Puff the (not so magic) dragon...

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This pack of ciggies was left by a house guest who bought upon his arrival in Bali, but decided he didn’t like it and asked me to pass it on to whoever I know smoking it.

Out of curiosity I picked one out and lighted it. One puff. Two puff. Three puff. And it was out. Hahaaa.. yes, it only took me three puffs to reformulate why I don’t like smoking. My first time was when I was ten or eleven years old, and in that young delicate age I couldn’t really put words on that experience, and after a couple of decades, I can. 

Older and wiser, now I can say that I don’t like smoking because literally it’s like inhaling those smelly garbage smoke (and we have plenty of that in Bali) and blow it out again. Just like that, empty mouth just smelly air circling around my mouth resulting nothing else than smelly breath. Hahaa… not my cup of tea :D

East bound: TORAJA

It’s been a year since the last time I traveled abroad. There are only two reason for this, time and money. Since it cost more to travel abroad I don’t want to waste a lot of cash just to spend 2-3 days in Bangkok, for instance. Besides, Indonesia is rich and full of different cultures with magnificent places to see. Logically I should travel within my country before exploring the world, right? 

So Toraja was my latest destination. I had travel mates this time, 3 girls. Schedule: Nyepi (Balinese holiday on mid March). So us girls prepared our tickets, hotels and a scratch of itinerary. We figured for the most part things can be done on location so no need to over-prepare it.

With cheap tickets in our pocket (thanks to AirAsia) we left on Saturday afternoon. It’s a bit too bad there’s only 1 flight and it leaves at 3pm, we sort of lost one day. But it is what it is. The flight from Bali to Makassar (prev. Ujung Pandang) was uneventful. We went directly to Litha bus station, purchased our ticket for the 9pm bus ride. We had plenty of time for dinner, but not that much to roam around the city. So we chose a small warung walking distance from the station. They had cheap Makassar dish, coto Makassar and we all ordered that, along with some dumpling we bought from street vendor.

The bus left on time (which is good) and off we went. I swallowed a motion sickness pill just as we left, just in case, but also so that I could sleep and get some rest. Only then did I found out that the pill lasted for 4 hours. When I woke up I hesitated to take another pill, so I just closed my eyes and tried going back to sleep. The bus made a lot of stops, which I thought was good because it gave people chance when they needed to go to the bathroom.

And just about a couple of hours before we reached Rantepao the road started to get really curvy, lots of turns, and as predicted I started to feel queesy, and not too long I got sick. My last meal was 6 hours before so I basically had digested all the food, but this kind of sickness had to twist and pinch my tummy to the max until there was nothing else to vomit. I guess that’s the ‘risk’ of having ulcer problem. The acid just had to crush you and there was nothing you can do, at some point you had to let it out, and when it’s done, you get your cool back and try to get more rest. I couldn’t even drink, you know with all the smell and the taste in my mouth. Oh yes, my travel buddy J also had a jackpot, and from the sound of it seemed she was more miserable than I. LOL.

Rantepao is beautiful in its own, the people are very diligent in working their land. You can hardly see a lot that’s not turned into paddy field. Wherever you turn you can see rice fields are either planted or prepare to be planted.

The graveyards and its mystical funeral rituals add spice to the whole Toraja story and as spooky as it is, it intrigued a lot of people, maybe including me. For this trip we didn’t want to exhaust ourselves with too many graveyard visits, so after the third one we thought it was enough. We took enough pictures, we’ve seen enough skulls and bones.

Two spots I really liked and glad we went to was Bori and Singki. In Bori you could see more than a dozen of megalithic stones standing in the area. Sure was a cool place to take pictures (even on a rain). It was like Toraja’s own Stonehenge.

Singki is located in a hilly area, and at the top there’s a construction of a huge crucifix. The hike was not too bad, and when you reached to the top the view was worth it. You could see the whole town from the top. I would think the crucifix was meant like the statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro. Pretty cool. They’re being really clear of who they worship.

Our way back to Makassar was better for me, although I had to admit a bit worried I would throw up again (thank God it didn’t happen). But my friend did. Poor J.

Note:

- Bus fare range from Rp.80,000-130,000 (depending on the type of the bus). Bus ride is between 8-10 hours

- Hotels are cheap (ours was Rp.300,000 without aircon). To be safe better to book in advance. The city is quite popular among government officials.

- Motorbike rent cost Rp.80,000 per day, excluding gas

I’m glad now I can cross Toraja from my bucket list. Now on to dithering the next destination.