Sulawesi, Indonesia - Feb 24, 2013

Makassar is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia and the largest city on Sulawesi Island. From 1971 to 1999, the city was named Ujung Pandang after a pre-colonial fort in the city and the two names are often used interchangeably. The port city is located on the southwest coast of the island of Sulawesi, facing the Makassar Strait. Fort Rotterdam is recognized as the city’s most iconic landmark. With historical traces dating back to the Kingdom of Gowa from the 16th century to colonization of the Dutch, this Fort has witnessed many episodes in Makassar’s history, playing a most essential role in its development. So it is at the Fort Rotterdam where we began our day a 15 minute taxi ride away with Jeff and Joy. Very well preserved and still in use today as a student class field trip, we were met with several students practicing their English. The first group of children approached us as they had a class assignment on not only practicing english but also had a series of questions for tourist as to what brought us to Makassar. It was a great interaction session as it was not a the hawker situation we usually find ourselves in. We then strolled over Chinatown where we visited a beautiful temple. Inside the incense was thick in the air as the worshippers were practicing their religion. At the top of this temple we met three young women, Mei-Mei (sp?) and her sister and friend. Mei-Mei spoke very good english and took the four of us under her guidance to show us around the rest of Chinatown including the fruit market, bakery and another incredible temple. With If you are reading this Mei-Mei, thank you for making our visit to your city very enjoyable - it was a pleasure to have met you and your sister and her friend. I am sorry that I did not write all your names down correctly. Mei-Mei then pointed us in the direction of the main mall here we did a stroll through, had some lunch and then had some foot reflexology, an hour for $5.00 plus $2.00 tip. Did I mention how amazing the prices are here - it is going to be very hard going back to our prices. A beautiful day under the hot sun here in Makassar. Here is our day in a few pictures. Another note on the internet on the ship which can be very frustrating, many costly minutes tick by as you wait for the net to respond. This is way there is sometimes a delay in our posting. A few days ago I was able to get free wifi at the cruise ship terminal, wow what a difference it was like being at home with regular high speed that is why is able to load so many pictures that day. Oh well, we take what we can get but it is nice to vent sometimes. Tomorrow is a sea day, we have been looking forward to recharging ourselves with a small break from this past stretch of day after day ports.