Postcard from Majene

After Polewali, Majene is a pleasant surprise. This part of the country is home to the ethnic Mandar people and, without wanting to start a race riot, they are getting my vote so far for the friendliest Sulawesians we've yet met, which is saying something.

We arrived by chartered car on a Wednesday afternoon and went straight to the hotel that had been recommended to us: Villa Bogor Leppe. The hotel stands on a promontory at one end of a long crescent-shaped bay and has fantastic views across the town and waterfront. At least, there are fantastic views from the car park and open air terrace where breakfast is served. For some reason that initially made me incredulous, the rooms in this hotel are a bit cell-like and have only small windows facing the sea — across the carpark. 

A "sea view" room

After a few days I rationalised this as being a way of reducing heat load, which made me feel a bit less grumpy about forking out more than usual — $50 a night. Still, we spent quite a bit of time in the mornings and evenings on the terrace enjoying the view of the fishing boats and the life of the waterfront community below us.

The real sea view, from the terrace

And what a cheerfully rowdy community it seemed to be.

Our first afternoon we headed into town and were surprised to see a little restaurant offering pizzas. Having had many meals of ikan bakar (barbecued fish) and mie goreng, we decided to give it a shot, in retrospect possibly not a good idea for people who come from Brunswick, Australia's pizza capital. What we had at Radja Pizza was some tinned vegetables in a spicy sauce drizzled with mayonnaise on top of a big flat fluffy scone. But it was certainly a change from ikan bakar. We also chatted to a few locals including a young woman wearing a jilbab, called  Citra*, who offered to show us around, and we made a date to catch up a few days later.

Pizza, Majene style

We then headed for the beach, as all good Aussies would do, getting to the waterfront in the late afternoon as the day was cooling down, and walked along the road, with fishermen's houses on one side and their boats moored behind a breakwater on the other. The boats themselves are handsome — narrow wooden craft with outriggers on either side, all painted white, some with small sails, others with motors. 

Majene waterfront

It was the time of day when most of the community were outdoors, the kids playing soccer, volleyball, battling tops, or just cruising around on bikes, and the older generation sitting out in small groups chatting and, in the case of the men, having a cigarette. There was a lovely sense of both the children's freedom to roam and play along the front road and the smaller streets leading off it, and of them being casually supervised by the groups of adults sitting around — a perfect example of the village raising the children.

As in many places we were a novelty, and as we walked continually attracted clumps of children for a bit of English practice, a joke or to pose for a photo. We were struck by the fact that there were plenty of young girls out playing too, which hadn't been the case in other places. 

I tell them "Saya bukan bintang film" ("I'm not a film star"), but it doesn't put them off.

Other pleasant interruptions included a conversation with an older woman and her friends who told us that a group of local sailors were planning to sail one of the traditional boats to France later in the year. At least I'm pretty sure that's what she said! It would be an extraordinary feat.

As we neared the end of the road, we asked one young woman how to get back to the hotel, up on the hill. She assigned a young boy as a guide and we quickly attracted a party of about 25 kids, ranging from 4 or 5 to 8 or 9, leading us through the narrow back streets and up a  steeply sloping path, delighted at their role. As we climbed, the younger ones turned back until we reached the top with the posse of half a dozen of the older boys.

The whole walk, from beginning to end, was just a wonderful experience in being being human. 

The climber and the guides

Going up

Looking back

The next day we met Rini, the daughter of the hotel owner, who offered to take us to Dato Beach, the beach I'd seen on the internet with white sand and clear water. After more than 8 weeks in Sulawesi I was keen to have my first swim in the ocean, like any good Aussie. But we had also promised to meet up with Citra, so headed over to her place in town. The young woman who met us looked totally different to the one we'd met in the pizza place. Her hair was out and she was wearing casual western style clothes (pyjamas?) and, inside her home, bare feet.

Over a late (for her) and second (for us) breakfast, we got chatting and learned that Citra was from Jakarta and was in Majene for a holiday to visit her boyfriend, Agus, who was currently out of town for a few days. We were really surprised when she also said "Oh, I know Rini. Isn't she that short girl from the hotel?", but didn't go on to elaborate. 

After a walk around the city park we said goodbye to Citra and headed back to the hotel. In the late afternoon Rini took us out in her car to Dato Beach. We mentioned Citra.

"Oh, yeah, Citra. I know her."

[Here we are both thinking 'Wow, what a coincidence — the two people we meet in Majene know each other].

"Does she have a boyfriend called Agus?"

"Yes, she does!"

"He used to be my boyfriend."

[Aha, pieces of the jigsaw fit into place!]

"Was she wearing the jilbab?" Rini asked casually. Rini herself dressed in a casual western style.

By now we were at the beach and headed down the track for our first ocean swim in Sulawesi. It's hard to impress Australians when it comes to beaches, but the sand was indeed white and the water was clear and I came away feeling truly refreshed.

Aussies at Dato Beach

That night we headed into town again. After dinner we walked through the night market and ended up near the waterfront again, this time in the city park, or alun alun. Food and drink carts lined the roadway and the vendors had laid out blankets and small tarps on the grass for their customers. Clumps of families, young men and women were scattered around the park, enjoying each other's company and the (non-alcoholic) fruit smoothies, and it all looked so nice we joined them.

On the way back to the hotel, we passed Citra's place and bumped into her sitting outside her house, covered head to foot, including a head scarf, and we said our goodbyes.

The next day were heading for the provincial capital Mamuju so we could save ourselves the long drive back to Makassar by getting a 1-hour flight. We were leaving with a warm inner glow about Majene, its simple pleasures (maybe not the pizza) and the people we'd met, but with a few lingering questions too.

Had Citra always worn a jilbab? Was wearing the jilbab Agus's idea? Was that why Rini and Agus had split up? Are these even appropriate questions to ask?

We'll have to go back to Majene to find out, I guess, and hang out in Radja Pizza.

[*Names have been changed, but not the facts!]

© 2014 Steve Dobney