Lonely Planet Indonesia
Page 127
Cici Guest HouseGUESTHOUSE$$
( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %0813 5592 2595; http://ciciguesthouse.blogspot.co.uk; r incl breakfast 260,000Rp; a)
This new place is good value and has modern rooms with private bathrooms and TVs, all set in a cheery, banana-yellow-painted block. There's a restaurant on-site and it's about 150m inland from the beach.
Anda BungalowsBUNGALOW$$
( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %0413-82125; bungalows incl breakfast 475,000-750,000Rp; a)
All the bungalows here have air-con and are set around a garden away from the sea. The newer cement bungalows are quite comfy; the cheaper wooden bungalows aren’t as posh but are still OK value for Bira. The big restaurant here has lots of choices.
Amatoa Beach ResortRESORT$$$
( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %0812 4296 5500; www.amatoaresort.com; 6 Jl Pasir Putih; r incl breakfast 1,500,000-2,500,000Rp; aiWs)
Perched above the rocks and overlooking the ocean, this luxurious place has a Mediterranean feel to it. Think exposed stone work, driftwood and decking, cacti, neutral-toned drapes and cushioned daybeds. Service can be hit-and-miss, however, considering the rates charged.
Pantai Bara
The owners of Sunshine Guesthouse in Bira village had almost completed a new midrange place at Pantai Bara, Nini's Beach Bungalows ( GOOGLE MAP ; %0821 9093 1175; www.facebook.com/ninisbeachbungalows; Pantai Bara; cottages incl breakfast 500,000-700,000Rp ), at the time of research.
oCosmos BungalowsBUNGALOW$$
( GOOGLE MAP ; %0822 9260 8820; http://cosmosbungalows.com; Pantai Bara; bungalows incl breakfast 250,000-500,000Rp)
Run by young, well-travelled British owners who really look after their guests, Cosmos offers a handful of rustic-chic, beautifully built bungalows with shared Western-style bathrooms. The bungalows are located on a slim patch of land that stretches down to the coastal cliffs, where you'll find the lovely restaurant, high above Pantai Bara. Expect good vibes all round and great local information.
Bara BeachBUNGALOW$$
( GOOGLE MAP ; %0821 9413 1562; www.bara-beach.com; Jl Poros Bara; bungalow incl breakfast €50-70; aW)
Overlooking dreamy Pantai Bara, these tastefully presented, well-appointed bungalows are supersized with plush bathrooms and terraces; all are set in a lush, flowering garden. It's efficiently run by a German–Indonesian family and the seafront restaurant is perfect for a sundowner or an enjoyable meal.
Mangga LodgeHOTEL$$$
( GOOGLE MAP ; %0413-270-0756; www.mangga-lodge.com; Jl Poros Bara; r incl breakfast €60; ai)
This is a German-run place where the comfortable, stylish rooms are perhaps a tad overpriced, but the location on Pantai Bara is divine. It's a good choice for divers (South Sulawesi Divers is based here) and there are lots of organised outings on offer to the surrounding area.
5Eating & Drinking
Many guesthouses serve good local meals while the hotels have more expensive restaurants. On nearby Pantai Bara you'll only find hotel restaurants: both Cosmos Bungalows and Bara Beach have excellent waterfront locations and great food.
SalassaINDONESIAN$
( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; mains 30,000-45,000Rp; h7am-10pm)
This large purpose-built ground-floor restaurant within Salassa Guest House offers homestyle cooking (try the fish 'a la Salassa' with peppers and spices), chicken, rice and noodles dishes. It serves cold beer and fresh juices.
Warung BambooINDONESIAN$
( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; meals 20,000-40,000Rp; h7am-10pm)
A roadside place that hits the spot for tasty noodle dishes, seafood and delicious ikan bakar (grilled fish).
WarungINDONESIAN$
( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; meals from 15,000Rp; h7am-10pm)
For cheap grub, head to the beachfront warung for grilled fish and noodles dishes.
SULAWESI SEAFARERS
The Bugis are Indonesia’s best-known sailors, and carry and trade goods on their magnificent wooden schooners throughout Indonesia.
The Bugis’ influence expanded rapidly after the fall of Makassar, which resulted in a diaspora from South Sulawesi in the 17th and 18th centuries. They established strategic trading posts at Kutai (Kalimantan), Johor (north of Singapore) and Selangor (near Kuala Lumpur), and traded freely throughout the region. Bugis and Makassarese pinisi (schooners) are still built along the south coasts of Sulawesi and Kalimantan, using centuries-old designs and techniques. You can see boats being built at Marumasa and Tanah Beru, both near Bira.
The Bajau, Bugis, Butonese and Makassarese seafarers of Sulawesi have a 500-year history of trading and cultural links with Indigenous Australians, and their ships are featured in pre-European Aboriginal cave art in northern Australia. British explorer Matthew Flinders encountered 60 Indonesian schooners at Melville Bay in 1803; today many more still make the risky (and illegal) journey to fish reefs in the cyclone belt off the northern coast of Australia.
Many Minahasans of North Sulawesi, relative newcomers to sailing folklore, work on international shipping lines across the world. As with their Filipino neighbours, the Minahasans’ outward-looking culture, plus their language and sailing skills, make them the first choice of many captains.
8Information
Most services and amenities are located along a small section of Jl Kapongkolang, the road into Pantai Bira. Foreign tourists must pay 5000Rp per person at the toll booth when they first enter. There are BNI and BRI ATMs at the harbour entrance at Pantai Timur.
Amatoa Beach Resort is the only accommodation to offer wi-fi, but guesthouses and hotels offer (limited) internet access via data sticks and Telkomsel 3G.
8Getting There & Away
Boat
Note that departure times change frequently and ferries are regularly cancelled during high seas, sometimes for several days.
The harbour at Pantai Timur has twice-daily boats to Pulau Selayar (79,000Rp, two hours). There is also a direct boat to Labuanbajo in Flores (142,000Rp) on Sunday nights, but it’s a slow ride, taking around 30 hours.
Bus, Bemo & Kijang
From Makassar (Terminal Mallengkeri), a few Kijangs go directly to Pantai Bira (80,000Rp, five to six hours). Alternatively, catch a Kijang or bus to Bulukumba (60,000Rp), and another to Pantai Bira (20,000Rp; note that transport from Bulukumba to Pantai Bira stops at around 3pm).
Direct Kijangs returning from Pantai Bira to Makassar leave at 6am and 10am; book via your hotel the day before and you'll be picked up; alternatively, take a pete-pete from Pantai Bira to Bulukumba and then a Kijang or bus to Makassar from there.
Pulau Lihukan
This island, a short ride from Pantai Bira, is a popular destination for snorkelling trips. Weavers at Ta’Buntuleng make heavy, colourful cloth on hand looms under their houses. On the pretty beach west of the village there is an interesting old graveyard, and off the beach there are acres of sea grass and coral, but mind the currents.
Right on the white beach overlooking the mainland and in front of a good snorkelling spot, Wisma & Restaurant Leukang Loe (%081 3425 78515; Pulau Lihukan; 250,000Rp per person incl 3 meals; a) has simple wooden bungalows with private bathrooms and front porches for sea-gazing. The kind family owners cook up tasty fish and vegetable meals.
Boat charters to Lihukan and the nearby, uninhabited Pulau Kambing cost 500,000Rp per boat from Pantai Bira. Most Bira guesthouses and hotels will arrange trips.
Pulau Selayar
%0414
This long, narrow island lies off the southwestern peninsula of Sulawesi and is inhabited by the Bugis, the Makassarese and the Konjo. Most reside along the infertile west coast and in Benteng, the main town. Selayar’s long coastline is a repository of flotsam from nearby shipping lines, perhaps accounting for the presence of a 2000-year-old Vietnamese Dongson drum, kept in an annexe near the former Benteng Bontobangun (Bontobangun Fort), a few kilometres south of Benteng.
Selayar’s main attractions are its sandy beaches and coral reefs. Snorkelling around Pulau Pasi, opposite Benteng, is good, but you
will have to charter a boat.
4Sleeping
Selayar Dive ResortRESORT$$$
(www.selayar-dive-resort.com; s/d with fan €85/135, with air-con €135/160; hOct-Apr ; a)
A well-run German-owned place with eight lovely thatched-roofed, sea-facing wooden bunaglows on a sandy beach. It's very much geared to divers, and there are experienced divemasters to guide you around the fringing reefs and wall dives close by. Rates include all meals; two dives cost €75.
8Getting There & Away
Two daily ferries (75,000Rp, two hours) depart at 10am and 3pm from Pantai Timur harbour near Pantai Bira heading to/from Pamatata on Pulau Selayar. From Makassar, Wings Air operates flights twice-weekly (from 407,000Rp) and Aviastar once-weekly (368,000Rp) to Selayar airport.
Taka Bone Rate Islands
Southeast of Pulau Selayar and north of Pulau Bone Rate is the 2220-sq-km Taka Bone Rate, the world’s third-largest coral atoll. The largest coral atoll, Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, is just 20% bigger. Some of the islands and extensive reefs in the region are now part of Taka Bone Rate Marine National Park (Taman Laut Taka Bone Rate), a marine reserve with a rich variety of marine and bird life.
There is no official accommodation on the islands, but if you manage to get here you can stay with villagers if you ask the kepala desa (village head) at Bone Rate on Pulau Bone Rate. Boats leave irregularly from Selayar. Most visitors are divers on liveaboard trips.
Watampone
%0481 / Pop 85,600
Known more simply as Bone (bone-eh) by locals, Watampone is a small town with a good range of hotels. The only reason most foreigners come here is to go to/from Kolaka in Southeast Sulawesi from the nearby port of Bajoe or to break up a trip to Tana Toraja.
1Sights
Museum LapawawoiMUSEUM
(Jl Thamrin; h7am-4pm)F
While in town, visit Museum Lapawawoi, a former palace housing one of Indonesia’s most interesting regional collections, including an odd array of court memorabilia.
4Sleeping & Eating
Pantai Kering near the bus station has many warung and is the best place to eat.
Wisma Bulo GadingGUESTHOUSE$
(%0418-24750; bulo_gading@yahoo.com; 38 Jl Ahmad Yani; r incl breakfast 200,000Rp; aW)
A good-value guesthouse where the rooms have en-suite bathrooms with hot water.
8Getting There & Away
Boat
Bajoe port, 8km east of Watampone has ferries to Kolaka (75,000/116,000Rp for deck/business class, eight hours), scheduled nightly at 8pm.
From Watampone, bemos go to Bajoe every few minutes from a stop behind the market. From the bus terminal at the end of the incredibly long causeway in Bajoe, buses head off to most places, including Makassar and Rantepao, just after the ferry arrives.
Bus & Bemo
The terminal is 2km west of town, so take an ojek (motorcycle that takes passengers) or bemo from Jl Sulawesi. Kijangs and buses travel to Bulukumba (60,000Rp, 3½ hours, hourly) for connections to Bira (20,000Rp, one hour), Rantepao (96,000Rp, seven hours) and Makassar (68,000Rp, four hours). Kijangs to Sengkang (38,000Rp, two hours) leave from Jl Mangga in the centre of Watampone. Bus agencies along Jl Besse Kajuara near the bus terminal sell bus-boat-bus tickets to Kendari (from 180,000Rp).
Sengkang
%0485
Sengkang is a small yet traffic-clogged town with a nearby scenic lake and a traditional hand-woven silk industry. It's a convenient place to break the journey between Rantepao and Pantai Bira, and you'll find several decent hotels and guesthouses in town.
1Sights & Activities
Danau TempeLAKE
(entrance with guide 100,000Rp)
This large, shallow lake is fringed by wetlands, with floating houses and magnificent birdlife. Hotels can help you charter a boat (160,000Rp for two hours), allowing you to speed along Sungai Walanae, visit Salotangah village in the middle of the lake, cross to Batu Batu village on the other side, and return within two hours. You could haggle for a cheaper rate at the longboat terminal opposite the sports field on Jl Sudirman.
Geologists believe the lake was once a gulf between southern Toraja and the rest of South Sulawesi. As the lands merged, the gulf disappeared, and geologists believe the lake will eventually disappear too.
Silk Weaving WorkshopsSILK FARM
Sengkang is known for its sutera (silk) weaving industry. Silk-weaving workshops are found around 5km out of town, and the nearest silkworm farms are about 15km from Sengkang. Hotels can organise trips, or you can charter a pete-pete from the terminal.
4Sleeping & Eating
oHotel BBCHOTEL$$
(%0485-21363; bbchotel_sgk@yahoo.com; Jl Palawaruka 17; r incl breakfast 375,000-475,000Rp ; aW)
A modern, efficiently run hotel where the rooms are very inviting; all have impressive attention to detail, and pleasing colour schemes of muted greys and creams offset with purples and ruby-reds. There's 24-hour room service, a restaurant, and a coffee shop on the ground floor for all your espresso needs.
oLesehan JetpurINDONESIAN$
(Jl Tanjong; meals 10,000-20,000Rp; h10am-9pm)
A large, bustling place with alcove seating that's very popular with office workers, Lesehan Jetpur offers authentic, inexpensive local food, including spicy chicken such as ayam tampa tulang mentega (20,000Rp), plenty of fish and rice dishes, as well as fresh juices (from 10,000Rp). It's 1km south of the centre.
8Getting There & Away
To get to/from Rantepao (six hours), take a bemo to Lawawoi (25,000Rp) and catch a bus from there (50,000Rp); alternatively you can go via Palopo. There are regular buses to/from Terminal Daya in Makassar (from 55,000Rp, six hours), but Kijangs (70,000Rp, four hours) take a shorter route. Bemos to local destinations leave from the bus terminal behind the market on Jl Kartini. Agencies for long-distance buses, Kijangs and Pelni boats are a few metres south of the terminal.
Pare Pare
%0421 / Pop 134,000
Pare Pare is a hilly city with plenty of greenery. It's sometimes used as a stopover between Tana Toraja and Makassar. It’s home to the second-largest port in the region, and has many Pelni services and boats to Kalimantan.
4Sleeping & Eating
Lotus HotelHOTEL$
(%0421-28799; Jl Zasilia 29; r from 175,000Rp; aW)
Around 250m southeast of the harbour this small hotel is very handy for those on a Pelni ferry mission. Accommodation is priced keenly; all options have private bathroom and reliable in-room wifi.
Restoran AsiaCHINESE$$
(%0421-21415; Jl Patompo 25; meals 35,000-60,000Rp)
A well-run, clean, air-conditioned place with a particularly good seafood selection and great Chinese omelettes. Also offers cold Bintang beer.
8Information
The town is stretched out along the waterfront. At night, the esplanade turns into a lively pedestrian mall with warungs. Most of what you might need can be found on the streets running parallel to the harbour, including many ATMs.
8Getting There & Away
Boat
Pare Pare has good boat connections to East Kalimantan. Pelni (%0421-21017; Jl Andicammi) runs weekly connections to Balikpapan, and every one or two days passenger boats travel to Samarinda (22 hours) and Balikpapan (two nights), but these boats are far less safe than the Pelni ships. Schedules and bookings are available from agencies near the port and just north of Restoran Asia.
Bus
Very regular buses and Kijangs go to Makassar (37,000Rp, 3½ hours) and Rantepao (64,000Rp, five hours). Most buses travel through Terminal Induk, several kilometres south of the city, but it’s often easier to hail a bus as it flies through town.
Tana Toraja
With its vibrant tribal culture and stunning scenery the facinating region of Tana Toraja is rightly a mecca for travellers. Visually its allure is immediate, with villages of elaborately painted houses with boat-shaped roofs, and towering terraces of emerald green rice paddies, all of which is overse
en by a protective necklace of jagged jungle-clad hills.
Culturally the Toraja, most of whom were animists until the early 20th century, are preoccupied with death. Though ancient ways are inevitably changing as this once-isolated region becomes better connected to the rest of the nation, profound (and very bloody) funeral ceremonies remain a vital part of Torajan tradition. Buffalo and pigs are sacrificed; there is a slew of traditional dances, and lashings of food and drink. High-class Toraja dead are entombed in cave graves or hanging graves in the steep cliffs, which are guarded over by tau tau (life-sized wooden effigies) carved in their image; you’ll find these eerie yet beautiful cliff cemeteries scattered throughout the region.
The biggest funerals are usually held in the dry-season months of July and August, at which time tourism numbers soar, but there are funerals year-round. Famous for their hospitality, the Torajans are a hospitable bunch and visitors are usually more than welcome to attend these ceremonies; however, a guide is near-essential to make the most of the experience.
While most people consider attending a funeral as a highlight of their visit, Tana Toraja also offers some great do-it-yourself trekking, cycling and motorbiking through its evergreen landscape of spellbinding beauty.