Pahlawan Nasional Sultan Hasanuddin. The name of Sultan Hasanuddin himself perhaps keep some people spellbound, for this was a man whose seeds has flung far to places like Malaysia. The current Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is said to be a descendant of this Sulawesi King...



Would you be interested in scrutinising these old graves at Makam Pahlawan Nasional Sultan Hasanuddin?

Traveling Tip: Learn about the past to understand the present!