Southwest Sulawesi
Jalan Bonerate 26 A
Hotel Mutiara Sari +62411336068
Clean double room, with air-con and a sumptuous breakfast buffet, for IDR 145,000.- or US$ 16.10 per night. Friendly staff, zero English.
Beer: 620-ml bottles of ice-cold Bintang Pilsner (c. 4.7 % alc./vol.) for INR 24,000.- or US$ 2.65 per large bottle at the new Alfamart +6285240890204, just around the corner.
Click below for an interactive road map of the Hotel Mutiara Sari in Makassar, which we would recommend, and for directions:
Visiting the traditional Paotere Harbour aka Pelabuhan Paotere (admission for orang turis: INR 5,000.- per person), just a short becak ride north of the city centre (using one of these three-wheeled bicycle-rickshaws where the brawny driver sits at the rear; INR 10,000.- for the ride), where wooden Buginese and Makassarese schooners and all kind of floating tubs berth and connect Makassar with its off-lying islands and with other parts of Sulawesi as well as with Kalimantan, Maluku and Nusa Tenggara.
"We're sailing on a strange boat
Heading for a strange shore
Carrying the strangest cargo
That was ever hauled aboard
We're sailing on a strange sea
Blown by a strange wind
Carrying the strangest crew
That ever sinned"
Coping with Air Asia’s new self check-in (quote from their optimistic newsletter: “Experience all the freedom and convenience when you Self Check-In via web … it’s free, simple and quick … and it's the best alternative to the US$ 5.- counter check-in fee...”) thus taking part in one of Tony Fernandes’ elaborate conditioning experiments with humans, certainly in one league with Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning with dogs and Burrhus Skinner’s operant conditioning with pigeons, hurdling hereafter from our downtown hotel to Makassar’s flashy Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport (thus flagging down two bicycle-rickshaws from our hotel to the MTC Karebosi Mall for IDR 5,000.- per becak, thereafter jumping into one of the light-blue minibuses aka pete-pete to Makassar’s useless Kompleks Terminal Regional Daya for IDR 3,000.- per person, then changing for another pete-pete [bound for Maros] to the branch-off of the airport road aka Jalan Bandara Udara for IDR 3,000.- per person and eventually catching the free shuttle bus to the airport’s passenger terminals), paying in cash the compulsory Indonesian airport tax for international departures of IDR 100,000.- or US$ 11.10 per person, bumping into Konni’s travel friend Diana from England, flying uneventfully with Air Asia (“Now Everyone Can Fly”) in a dirty Airbus A 320-200 back to Kuala Lumpur (KLIA-LCCT) for only IDR 257,000.- or US$ 28.90 per person, including the free usage of the lavatory during the flight (almost regretting the absence of an encouragingly worded motivational newsletter like: “Experience all the freedom and convenience when you relieve yourself at home … it’s free, simple and quick … and it’s the best alternative to the US$ 5.- lavatory-inflight-usage fee…”), being issued with another 90-day-visit pass for a “social visit” to Malaysia on arrival, free of charge, then taking Air Asia’s red Sky Bus +60162176950 for INR 21,300.- or US$ 2.35 (pre-paid) from the LCCT's bus stop straight to KL Sentral and eventually the arctic KL Monorail +60378852585 for MYR 2.50 per person straight to our hotel in downtown Kuala Lumpur; selamat tinggal, Sulawesi, and once more selamat malam, Malaysia ("… truly Asia.") - our lovely, clean and well-organised second home which boasts the highest booze prices in the Asia-Pacific and the second highest in the world, after Norway.
"I wish someone would just start Fly At Your Own Risk Airlines. How 'bout that? You can have your hair gel, you can have your lighter, you can have a fucking gun, how 'bout that? You can show up at the gate five minutes before the plane leaves, and pay in cash, like in the good ol' 1980s. The ticket just says 'Shit Happens' on the back, because that's the way it is anyway..."
05 Sep - 08 Sep 2010 Makassar
Click below for a summary of this year's travels
Click below for a summary of this year's travels
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| Facing Sulawesi © Konni & Matt |
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