Greetings from Singapore!
After nearly six weeks of traveling through Indonesia I am sad to announce that Aeyelts and Co. have reluctantly parted ways. The final section included the enormous island of Sulawesi (previously known as Celebes) and a particularly beautiful archipelago known as the Togeans in the Gulf of Tomini. Just finished uploading a ton of photos for you to enjoy with even more stories on the way! Indonesia is a very special and fantastic country to visit which I'm very excited to tell you about!
Makassar: Worth a visit just for the seafood!
Sunset at Pantai Bira, a local retreat
If anyone's hollowing out a canoe, these two will find it
Excited locals = Not on the tourist circuit
Basic fishing boats taking shape
Enormous stern of a 100% teak charter boat
Assembled right on the beach ready for launch
Inside the hull
Thomson and Thompson (Jansen and Janssen)
"Harry, you're hands are freezing!"
Afternoon swim at the boatyard
Intricate dowels (pegs) and caulking (wooden fiber and epoxy)
Attracting local attention as always
Tana Toraja: water buffalo sacrifices and funerals (the more the merrier)
Rice barns (granaries) of the Tana Toraja
Funeral home (center right) and temporary village
Temporary housing being dismantled from a previous funeral
Harvesting rice fields near Rantepao
School children heading home early (so teachers can too)
Water buffalo and pigs to be sacrificed (tourists in the background)
Tree Grave for infants and stillborns
Bamboo orchestra playing all the classics
Stones graves with carved, wooden effigies keeping watch
(the small buildings on the bottom right are hearses)
Cave graves packed to the brim with coffins
With more modern, realistic effigies keeping watch
Another packed cave complete with skulls and smell
More coffins packed in tight surrounded with offerings
(cigarettes, money, and food)
Structures designed to accommodate even more
Typical stone grave of the Tana Toraja
1. Completion time: 5-6 months with a crew of three
2. Size: Approximately 3 x 3 x 5 meters (12-15 coffins/family)
3. Average age of stone grave miner: 50-60 years
4. Cost: Approximately 30 000 000 Rupiahs ($3000 USD)
Coffee overlooking Batutumonga
Rice terraces below (the most beautiful so far)
The Aeyelts Boys and their spices
The Rantepao 4H Club
Constructing a traditional Tana Torajean house
With a fresh coat of paint
A young Indonesia and his son
Skipping school and hanging out on graves
Harvesting young rice
Bamboo
Another traditional house in Tana Toraja
Rice terraces overlooking Rantepao
Apparently
Butane-glazed bat wings anyone?
Warner-fall (BOO YA!!!)
Outside Tentena by Lake Poso
Marina Cottages in Ampana (setting off for the Togean Islands)
Sunset
Storms-a-brewing near Bomba
Snorkeling right off shore
Beautiful view on Pulau Kadidiri
The wharf from Kadidiri Paradise
Diving near Una Una Volcano
Chasing divers and their bubbles
Finnish dive-master Mikka with a BSD that could raise the Titanic
BUBBLES BUBBLES BUBBLES ! ! !
"Ello!"
Pulau Bolilanga
Deep jungle trekking on Pulau Malenge
"Tintin in Sulawesi"
The Bat Cave
Local Bajo Boys
Bajo (sea gypsies) boats
Bandits! It's a trap!
An 800m bridge connecting island and town
Settled right on the reef
Looking back to Malenge
Laundry dried within the hour
Calamari
Our 800m bridge collapsed the next day
20-30m visibility
Plenty of snorkeling awaits
The locals call it, "Hotel California"
Get too close and you may never leave
The Togean Islands
Treading water and smoking: classic Indonesia
Trying out the outrigger
The small beach at Bolilanga Cottages
Our last Togean sunset
Yours truly, Marcel (GER), Frans, Warner, Steban + Margriet (NED)
Becak line-up
On the Road Again
Bunaken Bound
Diving off Pulau Bunaken
Sunrise over the diving boats
Another house reef right off our balcony
His Holiness the Bamboo Bishop
Public transport on the island
Manado Tua (volcano) from Bunaken village
Plenty of garbage washing up from nearby Manado
One last sunset from Pulau Bunaken
The only Indonesian who didn't want a photo with us
Manado's version of the Port Mann; only 11 years in the making!
Ferries awaiting departure to surrounding islands and the Phillipines
That's what six weeks will do to you
Goodbye Sulawesi!
(glad this Lion Air wasn't bound for Bali)
Apologies for taking so long to put photos up. Indonesia has these rolling internet blackouts where the only internet provider in the country has to let the modem cool down a bit. Usually interrupts most attempts to get this kind of stuff up and running. I'll be sure to add some background stories to all these photos very shortly as I am heading off to Nepal May 2. Best wishes to everyone back home and around the globe!
Tim
