hecked into a lovely room at the Villa Pisang Mas, then it was all about indulging ourselves... eating, shopping and taking dips in the pool. A week later, we were ready to hit the road again, and though neither of us were crazy about Indonesia in general, we decided to give it another go. So many people have raved about it, it must be good, right? Maybe we just hadn't hit the right spot yet... This time, we set our sights on the Togean Islands just off of Central Sulawesi, which by the way, is interestingly, mostly Christian, and the site of much sectarian violence in the past. But now it seems they've put their differences aside for the time being. It was strange to see churches and cathedrals after seeing nothing but mosques and temples.
Flew to Makassar (the Southern end of the island), which is supposed to be an cool city with great food and it's own Chinatown. We were excited because we hadn't been in a proper Chinatown since we left Malaysia, and we really missed it. Well... it was a bit disappointing... there was none of the hustle and bustle you usually associate with a Chinatown, and the food was nothing to write home about. All we saw was just another city with a hodge podge mix of old and new and way too ma
ny pushy rickshaw drivers. And we ran into a problem with the language. Very few people spoke English. Our fault really... we should have gotten a book and studied Bahasa Indonesian, but we got spoiled up til then and had only learned a few basic phrases. It was a real struggle just to find out where the bus station was.
The fun thing was that they're not used to Western tourists so Erik was a real celebrity. He got stares wherever we went with people shouting out, “Hello Mister!” and kids followed him around. While we were walking, a bus full of high school kids got out, and the teacher came over to ask if he would mind taking a few photos with them. It was really hysterical to see all the kids jostling for position to be in a photo with him. He was a star!
After a couple of days in Makassar we made our way to Rantepao in the Tana Toraja region. The Torajans have their own language, culture and architecture, and are fairly unique in the way they deal with the dead. When a person dies, they are treated as if the
y were still alive... family and friends visit with them and bring them meals. Only after the family has raised enough money to have a great big party, and a water buffalo is slaughtered in their honor, are they considered dead and the spirit has left... weird, huh?
Once in Rantepao, we hired a guide named Martin, to take us to a funeral ceremony, which he did. The village was located on a hill with gorgeous rice paddies, and the dramatic architecture of the houses were pretty stunning. Platforms were built under the houses to accommodate visiting family and friends. The guy who passed away must have been an important person because
it was a pretty big affair with many gifts of water buffaloes, a sure sign of a person's standing in the community. Unfortunately, the day we went, there wasn't much going on, but we were told the next day there would be a water buffalo slaying. I wasn't sure if I had the stomach to watch, but thought the whole ritual was fascinating. Well, the next day, we went back, but because the man got so many gifts of water buffaloes, they were still counting and announcing them. This went on for hours. We went and presented one of the families with a gift of a carton of cigarettes (strange, but we were told that was the appropriate
thing to do) and were invited to sit with them and have lunch. Martin turned out to be worst guide... spent more time text-messaging than explaining what was going on. Watching them count water buffaloes was none too exciting, especially since we couldn't understand a word being said so we were a bit disappointed, but also a bit relieved that we didn't see an animal slaughtered because I'm sure that would not have been pretty. Instead, we had Martin take us for a lovely walk through the rice paddies.
Then we were on our way to the Togeans, which three days to get to. First we took a bus from Rantepao to Tentena, spent the night, then the next morning got in a shared S
UV to the town of Poso where we changed to another SUV for Ampana. We arrived in the early evening and got a room for the night, then the next morning we boarded an old-fashioned wooden ferry for the island of Kadidiri in the Togeans.
We stayed at Paradise Resort, one of only three resorts on the island. In fact that's all there is on the island... no village, no store, no roads, nothing. And nothing to do, but go diving or snorkeling. It wasn't exactly paradise... electricity just in the evenings from 6:00 to 11:00, jungle water coming out of the faucets (when there was water), and inflated prices for everything, including drinking water. But the ocean was pretty and the suns
ets amazing. And the resort came with three friendly dogs, Lola, Bonbon and Zero who kept us company as we wrote our pages in the mornings. Plus we scored some really good books from their book exchange. That came in really handy since there was nothing to do. But the best part was meeting a lot of very cool people who we chatted with while dining community style. After five days, I felt it was enough. Time to move on...
Rather than go back the way we came, this time we decided to head to Manado on the northern tip, an international destination, world-renowned for great diving. Thought it would be faster and we'd have more options. You see, we had less than a month left and we didn't kn
ow where we wanted to spend that time. Figured we'd go to Manado, a modern, developed city, find a place with wifi and do some research. So we boarded a ferry bound for Gorontalo, where we would get transport to Manado. This one was a more modern affair with air-conditioning and a room with reclining seats. But because it would be a 13-hour overnight ride, we decided to share a sleeping cabin with Niels and Nicky, a really sweet Belgian couple we met at Paradise. As soon as we got on the ferry, it was a mad scramble to get one of just a handful of cabins, which actually belong to the crew. The crew regularly rent them out to passengers willing to pay $25. Not a bad deal really considering it would be split four ways. With the help of the Manager of Paradise Resort who came on board with us, 
we managed to score one, and though super-tight with child-size bunkbeds, it was a lot more comfortable. With that done, we went up on the deck and hung out watching the pretty sunset and chatting with other travelers, most of whom we had met on Paradise.
Not sure if I even got any sleep that night, but I must have dozed off at some point because I woke to the sound of the boat docking. We quickly got our stuff together then rushed into the madness of everyone trying to disembark at the same time... cars, motorbikes, people with cargo, etc. We pushed and shoved along with everyone else, and with Niels and Nicky, and Dan and Calista (another great couple we met on Paradise), we managed to bargain a pretty good price for a shared SUV to Manado. It really helped that Dan was fluent in Bahasa Indonesian after having spent a year teaching English on Kalimantan, the Indonesian side of Borneo. We couldn't have asked for better travel companions... everyone was considerate, played nice, and we all took turns rotating seats so no one would be stuck being uncomfortable for too long. Then a travel nightmare happened... not sure if it was the fish we ate for breakfast, but I got sick and felt seriously nauseous throughout the 10-hour ride to Manado, having to make emergency stops at the worst outhouses imaginable... UGH! Everyone being really kind, they let me ride the last few hours in the front passenger seat, but even then, it felt like it was taking forever to get there despite our driver going at break-neck speed.
Took two nights, one day to recover in Manado before heading to yet another tiny little island, called Bunaken, where Erik could dive. By now I was pretty tired of little islands, but I thought this may be his last chance for a very long time. And so we went, but this time, we looked on-line and booked a full-board stay at one of the more luxury plac
es, Bunaken Village Resort. Though no A/C, they had a small swimming pool and electricity 24 hours... a big step up from the Paradise. Spent three days there eating well and visiting with our friends Niels and Nicky at a different resort and also making new friends as well, like Katrina and Ulrich, who gave us a lot of advice about places to go.
Back in Manado, we were still undecided as to where we would spend the rest of our time. Thought about going to the Philippines, but that would mean more islands, which I was pretty sick of. We were really close to getting a ticket back to Bali to regroup, but at the last minute, purchased tickets to KL because we figured we could get to anywhere from there.
Just then, I was reading Bill Bryson's “Down Under” (which by the way is one of the best books I read on this trip) about his travels in Australia, and I thought, “Why not?” It's somewhere I've always dreamed about, and though we'd talked about it, we'd always dismissed the idea because it was so expensive. It's also winter there now so it's cold and we had given away all of our warm clothes back in Laos when we decided not to go further north. On the other hand, this was towards the end of our trip and we had managed to save a bit so why not splurge and go for gold? And by then, I was really sick of the heat, humidity and biting insects, and the thought of winter sounded refreshing, especially since once we get home, it'll be the height of summer... more heat and humidity. Plus when will we ever get to this part of the world again? Probably not for a good long while. So I managed to convince E that it was a good idea. Problem was, when we looked at flights to Australia out of KL, it being last-minute, the only affordable flight was to Perth, the most remote city in the world! Oops! Undaunted, we decided to go anyway. Yay! With thoughts of kangies, koalas and clean bathrooms floating in my head, for the first time in a long time, I was really excited!
Erik: So instead of continuing on to exploring Flores, we made the decision to u-turn back to Bali, regroup and re-energize there. we were just tired, road-weary and wanted a little comfort. We were lucky to find a little resort on a side street in Legian that offered self-standing villas for semi-affordable prices. we managed to negotiate a decent price for a large place with a little kitchen unit, and basically chilled out for a week, getting our energy level back up and our interest in Indonesia alive again. So far we'd been disappointed with the country, finding the food incredibly boring and the overall cost of living much higher than we'd thought. We were considering the Philippines, Thailand, etc. But we'd been given advice way back in Mexico (16 months ago) that Sulawesi was a wonderful place to visit – with some of the best diving in the world and really interesting culture. It was possible to fly there directly from Bali, so off we went.
In retrospect, I think that we really must have just been burnt out on traveling – as the little things that one might find interesting were becoming annoying to us – language barriers, street touts, having to haggle and negotiate for everything...and the long, uncomfortable bus rides just held no allure anymore. So in the end, perhaps it was a mistake to head to Sulawesi, as those things are exactly what we got. Long, long days of travel, crappy, unenthusiastic guides, and 
boring, boring food. We really tried to like it, and perhaps we would have if we'd visited Indonesia earlier in our trip. Even the diving ended up a disappointment for me, as I'd had so many people tell me how great the diving on the Togeans and Manado was – but it really wasn't. Dynamite fishing had killed off the majority of the fish in the Togeans (I accidentally picked up an unexploded pipe bomb diving there - “gee I wonder what this could be?” - then realized my mistake, put it down very gently and paddled away as quickly as possible.) Manado diving was better, but I think I'd been spoiled by my dives on Flores, as even there I found it so-so.
The architecture in Tana Toraja was fascinating – the village houses built with huge arching roofs, and buffalo horns adorning the fronts of the VIP houses – the more horns, the bigger the VIP. I wish we'd learned more about the culture – been to a funeral on the proper celebration day and made it out to the burial caves, where coffins are suspended off cliff walls, an
d infant coffins dangled from trees. Our great guide managed to waste most of our time there watching people prepare for the funeral, and not much more (which was interesting on its own, but we were still left feeling disappointed...)
What I am very happy about from the Sulawesi trip is the great group of people we met there – Nicky and Niels, Marco the crazy Dutchman, Dan and Calista, Katrina and Ulrich as well as Stefano and Patricia from northern Italy, who's contact info we're very sad to have lost – we were invited to stay in their tiny village whenever we made it out to Tuscany – damn!
After the disappointments in Indonesia, I was eager to check out the Philippines, but T had her sites set on Australia. After I'd been spoiled with so many tropical islands and so much diving, it was only fair to let her call the shots on this last leg of the trip – and I can't say I was unhappy to be going to Oz – always wanted to go there – but I'd never considered Perth, and in the dead of winter? Oh well, it would be something different at least, and I'd never seen a kangaroo and knew nothing of cricket nor Aussie-rules football, so why not?
Our photos from Sulwesi:
Tana Toraja, Sulawesi Indonesia
Kadidiri, Togean Islands, Indonesia 
Manado, Sulawesi, Indonesia
