January 19, 2019 - Ujung Padang, Sulawesi, Indonesia - Saturday, Day 14
Sulawesi is an Indonesian Island North of Komodo. Indonesia consists of over 17,000 islands. Only about 13,000 of these are visible at high tide.
But first a Flashback to Komodo Island. I must apologize for my post of yesterday because first I did not really explain the Komodo Dragon and second I did not properly the text before posting it. The word completion of this program left some strange text.
Th Komodo Dragon is not a dragon. It is the world’s largest lizard. It is a Monitor Lizard that grows to be 10 to 14 feet long. It lives to be 50 to 60 years old because it has no predators on the island once it reaches maturity. It can weigh up to 150 pounds, but that starts to decline after it reaches age 40.
We were told that it is a combination of bacteria in the saliva that inflicts death on its prey. After bitten the prey is doomed to death. The Komodo then dines casually. Komodo only eat once or twice a month, but these meals are large. They feast on Timor deer, wild boar, goats, water buffalo and small animals. Their jaws expand wide enough to allow them to swallow a whole goat. It might take a week to digest this. They are capable of running at speeds of 10 to 12 miles per hour. My current walking pace has been 3.5 miles per hour. No contest. Thank goodness for the ranger with the forked stick.
Now back to Sulawesi. The port is known as Ujung Padang, but the city is Makasar. This was Maasdam’s first time stopping here. Local officials provided a celebratory greeting with the presentation to our captain and hotel director of models of vessels used in local transport. A performance of traditional music and dance by a local group followed.
When the dock cleared we went on the City Highlights tour. This gave us a good overview of what is here. We visited a very large and nice market. We saw a lot of fresh produce, spices, grains and fish. We did not notice any fresh meats other than the live chickens for sale. Our last stop was Fort Rotterdam. This Dutch stronghold dates bake to the 1600’s and commemorates the long era of Dutch rule. We returned to the ship grateful for the exposure to local history and customs that our guide provided.
After a quick lunch we returned to shore to walk on our own. Leaving the port required walking past many stacked containers Some of these would be loaded onto cargo ships. Others had recently come off of ships and were awaiting overland distribution. The first street beyond the port was the nightlife district. As this was mid day it was quite.
We walked away from the water on one of the busier streets. Shops and vendors lined both sides of the street. There were no sidewalks as we know them. We walked with the others in the street. The challenge was to avoid the constant flow of motor bikes. This is the primary form of transportation although there were plenty of pedicabs for the tourists. We walked on.
After contending with this buy area for a while we noticed what appeared to be a narrow alley. It looked very clean and we ventured it down it. This took us into a “neighborhood.” There were gangways that went off the alley into nice courtyards with apartments all around them. Back here were windows and doorways that we did not see from the main street. Laundry was hanging, children were playing and watchful moms were keeping their eyes on us.
Suddenly we were being surrounded by kids and moms calling hello and welcoming us. We were something special here. We were white. They were not. We had ventured into a place where few if any tourists do. These people were friendly and excited to see us. They asked us to photograph them and in turn they excitedly photographed us. Our languages were different, but our respect and curiosity overcame that. We all waved and bowed to each other as Alice and i left. How great was this!
We walked on and avoided the main streets as much as possible. We did this first because traffic was heavy and the streets had gotten narrower. This made motor bike dodgem a more serious game. Second we found that every time we ventured off the beaten path we became the rock stars.
In one lane children, mother and grandmother all wanted to pose with us for pictures. While we were doing this we were being watched by 2 men resting on the second floor of a building being demolished. When we finished with the family, these guys called down to us and flashed peace signs Then they started pointing at us and to themselves. It was their turn to be photographed. One man even swung his sledge hammer into a wall to demonstrate what they were doing. There were more peace signs and smiles as we walked on.
This happened time and again as we walked for about 2 hours. Finally we decided to head back to the ship. As we walked along the busy road fronting the harbor, we passed a courtyard at what looked like a school.
Earlier we had passed a Muslim boys’ school when students were leaving. They surrounded us and tried their English out. They wanted to know where we were from. At the name Chicago several of them called out Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan. What recognition.
With that experience in mind we looked into the courtyard. Indeed it was a school and several young children were at play. Seated at a table was a young teacher. She paused her preparation of drinks for the kids, and invited us in. In broken English she confirmed that it was a school and invited us to take pictures. When Alice produced her camera we were once again surrounded by screaming and jubilant children. Having taken pictures and shown them to the teacher and children, we bid farewell and forged on.
We were about a block from the entrance to the port when we took a short cut through a parking area to avoid the heavy traffic on the street. This was under a building and as we turned the corner we saw a gallery just above with vendors. We went up the stairs and wound our way through these small stalls. Soon we were at an entrance to a store of some sort. We had walked past this place when we came out of the port, but because it was set back from the street and under a darkened overhead we did not even know it was here. Our tour guide had not mentioned it, but it was clearly a very important shopping are. It was three stories of shop after shop with people everywhere.
We took the escalator up to the third floor and worked our way around it before coming down. Most stalls held clothing. The women’s wear was stunning and reasonably priced. Other goods were also available. Some electronics, cigarettes, snacks, shirts and on and on. We were overwhelmed and ready to leave, when we turned a corner. We were greeted by another young lady who practiced her English with us. She was a mom with her four daughters and her mother. We took the obligatory pictures and showed them to them to nods of approval. we bid farewell and returned to Maasdam.
Wow! Another day of experiences to confirm why we so love to travel.
No comments:
Post a Comment