ROCK'S ADVENTURES: MAKASSAR , SULAWESI - VISA, FRIENDS AND FUN

MAKASSAR

COSTS

Visa extension fee 500 000 each

Agent fee for extension 250 000r each

Donations to forts - 10 000R per person

Flight Bali to Makassar – 2 adults - Lion Air – 3 006 000R – this included 20 kg of luggage

THE ARRIVAL

We had no dramas on our Lion Air flight from Bali to Makassar in South Sulawesi. We checked in, had coffee and croissants and boarded our flight.

The plane was delayed ½ hour as they had to move a lot of carry-on luggage into the cargo bay. It was unbelievable the number and size of the bags that they had to move. The reason was that Lion Air gave no free baggage and so people stacked their bags away from the check in counter. No one questions at the other boarding procedures along the way why people had so much carry-on luggage.

The flight was just over an hour and picking up our bags was quick as there were hardly any bags on the airport carousel. Ha ha, wonder why!

Outside the airport, we were greeted by Mina my long time friend and driven to our hotel, Swiss-bel Makassar. Mina gave us a beautiful welcoming present of a box of small cakes and a beautiful scrapbook of Jacinta and me. It was very touching. We had a present for Mina of Bali scents.

THE VISA EXTENSION

PART A

Our main job in Makassar was to extend our visa by 30 days.

We set off to extend our visa. We caught a taxi to the immigration office. We entered the small building and were informed that they do not process foreign visa extensions at this office and we needed to go to the other immigration office. Okay. We used our Grab App and with the help of one of the immigration officers and we were off to the bigger immigration office.

We arrived at the bigger office with no problems and walked up to the second floor. It was very well organised and sign posted. At the counter, the lady explained that we needed a letter from a sponsor. We didn’t have one! Could she be our sponsor? No. Can someone here be our sponsor? No. Does she know someone who could help us? Yes I will call... Twenty minutes lady we were introduced to truly. She told us to get sponsor forms and stamps. She completed the forms and had them and her ID photocopied. Then it was back to the visa extension office for photo and finger printing.. All was good. Next, Tully drove us to a Post office or ATM through her account to pay for the visa. 1 000 000R for two. We decided on the ATM. Next we drove to Trully’s house where we had a drink and cake while she photographed the Payment invoices then we gave her the money. At her house we met her husband. A nice gut but not well. Next, Trully drove us to our hotel and would get our passports with the extension on Monday and deliver to our hotel. Of course, there was a charge for her services but it was worth it, especially, for the cake at her house.

It was a bit more complex than I thought it would be but now we know what to do for the next extension.

PART B

By Monday, there were no messages about our passports. There were no messages on my phone and the Immigration Office and the agent were not answering their phones. We were a bit (a lot really) concerned so we organised a car to take us to the Immigration Office. The traffic was horrific and we made it to our destination with five minutes to spare.

At the visa counter, they informed us that Trully had picked up the passports this morning. They rang Trully a couple of times and got her address for us. We then drove to her house to get our passports. We were not impressed as she said she texted me but there was no text on my phone. Basically, she didn’t seem too perturb that we had to go find her to get our passports. More lessons learnt!

Now we had our visa extension! The plan was to do our next extension in a week’s time or so when the extension we just got had started to be implemented. Of course there’s more to this story that will come later.

FORT ROTTERDAM

Jacinta and I had a wander around the fort one morning. It was very close to our hotel. There was a donation on entry and a charge to visit the museums that were inside the fort.

The fort was surrounded by a large and thick stone/brick wall the top of the wall was wide enough to drive a car.

The inside of the fort was open grassed areas and many wooden buildings.

It was interesting walking on thee wall, around the buildings and through the museums.

LOSARI BEACH

We spent a lot of time wandering along the promenade of Losari Beach.

Losari Beach is not a beach of either sand or rocks. The edge of the promenade either slopes downward or drops vertical into the water. That is the beach. Maybe in the past there was a beach there but it’s not there now. J

Being a western tourist (bule) is a reasonably unusual sight in Makasssar. The local people will randomly ask you for a photo of you with them or sneak a photo of themselves with you in the background. We usually, said yes to photos as we usually take photos of Indonesians in their daily life.

On Sunday, I met up with Mina, Antomina and another friend in the morning in the hotel lobby. I showed them around the hotel and then we had a walk along the promenade. Today was traffic free day so the road was blocked from traffic and there were stalls set up for about a kilometre. It was fun walking along – buying some food, drinks and a t-shirt and dancing to the Zumba exercise music. The locals were dancing happily away to the music. And yes, I joined in as well. The girls were having a bit of a hard time walking with me. I don’t know why people were looking at them with ‘questioning and knowing’ looks, as I was the only bule walking around and three pretty girls. I started smiling at people and saying hello and walking a short distance from the girls every now and then. The latter seemed to ease the problem.

There is a beautiful mosque that stood on stilts over the water. It is okay to enter but of course you must remove your shoes and be appropriately dressed.

The promenade was especially nice early in the morning and at sunset. We sat a number of times and watched the sunset over the ocean. It was so beautiful and serene.

THE HOTEL

Makassar is hot, especially through the middle part of the day. The traffic fumes do not help either. Having a good hotel is pretty important especially as we were probably going to be there for a few days to organise our visa extension.

We chose the SwissBel. Relatively, it was expensive but the benefits were great. A nice pool to rest around or swim laps, a good breakfast, very clean and cool rooms and very helpful staff.

We had a long chat with Nungky in reception about constructive critical thinking in schools in Indonesia. She thought that she was taught this but that it was not the norm at schools as in many village areas it rarely gets any attention. Maybe no need as most people are born, live and die in the same village.

FOOD

Eating out in Makassar was a bit tricky. The warungs or the restaurants, which was the best.

We ate a number of restaurants and the food was okay but not exciting. The best place we thought was the Noodle House. The owner was friendly and helpful. We chatted with him and he told us of his holiday in Australia. We had whole fish, vegetables and a number of side dishes. We picked our fish from the display in the front of the shop. He gave us dessert for free.

The warungs were great for juices and snack foods. I especially loved the avocado juice and the hot corn on the cob. All cooked and prepared in front of you.

A DAY OUT WITH MINA AND REVAN

One morning, I rang Mina for some suggestions on something to do. A lot of text was exchanged and by about 10:30am Mina and Revan arrived to take us on a tour.

We visited a large spiral monument. The monument was closed but off ran Mina and after a short while she returned with an attendant and a key. The man opened the entrance to the monument and turned on the internal lighting. There were two floors of display. The ground floor showed the recent history of conflict between the Dutch and the Indonesians which lead to independence. The lower floor depicted scenes from earlier local conflicts with the Dutch in South Sulawesi. It was all very interesting.

There was an elevated that didn’t work that could but couldn.t take you to the top of the tower.

Next, we drove to Benteng (fort) Sumbo Opu. There was an interesting wooden two storey restored building which had various displays of the Gowa time period. We also visited a grave which could bring luck to men who seek it. There is also another grave where women go for luck as well.

We drove back into town and stopped at a restaurant for lunch and drinks and chatting.

We were going to Bira tomorrow and Revan organised a friend of his to drive us there.