Sulawesi Surprise!: Some Other Attractions

If coffins, skulls and skeletons put you off like they put off many people, maybe you should amuse yourself by looking around the stalls that sell souvenirs to tourists. Besides the usual handicrafts like woodcarving and the likes, you'd be taken by the local folks who live simple lives; and occasionaly cute little kids who are left unattended by the older folks would catch your attention too. Then, perhaps you like nature and you'd go ga ga over the plants there. I remember being shown the vanilla plant somewhere in Tana Toraja and I remember coming across the pegaga plant while exploring the burial sites. Pegaga plants seems to grow very well in the wild in Tana Toraja and I wonder ifTorajans do make drinks or ulam out of them. Ulam, by the way, is a type of salad, typical in South East Asia. Some native plants here like the Pegaga and even tapioca shoots are just eaten raw and are believed to have medicinal properties and would even keep one young and vibrant. In Penang, at the popular Penang Road, you may even get to drink Pegaga juice sold by hawkers on the roadside if only you know where to find them - That would interest health buffs who spend tons on chlorophyll health drinks!    34


Feast your eyes and try for a moment to forget about death!






Traveling Tip: Walk around and feast your eyes!

Comments

Thomas C B Chua said…
footiam, what are those jaw bones for ( 2nd last pic) ? Are they cows' ?
footiam said…
I think buffaloes. Buffaloes and pigs are slaughtered in funerals known as pesta sedih. The Torajans celebrate pesta sedih and pesta gembira. It is quite common to see the horns of these buffaloes decorating the village - stacked like a totem pole. The bones actually reminds of death then!