Holiday is going really well
after leaving Yogya, we flew on to Makassar and then got a little package tour up to Tana Toraja, near central Sulawesi.
Toraja area is amazing.
on day 1 we went to day #2 of a 5 day funeral. We got there just a bit too late to see the bullock being slaughtered, but in time to see the dozens of pigs being brought as ‘presents’. We also got to hear the poor wee piggies SQUEAL when they were stabbed. :-O
I can’t upload any photos here in this cafe, so you’ll just have to wait to see them later. – It was quite an experience!!!!
We also visited many graves, as the Torajans bury their dead in caves, cliff faces, or (once upon a time) babies were buried inside trees! I have soooo many cool photos. 
It was also great to have a holiday with someone for a change(!)… Doug, Caity and I had lots of fun everywhere we went; sometimes at poor Doug’s expense. LOL
After Sulawesi Doug & Caity went to Bali to relax for a few days (they head home today), and I went to Pekanbaru to meet Ajir. We then got a bus (sadly, it was ‘economy class’) at around 5pm. Ajir tells me “only a few hours, we’ll be in Kubu by 11pm”. Famous last words… we got to the Kubu exit from the ‘highway’ at 2am, then waited 1 hour there for a mini-bus to take us to Kubu. In the end, we arrived at Ajir’s little shack at FIVE a.m.! 
Later that day, we checked in to a Losmen (hotel) in Kubu, where I had an actual bed. That night, after being so exhausted from the prior night’s trip, AND from being paraded around town as the exciting ‘bule’ (foreigner), we went to bed early. It was about an hour later that there was a knock on the door…
…Pak Polisi, open up! :-O
The local police chief had tracked me down, and was here to say he was not happy that I hadn’t reported to the police station. I wanted to say, “HELLO, this isn’t 1989 you know!”, but instead chose diplomacy and just agreed that yes, tourists should do that etc etc, and blah blah kiss-ass, so sorry sir etc… Then he bought us drinks and fried banana!
Next 2 days in Kubu were spent being dragged around by Ajir to meet any person he’d ever known there, or worked with. Schools, classes, students, etc.
Yesterday; 16 Feb 2010:
We were going to ride to Rumbio (on the west side of Sumatra). Kubu is on the east side, opposite Kuala Lumpur basically. So I ask Ajir how long it will take (cause I’ll be doubliing on the back of his little Honda motorbike!), “Only a few hours Scott, if we leave at 7am we’ll be there by 1 or 2 pm”. When I express great doubt at that (the roads here are utter crap, & it seems a long way on the map), he says, “I’ve driven to Rumbio 4 times before. It is not far.”
At 7am I buy a bike helmet, cost A$6. Yes, you read that right, SIX dollars. I had as much faith in that saving my life as a paper bag on my head, but anyway… zero options.
Before we can leave, we HAVE TO visit the Primary school (again), for photos with every class…. at 9am we leave.
- – to cut a loooooong story short, and to miss out the times I yelled at Ajir, and all the times I made him pull over cause my BUM was KILLING me!… we arrived at Rumbio at NINE p.m. ~ 12 hours later, and about 10 of those hours sitting on the back of a small motorbike. *ouch*
I better finish up. On the weekend I return to Jakarta for 2 nights, then home via Bali on Monday. 
posted by littleaussiebattler in
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“The tradition of noticing 26 January began early in the nineteenth century with Sydney almanacs referring to First Landing Day or Foundation Day. That was the day in 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip, commander of the First Fleet of eleven convict ships from Great Britain and the first governor of New South Wales, arrived at Sydney Cove. The raising of the Union Jack there symbolised British occupation of the eastern half of the continent claimed by Captain James Cook on 22 August in 1770.
