14. Transit to Makassar, South Sulawesi, and Sunset Along the Makassar Strait (Oct. 13)

      This was a travel day, so I didn't expect that I would have much to share. I started to feel like I was getting a cold in the evening before bed. Even with Mom giving me Zicam and Tylenol every four hours, by the time we landed at the Makassar airport after transiting through Jakarta, I was D.O.N.E. Our flight was early, our driver to the hotel was late, and of course we were standing in the unairconditioned arrivals areas having to fend off taxi drivers left and right. 

     Thirty minutes after our scheduled rendevous time, our driver arrived and we followed him out in the heat to find his car. We arrived at an unusual time, in mid-afternoon, and were hungry. After dropping our luggage at the favehotel in downtown Makassar, we went to find a restaurant within walking distance. There was one in an upscale hotel a few blocks away that was "open." Although it was a lovely, quiet space, we had to chase down wait staff and ended up with a near-two-hour lunch. 

    I didn't mind passing the time inside, since our next activity wasn't until 6 pm.  I wanted to see the sunset over the promenade that marks the western edge of the city. It was such a lovely, relaxed evening. The sunset occured at somewhere around 6:15 pm, but we meandered south along the water taking in the sights, sounds, and smells. It was clearly a place where the locals came to pass an evening with their families, but we also saw small groups of tourists - families and military personnel - also taking photos around the same statues and signs as we were.

    The most striking sight across the water was the 99 Domes Mosque. According to the International Quran News site, "[it]is one of the grandest and most unique mosques in the Southeast Asian country, and can accommodate up to 13,000 worshippers. The mosque is named after the 99 names of Allah, and each dome represents one of them. The mosque was designed by Ridwan Kamil, the governor of West Java, and was completed in 2020. The mosque is a new landmark and a center of Muslim activities in Makassar and the eastern region of Indonesia."  We did not have time during our stay to try to see inside, or to even find out if that were possible. But truly, the sunset photos alone were work the trip. 

    After we stopped to look at a mosque just south of the Losari Beach landmark, evening prayers started up. With the call to prayer coming in from all sides, we decided that we were tired and at risk of getting headaches. We managed to pick our way across the multi-lane road that flanked the promendade and arrived back at the hotel within 10 minutes. 

    We had our second run-in with the favehotel staff at this point. First, when we arrived we had been misquoted for the taxi transfer from the airport. We were able to negotiate for free breakfasts in trade, but the negotiations meant that check-in took almost 45-minutes. The second strike they had was that there was no hairdryer in the room and we needed to call the front desk to have it delivered. There were a few nice amenities of the hotel as well. As with many other locations in SE Asia and Indonesia that we visited, there was a very intentional reduction in use of single-use plastic bottles. Every floor had a purified water dispenser in the hallway. The one on our floor happened to be right outside our room. Considering the amount of water that I regular drink in a day, the unlimited availability of free cold water was a big plus for me.

     

Motoring in the morning rain to the Balikpapnan Airport, Kalimantan 

More driving in the rain. Based on the driving skills of our driver, I imagine that death by vehicular accident is high here

Picked up for the VIP experience in the Blue Sky travel lounge for ~$10/pp

I didn't even know that this type of design was possible!

Starting our 2-hour wait for the BPN-MAK flight

Bouganvilla lining the median in Makassar, South Suluwesi

Model of a Phinisi boat, a traditional Indonesian sailing vessel characterized by its two masts, its wood-only construction method, and the local ironwood and teak used to build it

Model of a Tongkonan house, a traditional ancestral house of the Torajan people of South Sulawesi

Streetscape in Makassar, demonstrating the colonial influences of the Dutch and Portugese

Street food vendor setting up for a busy night along the Losari Beach promenade

Selfie during our walk along the promenade

City of Makassar point of interest with the Masjik Kubah 99 in the background

Another point of interest along the promenade

Masjid Kubah 99 - 99 Domes Mosque