Budget
Crowds
History
Nightlife
Food
Cultural Distinction
Sulawesi, the island untouched by mass tourist commercialization. In fact, besides the beautiful island of Bunaken in the north, I encountered only a handful of foreigners on my travels across the countries fourth largest island. The vast majority of the tourists you will see are local Indonesians from the neighbouring islands, all of which are just as excited to meet a bule(a white tourist) as they are to be visiting this destination. In fact foreign tourists are such a rarity here that many locals will see you as a celebrity and will even stop you on the streets to ask for a photo, while also giving your tour across the island a boy band vibe as the young school girls can be heard yelling “Bule, Bule,” as your ride drives by. However since tourism to this island is not in high demand, you will find very poor infrastructure for trying to traverse this vast island, but upon successfully completing the trip from Makassar in the south to Manado in the north, you will find every other island lacking in as rich a culture and diversity as this one. Not to mention the massive pride you will feel being one of the few people brave enough to conquer the rest of the island as you are feasting at the dinner table with your new friends in Bunaken.
Don’t forget to checkout my post on Indonesia here for more information.
My Itinerary
1.Landing in Makassar
Alright I’m going to be straight with you here. When I landed in Makassar, i was not impressed. As my first experience anywhere in Asia, I had deludedly idealized the Oriental images of vast rice fields, crimson pagodas, and tranquil ponds. However Makassar contrasted that image so horribly with its run down roads, and tall beaten buildings that looked as if they would collapse given a strong breeze, with its many poor citizens, both adult and child, peddling their wares at every traffic light. Upon arriving at the hostel I found I was sharing a room not with fellow backpackers whom I expected to be able to interact with, but with locals that seemed to be living in the accommodation and were none too keen on meeting a tourist. The further fact that few people spoke English made it difficult for me to order anything to eat, and I resorted to spending the evening of my arrival in the country in my bed, determined to leave at my first opportunity.
2. Rammang-Rammang
Alright so this is where things started to get good. Upon waking up I walked down to the lobby of the Hostel where I met the owner, Mister Beardus. Upon talking with him, he offered to arrange my trip through Sulawesi, and considering my surprise with the Islands infrastructure, I opted for this route. However the earliest bus out of the city wasn’t until the next morning, so he also threw in a free trip to the small village of Rammang-Rammang, even offering to bring me there himself. Only an hour out of the city we arrived at a small river into a gorge through a range of mountains that litter the Sulawesi landscape. Upon emerging from the other side, the gorge opens up into a large valley in which a small village of 8 families is centred in the middle of rice fields(see top photo). This was the image of Asia that I was hoping for when I arrived in Indonesia, and being it was the off-season on an island that is already not well travelled, I was alone in this peaceful village, free to interact with the locals and explore the many oddities of the valley. Rammang-Rammang abolished any negative doubts I had developed about the island due to my arrival in Makassar, and began the culture shock that was the entirety of my experiences in Sulawesi.
3. Tona Toraja
After a 12 hour bus ride through the winding mountain roads, I finally arrived in Rentapao, the main village of the Tona Toraja region, and where (thanks to Mister Beardus) I was met by Rami, who would bring me to my homestay and whom would be acting as my local guide around the region for the following three days. The highlight of this region for me was the simple act of scootering around the majestic mountain villages with their Tongkonan houses, and admiring the sheer beauty of the mountainous landscape.
However the main draw to the region is their unique funeral ceremonies which I was fortunate enough to experience. These funerals are massive celebrations for the locals, often taking years of preparation and planning, during which time the body of the deceased is kept within the house of the family, while the living residents of which continue to interact with the body as if it were still alive. Each funeral sees numerous sacrifices of buffalo, the more of which you sacrifice the more prestige you garner for the dead and their family. However one sacrifice was enough for me and I took my leave before the seven others would occur during the day of this specific funeral. Between these funerals, cock fighting, the animal markets, and the tours of the several tombs of the region, Tona Toraja’s culture of death began to get to me, and the three days I had spent there proved to be a day too long.
4. Tentena
After leaving Toraja in a state of anxious culture shock, I was ready for the relaxing vibes of the small lake town of Tentena. After another harrowing bus ride through the mountains, I was again picked up at the bus stop and delivered to my homestay to prepare for the next day. While only staying for two nights in Tentena, I decided to rent a scooter to take advantage of the one full day I had there, and began riding around the lake, through villages and a plethora of Hindu temples, with a brief break at a lake side resort. After my stressful time in Toraja it was a perfect way to relax, however my next stop would become my pinnacle standard for the concept of relaxation.
5. The Togean Islands
Considered a world class location for diving, like much of Sulawesi, the Togean Islands are not easy to get to with only a few ferries headed to the islands each week, which can also make it rather difficult to leave the islands if you happen to miss it or if one gets cancelled, which happened to be the case for myself and a few friends. However arriving at the port, you may be able to negotiate a price with one of the small cargo ships that go between the island and Ampana but will take much longer than one of the regular boats.
Arriving at the islands you are welcomed with turquoise waters and white sand beaches that lead to isolated resorts. Each resort has its own plot on an island, so much so that it is impossible to access these locations unless the hotel sends their own boat to pick you up at the main docks in order to shuttle you over to the neighbouring island or beach that it occupies. The islands are also home to one of the only two locations in the world where you can swim with jellyfish, where their isolation in the lake has resulted in them evolving without stingers. As I said earlier, diving is huge on these islands with several nearby ship wrecks and the crash site of an old fighter plane just waiting to be explored. For the adventurous, inquire about nearby deserted islands, and if you are able to find a ride, spend a night by yourself to enjoy true isolation, and if you are lucky you will be rewarded with a light show of bioluminescent algae.
6.Gorontalo
After the worst ferry ride of my life, we arrived in Gorontalo. Besides just being the city where the ferry disembarks, the cities only other big draw is the fact that you can swim with Whale sharks, the largest living species of fish. Unfortunately after waiting for hours for a whale shark to show up, we had to give up. It was really unlucky since they have had at least one show up everyday for the past few weeks before we got there. All in all we moved on from Gorontalo the same day we got there, and to be honest I don’t feel like I missed very much.
7. Tomohon
Being 1000 meters above sea level, like Toraja, Tomohon is another mountain village, and is easy to get lost in the rolling hills that have the ability to mesmerize in the way they seem to grow out of one another, especially when the thick fog begins to roll in, completely transporting you to a new world that feels like the mirror dimension from Dr. Strange. For me the highlight of this town was simply riding the scooters up and down these hills around Mount Mahawu, however its main draw is to experience its unique animal market. To be honest, it was interesting to see, but once I saw a fried dog just sitting on a table I’d had enough. Bringing back flashbacks from Toraja where I had witnessed the death of so many animals, and was even tricked into trying dog meat, I decided it was one of those cultural experiences that was cool to see, but ultimately wasn’t really for me.
8. Bunaken
Another quick jaunt got us to the capital city of North Sulawesi, Manado, and from their we caught a ferry to the idyllic island of Bunaken, which currently holds the title of my all-time favourite island. While like the rest of Sulawesi, mass tourism has yet to find its way to Bunaken, however there is still a significantly larger tourist presence than the southern part of the island, and it is becoming an amazing get away resort island for divers. Like the Togeans, Bunaken is world class for snorkelling and diving around the massive reefs of this volcanic island. I don’t know what else to really say about the island, so instead I’m just going to attach a gallery so that the pictures can just speak for themselves.
After a few days in paradise, I was off to Manado Airport to catch a flight down to another idealized island, Bali.
Missed List
1 Wakatobi Islands
Located at the southwest coast of Sulawesi, the Wakatobi Islands is yet another hot spot for divers, with over 50 named diving locations, this area has one of the highest marine species diversity in Indonesia. This island chain is protected as the Wakatobi National Park, and is home to sea gypsies with villages standing in the middle of the ocean.
2. Lake Tondano
Surrounded by mountains, and 600 metres above sea level, Lake Tondano is the largest lake in Sulawesi. While the big tourist attraction in the region is the resort located in Remboken, the lake itself is a beuatiful location for hiking or engaging in water sports.
Food
#Warning: Beware of cuisine labelled with r.w.(Pronounce; Air Weh). This is the symbol of a Minhasan cuisine which utilizes dog meat.#
Coto Makassar
The most popular dish of Makassar in South Sulawesi, This thick soup is often made out beef and innards, including tripe, brain, lungs, or intestines.
Pisang Epe
A popular dessert in Sulawesi, and often found sold by street merchants, this fried banana is often served with Carmel, chocolate or brown sugar.
Budget
40 CAD
So Sulawesi has very few hostels, the only one I discovered was the one in Makassar that I stayed at, and for this reason the accommodation costs of this island are a little more than what you can expect for the rest of Indonesia. The average cost you can expect to pay for a private room at a homestay or hotel is between $10-$15, the upside of this being that typically these accommodations are very nice compared to what you get on other islands. For transport between regions you can expect to pay $10 for a bus, however these bus’ are extremely uncomfortable, and if you are able to find a couple of people to split the cost with, I’d recommend spending the extra on a shared cab. If you can get at least two other people to split the cost with you, you can expect to pay between $25-$30. Your transport cost for within the region will be about $7/day for scooters, except for in Tomohon which charges a premium $15/day. Your total expected transport costs can be expected to be around $10-$15/day. Activities can be pretty cheap. For diving you can expect to pay about $100-$150, however I did not engage in diving so I’m not going to count it into my budget here. Some hotels will give you snorkel gear for free, others may charge you $10. Besides that for me my main activity was just scootering around which I have taken into account under transportation, and honestly to fill the tank of a scooter was like $1, so it really doesn’t hurt the budget.What really got me was my guide in Toraja, which cost me $50/day. I do believe a guide to that region is necessary to experience it in its fullest, however I would recommend using him for two days opposed to the three I payed for. Despite that, most of the time you won’t need to spend anything for activities if you are satisfied exploring by scooter, and for that reason we will add only $5-$10/day to the budget for activities. Food is super cheap here if you stick to street food, which can be pretty amazing (soto ayam is my favourite), but you can expect to pay $1-$3 for a meal, and so say you will probably spend an average of $7/day on food. Obviously if you like to drink this is going to run the price up a bit. As a mostly muslim population in the south it is pretty difficult to find something to drink, but when you do they are larger beers and cost about $3 on top of your budget. Its cheaper in other parts of Indonesia, so for the sake of this budget I’m going to limit the max number of drinks per day to 2, and only add $0-$6/day.
Overall you can expect to pay $30/day for an absolute shoestring, and $50/day for a little more comfort.
Budgeting tips
-Shared rides is a must. You can keep it cheap by taking the bus, but besides the Makassar—Rentepao bus which was actually pretty comfortable, the bus’ there are extremely small and you do not want to be that tight up against someone for a 12 hour bus ride through the winding mountain roads.
-Try to limit drinking. Travelling kind of goes hand in hand with drinking, but to get carried away here is a good way to double your budget costs.
Comments are closed.