DAY 14 - GOODBYE SULAWESI

18th Jan 2009


This would be our last day in Sulawesi. We would not be able to explore Makassar city. Makassar is Indonesia's seventh largest city. With the remaining hours before AirAsia's flight at 5:30 pm, we decided to explore the Losari area, where we stayed. The Losari area is by the sea. It's fully developed so we could not see any beach here, though there are numerous waterfront developments.


We decided to cycle around before packing our bikes. Today being Sunday, there were several activities around Losari. The first activity that caught our attention was a group of cyclists (obviously) congregating at the waterfront, waiting to start their off-road riding.

We became instant friends. They asked about our rides. We asked about theirs. For them, it is a weekly cycling outing on every Sundays, very much similar to what we do weekly back home. One of them promised to visit us at our hotel and bring some cycling jerseys for us to purchase as memories of Sulawesi.

I was attracted to this t-shirt. It reminded me of my cycling trip last year to Jogjakarta and my encounter with the ONTHELL, the old bicycle on this guy's t-shirt.


Indonesians loved their Sunday aerobic sessions. I discovered this in Padang, in Jogjakarta and now in Makassar. Young and not so young, slim and not so slim all enjoyed the swaying and sweating to the beat of some Indon pop songs. Main roads would be closed for such occassions.

What do Malaysians do on Sundays?


Along with the healthy activities, Sundays are also days for family outings. I noticed they start their activities early. I saw this ingenious mobile merry-go-round. More accurately, it was a mery-up-and-down. For a fee of-course, the babies would experience the thrill of up-and-down on the "motorbikes". The operator pedalled the mechanism that propelled the motorbikes up and down. You get 4 over-weight babies on these motorbikes and the poor operator would need constant carbo-loadings to energise his legs!



And if you think Makassar is small with no high-end hotels, you will be in for a surprise. Located within the proximity of Losari Beach, Hotel Pantai Gapura would surprise many visitors. It is a 4-star hotel built out on the sea. At IR600,000 a night after discount, it would be a great place for travellers with deep pockets. For cycling tourists, we were lucky we were allowed to take pictures of the complex.





Later in the day, the cyclists we met earlier came visiting. We had lunch together. Thereafter, we pillion-ride on their motorcycles to visit a Rodalink bike shop and later stopped at Bapak Ridwan Salam's workshop-cum-house. His parting word for me was "kalau datang lagi ke Makassar, ngak menginap di Hotel. Nginap aja dirumah saya". Well, Pak Ridwan, thank you for your hospitality. I will take a rain-check on that invitation.

A REFLECTION

Hitting the roads of South Sulawesi was yet another great experience. We cycled our way through flat coastal plains of vast padi-fields and corn farming. We spoiled ourselves in Bira, the coastal fishing village with clear crystal water and a home-stay like accomodation by a beach. We moved into the hinterland and highlands.

We survived the potholes at some stretches without any punctures (except once). We experienced torrential rains and bright sunny weathers. We visited the caves of the dead in Toraja and got invited to witness not one

but two Bugis weddings.

We discoverd the best teh tarek in Watansopeng and enjoyed (at times endured) our no-star accomodation. We loved the bridal suite up on the cool mountain of Makala and the raging waterfall of Bantimurung.

Above all, we loved its people. Poor generally, but very friendly and hardworking. Overall, it was another humbling experience.

Thank you Acid for being a buddy for 14-days. Thank you Hatim and Saiful for bringing us to Toraja in your rented Innova. Thank you friends who had dropped in on my blog.

"SAMPE KETEMU LAGI PAK!"

DAY 4 - JUST BIRA

We woke up early, as the saying goes, "at the crack of dawn". We had planned to capture the morning sun as it rose from the horizon. The gentle breeze coming from the sea made the morning even fresher. We soaked in the moments.


Acid captured this just outside our homestay. A beautiful morning indeed.

I moved out to the village and captured fishermen preparing to go out to sea. They went about doing what they usually did, my presence hardly captured their interest. In their daily grime to eke out a living, what seemed unique to a foreign eye, was just something ordinary to them. But I saw beauty in the simple environment they lived in.

There is usually only a short window of opportunity to capture moments of sunrise and sunset. This day, we were pleased with this opportunity.

Today too would be just pure R&R. We took our time to breakfast, occupying the terrace overlooking the calm sea. Acid decided to take his bath in the sea, and why not. I prefered to just laze around and stared into nothing. The German lady in her 60's decided to snorkel. She was out snorkelling for more than an hour, something impossible in her homeland Germany. The German couple also had an inflatable. Later in the late afternoon, they went out boating with their grandson, Adam.

Late morning, we explored this fishing village.

Known as PANGRANGLUHU, as the signboard said, it is also a Pelabuhan Rakyat. So, it is a port for the community, accomodating the fishing boats both big and small.

The map of Bira's location below revealed Bira's strategic location on the southern-most tip of Sulawesi. While Menado in Northern Sulawesi is well-known for diving, there are numerous diving spots off Bira too, relatively unknown and therefore probably less spoiled. Of late, there had been some increase of diving tours to Bira. What is lacking at this moment is the infrastructure - dive shops (I saw only one), dive boats, and slightly upmarket accomodation.

In this close-up map of Bira, Pangrangluhu is on the eastern side of Bira. The sea here is very calm, in comparison to the western side of Bira. Since Pangrangluhu is a village, we selfishly hope that this village will not be developed to retain its rustic charm.

Because of its calm sea, a port is also located in Pangrangluhu. A ferry, much like the Penang ferry, plies between Bira and the Island of Selayar. It carried both people and vehicles.

Many Phinisi boats were also moored near the port.

Our first stop in the village was meeting this fisherman who had just came back early from his fishing. In monetary term, his catch today was valued at IR70,000 (RM21), hopefully enough to feed his young family. He offered the young coconuts which we politely refused while telling us about dwindling catch. The big boats with their big nets are their competitors. He now had to resort to using smaller nets to catch the smaller fishes - a common problem I guessed, everywhere.

Then we visited the boat yard where several Phinisi boats were in repair. This green boat belonged to a Dutch. It was sent in to replace parts of the wooden hull and some refurbishment of the interior.

We were allowed into the boat. It offered a certain amount of luxury. It come with 4 bedrooms, a dining room, modern bathroom, electricity and I assume, fresh water.

Hauling the boat out from the sea for repair must be a gigantic task, and certainly a very skilful art. We were told the boat was hauled up using the simple mechanical pulley, tied to several coconut trees, cm by cm. Such feat.

I was admiring the toned muscle of this man as he expertly sealed the joints of the wooden hull. Modern guys would spend thousands of RM toning the arms in Fitness First. That includes my son, Raqim. Ha...Ha...

Children, as usual, are one of our favorite subjects. They were more than happy to be photographed. With digitals, they too expect to see what we captured. So, we have instant connection with them.

I can't help noticing this ice-crushing machine. Back in Tumpat where I grew up, we used to have an ice-crushing machine too at home. My late father was a fish-dealer. The catch had to be boxed in ice before transported out to the market. I used to start the engine, certainly not by a flip of the switch. It was raw strength, muscle pitting against the heavy "pleweng" (fly-wheel) as I cranked the fly-wheel to generate enough turning speed to start the diesel-powered engine. The noise of the ice being crushed and the diesel engine could wake up the deepest of slumber.

We moved up the cliff to capture these shots from a higher vantage point, offering another view of the crystal-clear water of Bira and the Phinisi boats in mooring.

Satisfied with our cycle-about, it was time for lunch. We agreed to spoil ourselves and proceeded to the Bira Beach Hotel located on the western side of Bira. A great lunch, yet another great view.

Sadly, we had to leave Bira tomorrow to continue our discovery of South Sulawesi.

As I said in my earlier posting, it would be tough to put our butts back on the saddle and move on.

GOODBYE BIRA.

DAY 3 - BANTAENG TO BIRA

Today's ride would be to Bira, roughly 90kms away. We look forward to Bira, the place by the sea where tomorrow we would have a relaxing day of no cycling, just purely R&R in Bira.

Hotel Alam Jaya where we stayed last night provided no breakfast. So, today we left early, cycling into the morning sun heading first towards Bulukumba, enroute to Bira. Bulukumba, is 30kms away.

The journey was relatively uneventful. There was little traffic at this time. We make good progress. Bulukumba is a much bigger town than Bantaeng.

The "Phinisi", the famous sailing boat of the Bugis was a landmark of Bulukumba. We would later be seeing many real Phinisi boats as we approached Bira, some under construction.

Apart from the Phinis, Acid captured this Balai Nikah, a prominent building in this town. I had not seen such buildings in my travels, both in Malaysia and also in other parts of Indonesia. Perhaps this was found only in Sulawesi. Anyway, I had NO INTEREST to find out !!

We left Bulukumba after several photo shoots but we still could not find a makan shop until we were at the outskirt of Bulukumba. The shop only had Mee Bakso. Funny enough, in my frequent tours in Indonesia, I had never tasted Mee Bakso. This time, I had no choice. Acid seemed to enjoy his. I somehow could not manage well. And I was not brave enough to improve my taste with the extras - kicaps and the sauces !

We passed the coastal areas at some spots and stopped to capture the brightly painted boats.

Heading for Bira, we took a wrong turning when we came to a fork in the junction. Further up, where we stopped for some mangoes, we were told that there was a shorter road to Bira. But since we were so far past the junction, we decided to proceed on. We would be longer by 10kms.

Acid took my picture, cycling amongst the vehicles. The red van up ahead is their taxi and there were plenty of these vans. One had to exercise caution because these taxis would stop at very short notice to pick or drop passengers. They pose no real danger as these taxis were not driven fast but they could be a nuisance in heavy traffic. Well, that puts the fun in cycling in this region.

THE STONE AGE

As we proceeded on, we came to a stretch of road-side activities that we just had to stop, to take pictures and to observe the activities.

On one side of the road, there were heaps and heaps of stones and mounds and mounds of earth. A group of workers were sieving the mounds of earth which contained tons of stones. These stones were later crushed to pieces, manually with hammers.

It was purely labor intensive. Adults, both men and women and children partake in this work. They did this day in and day out. Judging by the huge piles of stones, they could continue with this activity for a long time. Machines would have efficiently hasten the productivity. But what do you do with all the men and women that needed work to feed the family? How much would they take home at the end of this back-breaking day?

Is this a temporary shelter or the place this man called home? We didn't ask. And these are the kind of memories that often etched long within me, and forever thankful for what I have.

We moved on. Another "phinisi" model at a junction to pose for. We were about 15kms to Bira.

About 5 kms from Bira, there was roughly 1 km of great downhill and we could see the blue sea below, sometimes on the left and sometimes in front, as we free-wheeled down the curves and downhill. Nearing the end of the road, we could now see a real phinisi sailing boat in the calm sea.

Reaching the end of the road in Bira, we started looking for accomodation. We almost settled for a hotel overlooking the sea but Acid wanted more. We heard about a small "penginapan" in the fishing village which we passed 1 km earlier. While I was talking to Pak Arshad, the owner of Bira Beach Hotel while savoring my cold Coke, Acid went searching in the village Kg Pangrangluhu for the accomodation.

It was a great find. We occupied the front house for the next 2 days. The house behind was rented on a long term lease by a German couple. They had been in and out for the last 10 years!

For IR125,000 (RM45) a night, and the crystal clear water literally at the door step, we would be in danger of overstaying.

Welcome to Bira. We'll soak in the ambience tonight, dinner at the terrace and the sunrise of tomorrow.

WOW

OFF TO SULAWESI

Today, I will leave for Sulawesi, for a 14-day cycling trip that I have planned since mid-2008. A new friend, Acid will be accompanying me. He is trading his 700cc motorbike to a zero cc bike for this trip. Later, on the 9th, another hardcore friend Hatim, will fly in to Sulawesi. I called him "hardcore" because it's so hard to convert him to cycling. But I will not give up!

Hatim will rent a car, perhaps an Avanza and we hope to meet at some point of my cycling trip. We are all looking forward to this trip.

Sulawesi is a big island. On a bicycle, I can only hope to cover one-third of the island in 14 days. So, we would be doing the southern part of South Sulawesi.

As always, our journey will begin from the airport itself. We will assemble our bikes at the airport, and cycled off from there. Tonight's ride will be just a short 4km to Hotel Afiat. Tomorrow, we will bypass Makassar and headed for Takalar for our Day 1 ride. Day 2 we should be in Bantaeng and Day 3, we will in Bira. Though not in this tourist map, Bira is a beautiful coastal site at the tip of the island, 40kms after Bulukumba. We will stay here for 2 days for R&R.

Then we head north to Sinjai and Watampone to reach Sengkang. This will take us 3 days, cycling an average of 100kms a day. Hardcore Hatim will meet us in Sengkang. Here, he is expected to "beg" us to accompany him in his Avanza to Rantepao, where we will visit the Torajan village. The Torajans bury their dead in the hills. From there, we will swing south to Watansopeng. We would then be in the highlands of Sulawesi, cycling or pushing our bikes on the hilly terrain of the interior.

We should be back in Makassar either on 16th/17th of Jan, before our departure back on 18th Jan. We have kept our program flexible, depending on what we see along the way. Where there is internet connection, I may do some short updates.