sorry for the delay, it's been over 2 weeks since coming back from makassar, and i figured if i don't blog about this i might have forgotten detail from the trip! *not to mention the report for my lecturer - gasp! *

oh, and this is a really really long post. you have been warned. 

ok so here's the story about makassar, it's the place that was chosen for us to do a measured drawing about traditional houses in bugis culture. we've already been warned by our lecturer that the place that we're living will only have the most simple things ever. she wasn't lying. well, actually our situation was a little bit better than our seniors. 

makassar is the capital of sulawesi and it's actually at the south of sulawesi. sulawesi is a really really huge island. so the place is pretty much developed, if compared to the small parts of town that we went later.  we were separated to 2 groups, one to bone (read as bo - ne) and us, to wajo. the journey to bone took us 4 hours, and another 2 hours to reach wajo.  the difference in terms of travelling long distance here is they don't have any street lights, and they don't even have any highways! and there's only one lane each way. wooden houses and paddy fields lined the road.  the scenery along the way is absolutely stunning. we pass through valleys, vast paddy fields that look like art, and between huge rocks! which i think is actually space between 2 mountains. at one point a really big truck carrying goods had to manually carry down all of it because the truck couldn't pass through the narrow way. for uncountable times the little bus narrowly scratch the opposite traffic, or the other way, and we're all scared for our lives but there wasn't any accidents along the way at all!  the long and bumpy bus ride was really fun and there wasn't one time that it wasn't interesting at all. the scenaries kept us all wanting for more. oh and the bumpiness? it was just like riding a crazy roller coaster, but with wheels.

we spent the night at bone at an empty community hall, and sleep on the floor. the toilets was decent enough, because we were expecting worst (read : no doors, toilet bowls and lights). for some odd reason i had an obsession with toilets while in makassar. we had a draw on which 2 groups had to depart to wajo the other day and my group got it, so again we went for a bus ride, but this time it's just on a normal straight road. the thing about south sulawesi is the place is literally covered with paddy fields. the place is so flat , and when you look out across the horizon everythings is so flat and green. it's like looking out at the sea but you replace the sea with paddy fields, you know? i didn't know the sky could be so breathtaking. everything feels so abnormal *in a good way* because i'm so used to seeing buildings everywhere. simple things has never look so good. yes i am smitten with the view. very.

the journey was suppose to be 2 hours but it took 4 hours because there was a traffic jam. the villagers were building dams and they placed the stones in the middle of the road thus disrupting the traffic. when we reach wajo we were warmly welcome by the kabupaten ( ministry?) of wajo, and they had the nicest office that i've seen since stepping into makassar. and then we had one of the best lunch ever at their office. the deputy kabupaten was so nice! he even ate lunch with us! in malaysia they would have separated the vip's and the non vip's already. they even provided us with a place to stay for the night, at their vip guest house, which was  the head of kabupaten's formal house. the house is situated on top of the hill, where you can see the whole of wajo from there which was really really nice. we even saw the view of the sea (which we found out later that it is a lake! it's the famous danau tempe! i've never seen a lake so huge! ) and boy the dinner, dessert and breakfast that they provide was the best food ever that we've tasted. 

we had to leave the very next day to the village where the research house is located. the village head greeted us warmly and all 10 of us stayed at his house, which is quite big and spacious, really. the house is really tall, roughly 2.5 meters above ground, where they store rice (a majority of them are farmers) and they live upstairs. the village head's house is quite new, and i guess he didn't have time to built a toilet yet, so we had to use the neighbor's one. it was kinda decent i guess. erm, let me describe how it is. ok, so you have to walk about 10 meters to reach there, and the toilets has no lights. and apparently no one has been using that toilet because the water they had was really dirty, but still decent, because there was a flowing source, where water are pumped by electricity from underground. the toilet was ok, because i had to remind myself that at least we had a toilet bowl and a door. the seniors had only a hole on the floor. till today it puzzles me on how the whole flushing system works. because you see, there's only a toilet bowl, and no flushing system. i don't even dare to use the torchlight to look at the bowl. bathing time was kinda fun too cause there's only 2 rooms to bath and while waiting we fooled around (read = scared) the chickens, we even spotted a hen that was sitting on her egg!! (yes i'm a city girl all of this intrigues me ok) once we even spotted the gecko!!!! it's a sort of lizard, but erm 10 times larger and yuck-ier than the normal house lizard because when you see it from afar it feels okay but when it starts to crawl, the hair at the back of our neck starts to stand, i have no reason why. this particular gecko has one lost paw, and when you look at it it's brownish but from the photograph it has blue spots all over it. do you know it has medicinal properties and cost around rm1100 and more in the market? 

and the people there don't use fan at all. they only have lights. but the weather is kinda similar to here in malaysia, so we got used to it. and their electricity supply is  weak because on the very first day when 5 of us charge our laptop, the whole village went out of lights.  the following days was better because we only thrifted the electricity at the house only. for every. single.day. once i used the hair dryer thinking the electricity could take it. silly me. i thrifted the electricity and it only came back in the evening. the hair dryer was never use again.  

the mosquitoes are legendary too. i got bitten the worst. i look as if i got chicken pox. the funny thing was the insect repellent that we brought from malaysia actually attracted them. i gave up trying to stop them from biting me. for once i didn't hate smokers because the smoke actually help shoo the mozzies away!  and oh, do you know by 5.50pm it is already dark like how it is here at 8pm? and the sun comes out really early too, by 5 am it's already bright and shiny.

and may i add that the people there are the nicest ones that i've ever met? they are so genuine and real!!! can you imagine that they would take all the trouble to cook and bring it to us although the village head's wife has prepared food for us? and they would invite us to their house to stay with them , which was politely decline because we had to finish up on the measuring business. i mean, we're all strangers but their hospitality really touched my heart. i am really really grateful for that. they really took care of us and our needs when we were there and i swear from the bottom of my heart none of us acted like brats. 

staying at the village made me realise how lucky and blessed i am * trying not to sound like an old lady*. i mean, i take a lot of things for granted here and the people there live in absolute simplicity. living there is like going through basic living 101. and i had that i've-went-through-this-nothing-is-going-to-stop-me moments, again.  when we had hot shower in toraja i felt so ecstatic. and planting rice is no easy business. these people work so hard every single day. imagine if one day no one wants to plant rice anymore! *gasp*  their life is work, go home, sleep, wake up really early, go work again.  

and don't let me start on the toilets. flush-able toilet are godsend, seriously.