Trip to South Sulawesi (Makassar, Toraja, and Bira)

Hey there! In this post, I would like to share my recent trip to South Sulawesi, Indonesia. If you have visited Indonesia and want to come again but do not want to visit the highlights like Bali and Lombok, South Sulawesi is a great decision for your next destination!

The City Name Statue in Losari Beach

South Sulawesi Location in Indonesia Map

Map of South Sulawesi

Located between Borneo and Papua Island, Sulawesi offers you beautiful landscape and rich culture. In the beginning of May 2016, I got the chance to travel there for 4 days 3 nights. Here's the itinerary, budget, and travel tips~ Hope this can help and encourage you to visit this beautiful island! Don't wait before it gets too touristy and crowded~

HOW TO GET THERE?

To get to South Sulawesi, you can fly from many major cities in Indonesia to Sultan Hassanudin International Airport (Code: UPG). Here are some cities that have direct flight to Makassar: Surabaya, Jakarta, Denpasar, Yogyakarta, Kendari, Balikpapan, Timika, and Bandung. For international flight, you can fly from Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia and Singapore.

If your origin city or country doesn't have direct flight, you don't need to worry! There are many connection flights that will take you there. For more info, check: http://hasanuddin-airport.co.id/

THE JOURNEY (MAXIMUM EXPERIENCE, MINIMUM COST!)

Please note that this was written by a greedy person who wanted to see a lot in a very short time. If you want to visit it longer or shorter, please adjust with your own itinerary ;)

Day 1. Thursday, 5^th of May, 2016.

I arrived in Makassar on Thursday, 5th of May, 3am local time (GMT +8).

TO GET TO MAKASSAR CITY

The plan was we (my cousin and I) would stay in the airport for couple of hours and then took the earliest bus (or called Damri) to the city center. We browsed on the internet before and found that the earliest bus departed on 4am. THAT WAS NOT TRUE!

The Wasted Fortune

I was in a restaurant when two young ladies came in. They ordered food which was beautifully garnished. They took several pictures with the food. After a few bites, they asked for the bill and left the nearly untouched food. Saw it before? I guess so.
The era of social media has led people back to the belief of anthropocentrism - human beings are the central of the whole universe - and sadly, combined with excessive level of narcissism. It's all about 'me'. Everybody should notice 'me'. Hey! See 'me' can afford to buy this food which I do not eat. Statistics said people averagely took selfies 3 times a day, with total over than 1 million selfies per day! However, let's leave the facts about selfies number and look back on the untouched food left on the table. What are they going to do with it? Most of the time, it will be thrown away on the trash. Does it matter? Of course

Movie #3: Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai (七人の侍, Shichinin no Samurai) is Japanese film masterpiece from Akira Kurosawa. I watched this movie in 2015, 61 years after the release. Old movie, indeed, but great thing will last as the time passed, won't it?

I expected I would watch an epic colossal battle of Samurai and those seven samurai would be the heroes who saved the day. Instead, Seven Samurai was a simple yet honest movie (and this is the reason that this movie is so remarkable). It showed true condition in the old Japanese social life without any flowery plot:

Book #4: Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami

Indonesian Translation of Hear the Wind Sing

This is my second Murakami's book after Kafka in the Shore. Different from the previous, it made me thinking less. Instead, this very first writing of Murakami made realize something.

I wasn't sure what Murakami wanted to say in this book. But let me, as a reader, interpret it in my way.

The story set in Japan told about a university student having summer vacation in his hometown. He met his old friend and spent his days in a bar. He met a girl too.

The story seemed has no conflict. It's just flowing without any surprising plot. Yet, it's a nice story that showed me one point of living:

Book #3: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of his Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of his Window and Disappeared

Just like the author, Jonas Jonasson, said about the title, I bought this book because its unique title. One full sentence that lead into such a great story. Simple but clear.

I know I would not find romantic stories but I didn't expect I would find this kind of story. Amazing, funny, imaginative, a bit brutal, and smart.

This book told a story of a  100-year-old man named Allan Karlsson. He 'escaped' from his care home by climbing out of his window. He walked away without any specific direction. Then, he ended up stole a suitcase from a criminal gang and his present adventure started there. Meanwhile, Jonasson invited us to look deeper at this old man's interesting and marvelous past life experiences.

If you know Forrest Gump, maybe you would recognize the similarities. A man on the right time and right place doing things he wanted to do without him being aware that he made such a huge contribution on human history. However, Allan story was darker than Forrest Gump: destroying buildings, making atomic bomb, or even killing people. He met

Travel #5: Slili Beach

Jump in the car, go to Gunung Kidul area, head to the southern part, stop anywhere I want. That's, my friend, is how I go to beach! Haha

Rocky beach!

Gunung Kidul's beaches are well-known for its white sand along its shore line. So, you don't need to decide where to go because anywhere you stop, it will be beautiful and worth to see. However, the beaches have their own characteristic: some are rocky, some are sandy, some are cliffy (is this word exist? Haha)

On this post, I will tell you about one of the beaches I have visited: Slili Beach. It is located near Sundak Beach, in Sidoharjo Village, Tepus, Gunung Kidul, which is around 50 kilometers from the central of Yogyakarta city.

Different from Krakal or Sundak beach that dominated by sands, this beach is more about rocks, smooth one. It is also not wide, one corner to another can be reached in five minutes only (normal speed). However, this beach is good for

Travel #4: Bekah Cliff, Gunung Kidul

The view when you look at the right side

Want to see the ocean but not from a beach? Want to feel the sea breeze from 100 meters height? Bekah is the answer!

Placed in the southern part of Yogyakarta, this cliff gives you a whole new experience in enjoying the sea. Skip the playing-with-the-sand part or swimming-in-the-sea time and let the nature stuns you :)

To get to this place, you have to go further to the east from the famous Parangtritis Beach for about 17 kilometers. Follow the asphalt road until you reach Temon, Giripurwo, Purwosari, Gunung Kidul Area. There will be a small sign on the right side, written 'Pantai Bekah', then you turn right and pass the entrance gate that can be passed by one car.

After that, you have to follow the path. This is not asphalt anymore. So, be prepared! haha For the first kilometer, it will be cemented road. However, you will find

Travel #3: Nglanggeran Ancient Volcano, Sri Gethuk Waterfall, and Bat Cave

My lovely walking shoes took a rest after a long walk

Just had a wonderful day!

Went to Gunungkidul and explored unexpected yet amazing things... Walking through the wilderness of Nglanggeran Ancient Volcano - not the touristic route of course -, walked from one peak to another, got cuts here and there, slipped and landed in not-so-beautiful-pose several times, slapped by tree branches even more...
Went to Sri Gethuk Waterfall... it's been a long time since the last visit. It became too touristic now so just sat for few minutes then left.

The final part was the best: watched thousands, wait, no, millions bats flew out of a massive vertical-horizontal cave when the sun set. They filled the air with the sounds of their wings while the local people trapped some of them with nets. The smell of guano was strong but still, it was absolutely majestic...
This moment stunned me.. it really did..

Story #3: The Passion Pursuivant

I work behind the desk when I work in my home country. Most of the time, I was just sitting there, did nothing. It was good if you see it from the amount of money that I got, but for me, it was not good for my existence as a human. I felt like I was not important. If I weren’t there, nobody notice. My position could be replaced by other people without any one notice. At that point, I realized that I had to do something else.

She talked with her soft voice but her eyes showed confidence.

I, a completely new player in the real world, listened to her carefully, matching her story with my own experience.

When she was a student, she joined camps abroad to do some volunteering activities. She met a lot people from all over the world. And the most important thing: she felt she did something for herself and also for others. She felt that those activities changed her as a person. That was why she wanted to do the same for students nowadays.

Then, she took one action. She resigned and chose to work for herself. She started a foundation that holds camps in Indonesia for foreign students.

Story #2: The Winner

When I first met him, my impression was only: he’s tall. I mean like, he’s tall, REALLY tall, over 2 meters. 

For Indonesian, it was, yeah, extremely tall.

However, he’s not just slender; he’s quite muscular so everybody could tell that he did sport regularly.

Then, it was revealed that he was a long distance and marathon swimmer. He won a golden medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 for open water swimming, 10 km.

So, Olympic winner? That’s amazing, according to me, a person who cannot swim for more than 50 meters. But it doesn’t stop there. His story is more than that.

As a curious human being, I googled his name. I found a website of him and they said that ‘In 2001 he was diagnosed with cancer (leukaemia)

Story #1: Unconditional Love

When I walked behind him, I saw his tall figure was trembling. He walked with minimum ability of balance. He bumped things when he walked. His head hit doorways more than one time. His feet kicked the stair steps even more and it made him nearly fell. One time, I caught him from behind after he missed a step on the stairs.

Ah, maybe it is because he very tall, I thought. Body size affects people’s body balance, right? I think so, but I don’t know for sure.

I also told my friend that he was clumsy just to make sure that she would watch after him as well.

Then I put my eyes more on him. I let my friend guide us in the front while I stayed in behind when we visited some places just to remind him to watch his head from hitting something.

My eyes later inspected something on both of his ears. I thought it was the tip of his glasses but it was not. It was hearing aids. In my opinion, he was too young to use that tool.

At the end of the tour, my friend said that he had problem with his nerves.

Long Distance Relationship Quotes

I never thought that I'm going to experience this kind of relationship. Before I thought it would be easy. Now, it turns out that it is a very hard thing to do. I can't kick the sadness away. I can't do anything without remembering that's he's not here beside me from now on. I just want to skip the days to the time I can meet him again... All the sad songs now make sense! Hahaha

However, let's get over these gloomy feelings!! Everything always happens for a reason. And there will be sunshine after the rain! It's time for us - LDR do-ers - to value our relationship with our significant other.

So, how to make ourselves not being sad, demotivated, and hollow all of the time?
One of the things to do fill ourselves with positives thoughts. When they are away, sometimes bad thinking will distract our mind. Don't let it control you! Always remember that you're still him/her and always will!

Here, I want to share some inspirational quotes from the web that can boost our mood and brighten up our day!

Indonesia Cultural Camp 2014 - Alternative Project

Let's start understanding, let's spread positive energy, let's build peace!

March 6-13th, 2014, I joined a cultural study camp held in Yogyakarta by Japanese NGO - Alternative Project. This project's participants were five Indonesian students (from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia) and eight Japanese students (from Nippon Bunri University, Japan). In this project, we did some cultural activities like Indonesian religion workshop, contemporary puppet making, dancing, and playing gamelan (traditional instruments from Indonesia). We also had voluntary work in an elementary school - Sanggar Anak Alam - to teach Japanese dancing and cooking.

What I've learned from this camp was: STOP PREJUDICE.

Movie #2: Her

The heart is not like a box that gets filled up; it expands in size the more you love. Samantha (Her)

I expected nothing when I saw this movie. I didn't browse about it before. I just knew that it won 'Best Original Screenplay' in Academy Awards 2014 so I was sure this movie would not be disappointing. And yes, it was not disappointing at all.

Five days passed when I wrote this post and I still felt like broken-heart girl.

Five days passed and the Moon Song still played over and over again in my head.

As a strong and independent woman (wannabe), I always tried to hold my tears. However, this movie, in its very beginning scene, succeed inviting tears gather in my eyes. 

Travel #2: Sam Poo Kong

Semarang is the capital city of Central Java, Indonesia. One of the biggest tourist attraction in this city is a Chinese Temple called Sam Poo Kong. This temple is located in Simongan Raya Street.


To enter this Chinese temple, you have to pay 3.000 IDR (domestic) and 10.000 IDR (international). But if we want to see the temples closely, we have to pay extra ticket cost 20.000 IDR for domestic and 30.000 for international tourist. And if you want to have photo-session complete with Chinese costume, you have to pay 80.000 IDR. For praying, you have to bring your own incense that you can buy at the shop next to the entrance.

Decoration on the temples

The roofs - typical Chinese style