Recommended From Makassar, we travelled 200 miles overland to see the macabre funeral rituals of Tana Toraja, where an eclectic mix of life and death spatters you in the face. Snorting buffaloes are sacrificed within touching distance, blood dashing the feet of Mohican-haired infants who run tripping and giggling through puddles of blood, pulling the redundant hooves of drained beasts behind them like kittens’ playthings. Throughout August, daylong funerals dominate this mountain kingdom of banana-shaped roofs. Indonesians flood here, showing off their wealth with offerings of squealing beasts, and to gorge on spiced and succulent meats, to revel in their culture, and to celebrate life lived.
Word of warning In Makassar we checked into a deceitfully overpriced, decaying room, with a pungent blend of faeces and mothballs. With no desire to linger, we headed out, avoiding the karaoke-bar brothels. In a restaurant swarming with locals, the bowl of solid noodles and chicken snot we were presented with made it part-way down our empty gullets, only to reward us later with an agonising week of vomiting and diarrhoea...
Lucy's article was published by...
The Telegraph: Readers' holiday guide: Asia and Australasia and Toraja Cyber News: Backpacker Recommended Toraja for Telegraph Reader's Holiday Guide
No comments:
Post a Comment