NY Times article on Sulawesi and seeing the Torajan death rituals
Aug 2nd, 2015, 03:39 AM
#1
Original Poster
NY Times article on Sulawesi and seeing the Torajan death rituals
A fascinating region! I doubt that I'll ever visit Sulawesi, but it has definitely captured my imagination! And clearly, it's very much on the tourist path, as the NY Times Frugal traveler has now written about it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/tr...e=sectionfront
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/tr...e=sectionfront
Aug 2nd, 2015, 11:21 AM
#2
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 33,288
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi progol, I also read the article. Sulawasi was on my list for years, and I did a lot of research on it once, but never got there. Maybe not this life time, but certainly a fascinating destination.
Aug 2nd, 2015, 07:14 PM
#4
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 2,790
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks, Progol. Tanah Toraja was one of my best trips ever -- fascinating culture and arts plus phenomenally beautiful natural beauty. Plus you can tie-in with a trip to the amazing coral reefs of North Sulawesi in Bunaken and Bitung.
Interesting comment about how tourism and tradition intersect and influence each other. The Torajans now schedule their funerals for July/August for the benefit of travelers. My husband called our trip "Four funerals and a wedding."
Interesting comment about how tourism and tradition intersect and influence each other. The Torajans now schedule their funerals for July/August for the benefit of travelers. My husband called our trip "Four funerals and a wedding."
Aug 2nd, 2015, 07:23 PM
#5
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,112
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
@ marmot, who wrote, "Torajans now schedule their funerals for July/August for the benefit of travelers."
I'm thinking of traveling to Indonesia next May, perhaps sliding into June. I'm not committed to seeing a funeral per se, but am intrigued by the burial trees, burial caves, etc. Any thoughts would be much appreciated!
I'm thinking of traveling to Indonesia next May, perhaps sliding into June. I'm not committed to seeing a funeral per se, but am intrigued by the burial trees, burial caves, etc. Any thoughts would be much appreciated!
Aug 3rd, 2015, 12:40 AM
#6
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 9,360
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Interesting article, thanks for sharing. Tanah Torajah was high on our list for August but in a last minute change of plan we decided to head off to New Zealand for a couple of months in a campervan instead.
From the research I did on the area, it seemed essential to have your own transport to get around the area so a tour might be your best option kja.
From the research I did on the area, it seemed essential to have your own transport to get around the area so a tour might be your best option kja.
Aug 3rd, 2015, 12:53 AM
#7
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,112
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
@ crellston: Why do "last minute change of plans" and "couple of months ... instead" not seem, on first glance, to fit well within the same sentence? LOL!
That noted, I greatly appreciate your comment about Tanah Torajah. For now, I prefer to avoid tours unless they are of very short duration and offer a LOT that can't be achieved on one's own -- but sometimes, they do just that! So I'll keep your remarks in mind as I decide whether to make Indonesia my next destination, and if so, whether and how to craft a visit that suits my interests.
Thanks so much for your input!
That noted, I greatly appreciate your comment about Tanah Torajah. For now, I prefer to avoid tours unless they are of very short duration and offer a LOT that can't be achieved on one's own -- but sometimes, they do just that! So I'll keep your remarks in mind as I decide whether to make Indonesia my next destination, and if so, whether and how to craft a visit that suits my interests.
Thanks so much for your input!
Aug 3rd, 2015, 02:03 AM
#8
Original Poster
I'm so glad that everyone enjoyed the article! I'm also struck by the intersection of tradition and tourism -- I just wonder how much of the actual "tradition" remains authentic (whatever that means) and becomes more of a show for the tourists.
marmot -- love your husband's title - "four funerals and a wedding"!
Until recently, I've been planning to go to Indonesia as my next destination, but a new job makes it less likely. I now have to experience it vicariously through others -- at least for another year or so.
marmot -- love your husband's title - "four funerals and a wedding"!
Until recently, I've been planning to go to Indonesia as my next destination, but a new job makes it less likely. I now have to experience it vicariously through others -- at least for another year or so.
Aug 3rd, 2015, 05:23 AM
#9
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 33,288
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
kja, When I researched this trip, hiring a car and driver seemed to be the way to go, and it wasn't expensive. Now remember, I researched this trip years ago. I don't know what conditions are on the ground right now.
Aug 3rd, 2015, 12:37 PM
#10
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 4,571
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks Progol! Upon first seeing "Sulawesi" I thought this was about coffee!!! When our local coffee roaster gets a batch of their beans, it's big deal!!
Seriously...thank you for giving us all one more dream-worthy destination!
Seriously...thank you for giving us all one more dream-worthy destination!
Aug 3rd, 2015, 07:16 PM
#12
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 2,790
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I was in Tanah Torah about 10 years ago with my husband and son. We stayed in Rantepao which is the main tourism center and jumping off point for tours of the area. I don't remember the name of the hotel, but there are several in the area from moderate to budget. All seem to have a fair amount of charm and a fair amount of disrepair.
Our hotel arranged for us to be picked up at Makassar airport (then called Ujung Pandang) and driven to Rantepao. As I recall the drive was about 7 to 8 hours, through some very pretty scenery. Evidently there is now a bus as well.
We contracted a guide through the resort who spoke English, Indonesian and the local language. It turned out that he was actually Javanese, but he knew the area well and arranged for us to see what we wanted to see. His fee included a car and driver.
We spent the week touring, but didn't do any particularly arduous trekking. Along with seeing the burial sites with their guardian Tau Taus, we especially liked visiting various villages for their spectacular architecture. We acquired some beautiful baskets and textiles.
The funerals were my least favorite part of the experience. Lots of sitting around in the sun, punctuated by lots of gore. If I were to return I would spend more time walking from village to village.
If you want to continue on from Tanah Toraja to other parts of Sulawesi you have to backtrack to Makassar. As I mentioned the coral reefs in the northeast are spectacular, and with nearby national parks which you can visit as day trips or overnights. There are also several "desert island" dive resorts to the south of Makassar.
Makassar itself has a few historical points of interest, plus astonishing sunsets off the esplanade.
Our hotel arranged for us to be picked up at Makassar airport (then called Ujung Pandang) and driven to Rantepao. As I recall the drive was about 7 to 8 hours, through some very pretty scenery. Evidently there is now a bus as well.
We contracted a guide through the resort who spoke English, Indonesian and the local language. It turned out that he was actually Javanese, but he knew the area well and arranged for us to see what we wanted to see. His fee included a car and driver.
We spent the week touring, but didn't do any particularly arduous trekking. Along with seeing the burial sites with their guardian Tau Taus, we especially liked visiting various villages for their spectacular architecture. We acquired some beautiful baskets and textiles.
The funerals were my least favorite part of the experience. Lots of sitting around in the sun, punctuated by lots of gore. If I were to return I would spend more time walking from village to village.
If you want to continue on from Tanah Toraja to other parts of Sulawesi you have to backtrack to Makassar. As I mentioned the coral reefs in the northeast are spectacular, and with nearby national parks which you can visit as day trips or overnights. There are also several "desert island" dive resorts to the south of Makassar.
Makassar itself has a few historical points of interest, plus astonishing sunsets off the esplanade.
Aug 5th, 2015, 02:16 AM
#14
Original Poster
marmot,
Wonderful description of your visit which makes it all the more intriguing to visit. Interesting, though, that the funerals were the least fun part of the experience -- and I get it, as sitting around at any event can be tedious. And the actual ceremony, I imagine, can be pretty hard to watch.
Calinurse, there are just so many wonderful destinations to dream about! And I'm following your planning for Northern Vietnam and dreaming about that trip vicariously, too!
Wonderful description of your visit which makes it all the more intriguing to visit. Interesting, though, that the funerals were the least fun part of the experience -- and I get it, as sitting around at any event can be tedious. And the actual ceremony, I imagine, can be pretty hard to watch.
Calinurse, there are just so many wonderful destinations to dream about! And I'm following your planning for Northern Vietnam and dreaming about that trip vicariously, too!
Aug 8th, 2015, 09:24 PM
#15
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,552
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I remember marmot's trip report years ago as I'd seen an ethnographic film on the funereal rituals in an graduate class in the early 1990's.
Progol <I just wonder how much of the actual "tradition" remains authentic (whatever that means) and becomes more of a show for the tourists. >
As you know the air quotes are of course the key here, any anthropologist would be happy to give a lecture on the flexible, changeable and shifting nature of both "authenticity" and "tradition". As you can tell I can't help myself!
There are so many fascinating ways in which "traditions" are performed but this doesn't make them inauthentic per se. Sometimes the fact that tourists pay to see certain rituals and dances conversely preserves them for use at other times and/or depending on how the money changes hands, it can provide an income or a sustainable model for a community. After all in many places the central problem with tourism is that the travelers "consume" local culture without supporting it financially in any way.
end of rant
Progol <I just wonder how much of the actual "tradition" remains authentic (whatever that means) and becomes more of a show for the tourists. >
As you know the air quotes are of course the key here, any anthropologist would be happy to give a lecture on the flexible, changeable and shifting nature of both "authenticity" and "tradition". As you can tell I can't help myself!
There are so many fascinating ways in which "traditions" are performed but this doesn't make them inauthentic per se. Sometimes the fact that tourists pay to see certain rituals and dances conversely preserves them for use at other times and/or depending on how the money changes hands, it can provide an income or a sustainable model for a community. After all in many places the central problem with tourism is that the travelers "consume" local culture without supporting it financially in any way.
end of rant
Aug 9th, 2015, 08:13 PM
#19
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,112
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
@ marmot -- thanks so much! If I do end up planning a trip to Indonesia, I sincerely hope I can count on your input! 
With every passing day, I am more convinced that Indonesia will be my next destination, with an aim to take a trip of 3 to 4 weeks in May of 2016. From what I've learned so far -- all too little! -- I think central and eastern Java would be the centerpiece of such a trip (Bodobudur, nearby Hindu temples, Indonesian arts -- performing and otherwise, scenery, etc.) And probably Bali, for Ubud plus....
With no direct flights from my eastern US location, I might add a few days in Singapore on the way in / out, and probably somewhere else on the way back, but just for a day or two. (I skipped Hakone on my trip to Japan....) But the en-route places are really just that -- places to allow a pleasant interlude en route, or to give me a few days to see something I'd like to see that wouldn't otherwise merit targeting by my way of trip-planning. It's too hard to get from here to Indonesia to limit my time there unnecessarily!
In any case, I am still researching, still learning, still amazed -- and increasingly befuddled -- by the array of options that Indonesia affords.
One quick question for marmot and any / all who are following this thread, a question that I suspect I will raise again if I pursue this plan: Am I correct in thinking that May is a good time to travel to Java plus? I'm inordinately sensitive to heat and humidity, but from what I've read, I'm not sure I would face better climatic averages for central or eastern Java at any other time of year....
Thanks all!
With every passing day, I am more convinced that Indonesia will be my next destination, with an aim to take a trip of 3 to 4 weeks in May of 2016. From what I've learned so far -- all too little! -- I think central and eastern Java would be the centerpiece of such a trip (Bodobudur, nearby Hindu temples, Indonesian arts -- performing and otherwise, scenery, etc.) And probably Bali, for Ubud plus....
With no direct flights from my eastern US location, I might add a few days in Singapore on the way in / out, and probably somewhere else on the way back, but just for a day or two. (I skipped Hakone on my trip to Japan....) But the en-route places are really just that -- places to allow a pleasant interlude en route, or to give me a few days to see something I'd like to see that wouldn't otherwise merit targeting by my way of trip-planning. It's too hard to get from here to Indonesia to limit my time there unnecessarily!
In any case, I am still researching, still learning, still amazed -- and increasingly befuddled -- by the array of options that Indonesia affords.
One quick question for marmot and any / all who are following this thread, a question that I suspect I will raise again if I pursue this plan: Am I correct in thinking that May is a good time to travel to Java plus? I'm inordinately sensitive to heat and humidity, but from what I've read, I'm not sure I would face better climatic averages for central or eastern Java at any other time of year....
Thanks all!
