First Night in Singapore

We got off the plane in Singapore and as usual, a bit of reverse culture shock, to be in a First World kind of environment. Mom was pretty bowled over by the Fullerton Hotel, where we're staying - a bit on the swank side, in a beautiful building that was originally Singapore's post office. I'd decided a while ago to treat myself and her and stay in a place a bit nicer than usual!


Mom helped herself to the robes and sandals and seemed to adjust to the luxury environment quite quickly.


We walked out for an evening meal along the beautiful waterfront, packed with outdoor restaurants serving amazing food. Singapore's reputation as possibly having the best food in the world is well-deserved.


Now two days of sightseeing and relaxing before the long flight home!

Last Days in Indonesia

As always, it was hard to say goodbye to everyone in Makassar, though I'll be happy to see Bill and everyone back in the US. On our last day in Makassar, mom and I made American food for the staff. Everyone had fun learning how to make penne pasta with red sauce and banana pudding.


The following morning, we went to the airport with Akbar (the director of YGC) and met a couple friends who work at the airport, and with a warm goodbye got on the plane for Jakarta. After 5 hours' layover, we got on the short one-hour flight to Singapore!

Many Photo Opportunities

From Neva - As you can see I had many photo opportunities yesterday. Everyone wants to have their picture taken with us. It was great to see the customs of Indonesia and get to meet some more people. At the Mr and Mrs Makassar contest, we were introduced as honored guests, and one of the contestants acknowledged us in her introductory speech, and thanked us for coming. You see few "Westerners" here, and so they are anxious to meet us and they are very hospitable and kind.

It rained yesterday, and the humidity is always high, but Daryl told me that there was a low of 16 last night. Gee - hope it warms up or I will be in for a shock. One of the things about Indonesia that is unusual is that people take 3 or 4 baths a day to cool off and wash off the sweat. In the heat of the day, people stay in the shade and people get out usually just in the morning and evening to avoid the heat.

Yesterday we met with the HIV support group for positive women. Tom gave another talk explaining what HIV actually is, and there were many questions, and he was able to help clear up some misconceptions. The women were young and so they will have many problems to deal with in the future.

Weddings and Contests

Our next-to-last full day yesterday and things are hectic with getting ready to leave. But got in lots of fun yesterday too. Went to a traditional neighborhood wedding - very simple, but lots of family and friends there. Had to wade through mud and water to get to the house and get in - the bride and groom were so happy we came.


The guy who did the makeup for the bride is a friend of YGC - he dressed mom up as a traditional Bugis bride for a quick photo opportunity.


In the evening we attended the Mr. and Mrs. Makassar beauty contest - lots of great traditional dresses and entertainment, food too. The pageant took five hours but was fun.

Hello from Neva

Tom did a great job of explaining the trip, but I just wanted to say hello and let you know things are going great. The bus trip was wonderful, because we could sit and look at the countryside as it changed from city to country- we also entered mountains and the views were really beautiful. I could also sit and watch small towns and the people in them as they went about their everyday life. When we arrived in Toraja, the rest of the group stayed at Dadang's family house, but Tom and I stayed in what we were told was a hotel. It turned out to be a spare bedroom in an orphanage! But it was fun to be there. The children seem well cared for and the older ones do the laundry and prepare the meals. Then when guests come like us, they have a bamboo orchestra and play for us and do a traditonal dance in the courtyard. In the same bedroom area we stayed in, there was a young couple from the Netherlands, so we could do some English communicating. The wife was working with the orphans - I am not sure what her husband was doing. They had been there a month and were leaving the day after we left.

We were provided with three meals by the family and all 20 of us would sit down and eat. The family would stand back and watch us eat and were so concerned that I was not getting enough rice. They were so helpful and would provide a drink whenever we would sit down. It was a very interesting experience and I got to know the group from Gaya Celebes much better. They are great people and are hard workers.

That's all for now. Talk with you later.

Our adventures in Torajaland!

We are back from our wonderful four days in Tana Toraja (Torajaland)! I've got about 325 photos from the adventure - but my new camera's memory card messed up during the trip, so a couple short videos I made are so far un-downloadable. I'll try to get help with that when I'm back in the US. 22 of us went, a whole busload for the 8 hour trip each way...


The land of the Toraja ethnic group is up in the mountains in central Sulawesi. They are famous for their beautiful homes and carvings and their death rituals. We stayed at the traditional home of Dadang's family. Dadang is a staff member of Gaya Celebes.

Right in front of the house are some limestone megaliths placed there hundreds of years ago.


The view of the karst (limestone) mountains and rice paddies in every direction are breathtaking.


We had a great time meeting Dadang's family. Mom was especially taken by little Rio, one of Dadang's nephews.


The two full days we were there, we rented two vans and took everyone around on visits to interesting sites. For hundreds of years the Torajan people have buried their dead in limestone caves, some at ground level and some hundreds of feet in the air. They are buried in elaborate wooden coffins. As they rot over the centuries the bones fall out and mix together. In front of the caves they build effigies called tau-tau, about 3 feet high, in the image of the deceased, looking out over the rice fields.



Babies who die were often wrapped up in fabric and placed inside holes carved in giant forest trees, the hole covered with fiber until it closed of its own accord. These tree and cave burials still continue.

So much more to say about the trip but I'm quite busy with the preparations for returning to the USA, so I'll let Mom add an entry of her own.

We'll be awol for 4 days...

My mother and I are having a great time - I just gave a talk at a local university and my mom came along for the ride. Tomorrow morning (April 3) early we're going with the whole stuff up to Torajaland, a beautiful hilly area about 8 hours from here, a favorite of tourists. 25 of us will be going up and we'll be returning the evening of April 6. I won't be taking the laptop. So it may be April 7, Indonesia time, before we post again to the blog. Don't worry - we should have some great photos!