Sulawesi: Walea, Toraja and Singapore

The only resort is the Walea Dive Center Resort. Very well kept and run by Italians. I recommend going on a diet for 10 days before leaving because, it may seem impossible, but at Walea you eat magnificently. Simona will whet your appetite with typical Romagna and Asian dishes. The chocolate sauce is superb. The dives are almost all easy, but this will let you make the most of a scene of sponges and corals unique in the world for their colours and size. The fish are not big, apart from the giant parrotfish, but there are plenty. You will enjoy looking for species you have never seen before or have rarely seen. In particular the famous pygmy seahorse and the mandarin fish. There are usually three dives plus a night dive; the afternoon one is done from the House reef, which would make you think of a boring dip with few fish.

Instead the surprises are many; from sea snakes to lobsters, from the giant moray to sailfish…. I won't talk about the nudibranchs because a book wouldn't be enough to describe them all, you reach the point of not even looking at them there are so many. Drift dives are beautiful, especially if luck brings you face to face with a shark. But these are certainly not the dives that characterise the Paradise of Walea. A word of warning for underwater photographers: bring spare salts for your camera if you don't want fogging problems with the housing. Climate: We had three days of rain, but judging by the weather reports all of Asia was under water, so I think it was a one-off. Otherwise it is the classic tropical climate, and in the evening it was fine anyway.

A note of merit for the insulation of the bungalows, which with just a fan manage to keep the ideal temperature without the help of air conditioning.

Transfer from Walea to Tana Toraja. There are two options: fly to Manado, wait about 6 hours and take the connection to Makassar, or stay in Luwuk about 10 hours and fly direct to Makassar. We preferred to visit Luwuk and had a lot of fun around the market, but I would only recommend it to those who like spending time with the local people and not only in luxury resorts. Long live Luwuk. In Makassar we stayed at the Pantai Gapura hotel; from the outside it looks like a dive, but as soon as you go in you can't believe the enchanting stilted setting recreated inside. Recommended. In the morning we met the guide who would accompany us over the following days. He spoke perfect English but above all a 'Dantean' Italian for being in Indonesia. (the guide's name is Daniel T.

Pasapan dasarvini@yahoo.com +62.081.342.914.89, I recommend contacting him well in advance because I think he is the only one who speaks Italian) The minivan journey to Toraja is really long; perhaps because of the roadworks and a few stops, it took us 10 hours. But it passes quite quickly as you look at all the landscapes you come across. Hotel in Toraja: Marante Toraja. Personally I don't feel like recommending it; the staff are very friendly and kind, but as for cleanliness it leaves something to be desired, especially the towels; hot water, when there is any, is a gift. Notes on Toraja. Going to Sulawesi and not going to the land of the Toraja is like coming to Italy and not seeing Venice or Rome. The area is characterised by a tropical mountainous landscape with stretches of rice fields and lush forests.

It is not at the level of Bali but for anyone who has not been to the most famous island it will be an unforgettable spectacle. The reasons that draw people to the land of the Toraja are certainly not the landscapes but the people with their almost exaggerated cult of the dead. We saw tombs carved into the rocks with the famous Tao Tao outside that leave you open-mouthed; you simply cannot miss the tree that holds the tombs of newborn babies. Moving. Toraja funerals are a rite you must see once in a lifetime; they normally take place almost every day, also because a single ceremony lasts 4 days. I won't describe it because all the useful information can be found online. If you are lucky enough to be there on the day of the livestock market, do not miss it for anything. There is very little local craftwork; almost all the statues and masks you will see around come from Bali or Sumatra.

Climate: normally humid and rainy with mountain temperatures. We were lucky because it rained only in the evening and the sun shone during the day; if only it had been like that at Walea….

Transfer Toraja – Singapore You leave early in the morning for Makassar (this time, without stops, it took us 8 hours), where we took the flight to Singapore with a stopover in Jakarta. Be careful because Garuda Airlines is certainly not famous for punctuality. In Jakarta there is only an hour for the transfer, so even a small delay in departure, as happened to us, is enough to leave you stuck in Jakarta. The airline will find you a place for the night but you will have wasted almost a day of holiday. Once in Singapore, if you have chosen the stop-over formula, remember that the transfers are on the other side of the airport. We stayed at the Peninsula hotel, but the offers on the internet change often, and so do the hotels.

I won't describe Singapore because you can find everything in the guides; the only curiosity is that, thanks to a local friend we met the evening before at Jakarta airport, we managed to see Singapore from the beautiful terrace of the wonderful Marina Bay Hotel. (be careful: to go up to the top like us you must first have booked a room, min 200€, we were lucky because Danny had reserved one for a friend of his). If you want my advice, don't go to Sentosa because it is nothing but a poor copy of Gardaland.

We can say of this whole trip that, despite the many long transfers, it is absolutely worth doing. It is not physically demanding, you just need a bit of a spirit of adaptation. The people you meet will prove very sociable and accommodating.

Thanks:

Franco and Rosella for their friendliness and for the wonderful moments spent together, our guide Daniel and Tony for letting us discover unique places and peoples, for splendidly explaining the history of Sulawesi, Rachel for the help she gave us at Jakarta airport and Danny for his kindness and his wish to let us discover his city (Singapore)