Tana Toraja

After a couple of days in Makasaar, Alon decided to go on a three day trip to Tana Toraja, 9 hour bus ride away, where there was a lot to be seen.
It was good for both John and Alon to have a bit of time out after a long time together. It was also good to have a bit of time away from the boat and see a bit of inland in Indonesia.

Toraja is a part of the Sulawesi island where the majority of people are christian and there are a lot of different traditions around death and burial.

Working in the rice fields

The water buffaloes are everywhere over there

At one stage they used to bury their dead in holes they dug in the rock. Every door is a whole family. Then they put a manikin that represent the dead person.

A traditional funeral. All the bereaved sit around, eat and receive presents while everybody else is chanting and dancing around.

Lots of pigs were slaughtered that day...

After the funeral we went to see a cock fight. It's only legal when there's a funeral ceremony going on and it's a part of it...

The cock fighting ring, or "the cock ring"

A Torajan landscape. The roofs are in the shapeof boats, to symbolize their ancestors that came from the sea. On them they put a lot of buffalo horns because that's their most important animal.

...And there was a cave full of skulls and human bones. 200-800 years ago they used to just throw their dead in the caves. Incredible sight.