Sulawesi

Misty hills and flooded rice fields from the plane. This is Sulawesi, wow! Coming from mainland SE Asia it looks very different. The woman all wear headscarves, the complexion is darker, the rainy season is in full throttle, and it is more gritty on the surface. But only on the surface. On my bus from the airport into the city everyone was so helpful and friendly. By the end of the ride everyone on the whole bus was tripping over themselves to try and help me find my guesthouse fumbling through broken English words.

I arrived in the city that night and caught a becak to the guesthouse, a sort of bicycle rickshaw contraction here. On first impressions this city is a raw and gritty port city. Piles of liter choke the open drains, the streets are calloused with muddy puddles, and rats scurry by in the shadows. On the street ojeks (motorbikes) whiz by and people gather at large open air fish warungs, or outdoor eating houses.

Dinner was a sort of creole shrimp stew with an eccentric Austrian lady at one of the nearby fish warungs. Toast the local drink, warm fresh squeezed orange juice. Clink! Welcome to Makassar Sulawesi!