Adventure Travel to Southern Suluwesi

Ujung pandang is the capital of Suluwesi. you can cheap flights to Suluwesi. Suluwesi was once the gateway to the spice islands. The Bugis were the best known sailors in indonesia. Today the bugis schooners still trade between the islands. A mile long row of stalls sell freshly prepared food. You can get all sorts of traditional indonesian food. You can get grilled bananas with palm sugar. Ice and sugar and avocado is very sweet and delicious. Ujung Pandang is the starting point for a trip to the south suluwesi, rantepou. Taraja Land is in the center of suluwesi. There are traditional houses and waterfalls.

There are huge bats in the trees. There will be lots of rain in the rainy season but it cools everything down during the night. In the markets you can get just about anything. Raw tobacco is sold as well as pigs, eels. Toraja land are famous for the traditional houses that can be four hundred years old. Some are eleven generations old. The curved roofs are a reminder of their roots. The number of buffalo horns indicate the importance of the owner.

The cemeteries have puppets of the ancestors in caves. The tarajan people are not scared of dying because they believe they go to another place. The skulls and bones are left lying around in the cave at the cemetery. You can get an experienced guide with a four wheel drive. You can take a two day trek in the mountains to see the torajan funeral ceremony. Some of the best coffee in the world is grown in the mountains and you can get it freshly ground ready to drink. It is the best coffee in the world. All the houses face the north.

The torajan funeral ceremonies last for days. They kill a water buffalo so that the spirit of the buffalo will follow the spirit of the dead person. They slit the throat of the buffalo. The funeral is the most important ceremony in Toraja Land. The body of the dead person is carried through the village and taken to the cliff side. Relatives say goodbye and mourn their loss.

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