I said “Hello, how do you do?” to the land of South Sulawesi

Lovely morning, the sun was so bright, the sky was so blue with white tinted spots of the clouds, and for the first time I scratched the land called Sulawesi with my footsteps.

My dream finally came true after a year of doubts to visit Sulawesi, even only in South Sulawesi. Now I’m here, standing in front of Hasanuddin International Airport main gate, welcomed by dozen of shouts from taxi drivers.

The first ever of my journey in South Sulawesi would be a road trip from Makassar (Ujungpandang) city, long way up to Palopo and Tana Toraja then back again to Makassar. Joining me were my two best friends, who have been my road trip buddies since couple years back to 2003.

Touching Tana Toraja – The Land of The Dead

Taking a deep view of the mountain, touching it with my imagination, carving the shape of the cliff and the valley with my fingers. The shadows of million trees was running alongside the car that took me through this mountain. The sky was blue and the clouds were white as they should be. The color of the ocean looked like a strange tinted spot in the horizon, when it showed between two mountains and slightly disappeared when we turned to the other side of this winding road. The road to Tana Toraja (Toraja).

The magical dark green shadows of the trees with its own mystery, welcoming us just when we passed the border of Tana Toraja. I turned off the air conditioner and opened the window. The wind was cool, fresh with the aroma of woods, dance upon my face together with the warmth of the sun which slipped between the trees. What a beautiful day to start a new chapter of vacation with my two best friends, in the land, called Land of The Dead. 

Musim Semiku

Duh kerjaan ini semakin lama semakin bertumpuk-tumpuk seolah tak ada habisnya.

“Anak ayam turun seratus, mati satu tumbuh seribu, jadi seribu sembilan puluh sembilan”, dendangku ngaco, sambil terus memeriksa dokumen-dokumen perjanjian kerja yang membentuk bukit-bukit kecil di meja kerja sampingku.

Secangkir kopi tidak lupa menemaniku dalam lembur hari ini, SENIN bro SENIN INI!

Kutarik nafas, mendesah panjang sembari kutarik satu bundel lagi dan tanpa sadar aku mendesah semakin panjang takala kubaca sepotong post it dengan tulisan “Pak, ini urgent” dengan gambar smiley face mengakhiri pesan singkat itu.

Ah work hard play hard lah, dengan load kerja seperti ini, aku harus ikut lagi acara Boys Night Out, Jumat ini. Hahaha pikiranku sejenak menjadi berseri mengingat acara yang digagas oleh salah seorang teman di kantor. Boys only with beer, cigarette and random topic buat diomongin ngalor-ngidul, yang ga auh dari cewek tentunya.

SEMANGAT, batinku sambil secara tak sadar mengangkat kedua tangan ini dengan jari tergenggam dan bunyi ping kecil mengalihkan pikiranku.

“Suennnn weekend ini aku ke Jakarta haha, kosongkan jadwal hari Sabtu siang dan kamu harus temuin aku nanti yah”, bunyi pesan darimu dan segera kubalas, “SIAPPPPPPPP.”