[East/Central Indonesia] Day 03 / 29th May 2006 - Up, up and...

The morning air of Palu'e greeted us, as we woke up to our first day on the island!

After a bit of stirring, I popped my head over the side of the boat to check out the water:


So clear!

Hmmmm, MD did talked about a swimming expedition, sharks included - I wondered when will it be?

We were not the only boat anchored in; several boats were there as well, and all looked similiar:



MD was already washed up, looking all set and ready for the day!


"CHEESE!"

Once everyone had washed themselves, we got ready to disembark onto shore - Palu'e island would thus welcome the very first Singaporeans on its shore!!! SO exciting!!! There's no SG flag with us though.


Disembarking


Small hut = Coconut store

The first Singaporean (a.k.a Aku) to set foot on Palu'e ended up touching the shore butt first - much to the amusement of everyone (grrrrr!). Ok, my excuse - the boat had been so high!!!!!

There were already a few people on shore awaiting our arrival - most of them were womenfolk. I had checked my handphone, and the time was just 6am. Most of them were carrying those wooven baskets with a string that they used to secure round their forehead so that the baskets contained whatever it was carrying and hung behind their back as they climbed up the slopes. The sacks of rice and other stuff on the boat were unloaded and passed on to these womenfolk, who proceeded on to put them in their baskets and went their way back to the village! As for stuff that were too big for their baskets (like our luiggage!!!), they simply placed them on their heads and off they went!

*Mind you, the sacks of rice were like, 25kg per sack! And they disappeared beyond our sight in a matter of minutes! Who said women are the weaker sex???*

Meanwhile, we were treated to some simple breakfast - some of the villagers kindly chopped some coconuts for us, plus someone brought down some sugar-coated biscuits as well as steamed "uvi" - some yam-ish looking tubers that tasted like yam/sweet potato but were white in colour. The tubers were still piping hot - I told myself then that it meant the way to the village should be short...


Sunrise


Another scenic shot...

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We set off soon after.

Naga and myself were carrying much lighter loads than anyone else, yet the ascent was taking its toil on us after just 10 minutes! The ascent turned out to be rather steep - hardly any straight paths, and every step that you climb, more seemed to be awaiting further ahead. I found myself drenched in my own sweat even before the first resting point - and out of breath. MD tried to strike some small talk in between, but I was too occupied to save my breath; I could only reply with small gasps of laughter and short answers ("Yah", "I see") - there were even times when I just couldn't make out what he said, simply because he was just too fast...

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I don't know how long we had walked before we came to the rest point, but I'm sure we had definitely spent more time at the first rest point than the ascent to the rest point itself! I just remained sitting on this boulder (or rather, lying on it), and refused to nudge a single bit. Thankfully, MD had some water with him, just when we needed it. Thankfully too, there was a kind lady who had brought down some makan for us - "muku" (bananas) as well as some porridge that had been cooked with green beans, pumpkins and the uvi we had at the beach earlier. Ummmmm, that tasted quite nice, sweet and soft and all...

And then, after (quite) some time, we were off again...

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The second part of the ascent had been kinder - or maybe we were getting more used to it. But we were still left panting and sweating along the way...

... and we were thankful once again for a second rest point.

This time, we were served coconuts to quench our thirst, and we just devoured and emptied the fruits without the need for a second invite. There were more food as well - another kind lady had offered her fish to us, but we had to turn her down because food ain't really on our agenda at that moment.

By now, a sizeable group of folks had gathered at the rest point to check out the newcomers. MD wasted no time in chatting with the folks - indeed, the folks seemed pretty excited about us, a White, an Indian and an orang cina. MD then proceeded on to take some photos of the womenfolk, as did Pelé and Edo - the womenfolk were so excited yet exhibited shyness at having being captured on camera.

After some time deliberating on which route to take for the final leg, it was decided that we would proceed on with the landward route - the seaward route would be less tedious, but would take us a longer time to reach the village...

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The last leg of the ascent took us the shortest time, but at the same time, it nearly killed us.

For it was a climb that was almost vertical, just steps and steps that took us straight up.

The more I went on, the more I felt the tightness of my thighs.

Could feel the cramping feeling getting to me as I was climbing.

Tried to alternate the stepping-offs between my two feet - the tightness persisted.

Just when I thought I could hold back no longer, we reached the first house at the end of the ascent.

By then, we were thoroughly relieved that the ascent had ended - I readily agreed that the worst part of our visit should be over. (.... but is it?....)

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We stopped for a breather at this house that we came to; the lady owner kindly brought water for us, which we gulped down our throats.

After awhile, I noticed that a flurry of activity had descended upon us:


Students checking out the "new arrivals"

After thanking our hostess for her kind gesture, we proceeded on across what I would think is the village square - first we came to this house (I've forgotten whose house it was - the relationships between the members of the village would seem to me to be very confusing...). We sat down, and MD started conversing again while I went on to finish my glass of sweet syrup-y drink. The crowd continued to follow us, and stopped outside the house that we had stopped at. It was literally head stacked onto head onto head at the windows and door - it was unbelievable!

Next stop - Edo's place:



It turned out that it was the first time in six years since Edo had left the island; there was this ceremony where he had to walk on a ladder to enter his house, something like those old-school Chinese drama serials where the person returning home had to step over this container for luck and peace and whatever.

By now the crowds had thinned out, and the sense of flurry-ness had ebbed, and I felt less scrutinised.



Our hosts kindly showed us around the house, and at the back, we saw some interesting activity going on:


Puppies Feeding - so cute!

It was probably about 9 or 10am in the morning, but we were subsequently showered with more food - more fish, uvi, sugar biscuits, and (sweet) cocoa drinks:



After the meal, we stayed for awhile longer before heading off to the house that we were supposed to stay. We left our stuff in this room and attention suddenly shifted to the keyboard that MD had brought along. Apparently, it was meant for Pelé's little sister, but the young adults were playing with it the moment the batteries were inserted into the gadget. Naga and I were pretty exhausted by then - after some time sitting outside the house and stoning, we went to our room and just knocked out...

*Looking back, I should have taken some photos of our ascent - there's no evidence of how challenging the steps and terrain is. Anyways, that feeling cannot be described, certainly unforgettable.*

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It was around evening time when we woke up.

MD was doing some official work already - the two of us were still dazed and tired...

At around 1830hrs, we headed for Edo's place for our dinner. There was kind of like a party going on - the mainly young crowd (I suppose they are Edo's friends in the village) were in the house for some music-making and "arak" - some clear alcohol that they had made themselves in the village. I tried it for myself, and boy, was it powerful! Though it was sweet, the alcohol content was quite lethal, though probably not as lethal as hard liquor, but strong nonetheless.

Dinner was served - rice cooked with some beans, vegetables (Casava leaves? Can't really remember), more uvi... but the highlight MUST be...

DOG'S MEAT!!!

The dish was right in front of me, and though those around me tried to persuade me to try it, I didn't. In the end, I had to struggle with looking at the pieces of meat in front of me as I went through dinner, all thoughts related to the poor dog that ended up on the plate, while the rest of the folks heartily tucked in to the dish. Naga had a piece - he had tried dog's meat while he was in Thailand - but he went no further than a few pieces. In addition, there was this dish in the centre that resembled some kind of soup - upon further probing and translation, it turned out to be soup cooked with some parts of the same dog!!!! Needless to say, I steered clear of that as well...

After dinner, MD tried to encourage us to elicit some data from the folks present. Naga was doing quite well, but I was hopelessly bad - ended up having MD to sort of come up with stuff to bail me out. So much for trying to do fieldwork haha - so failure...

*Anyway, couple of Palu'e words I had managed to elicit - "Baja" is ceiling, "lampu" is light, "nua" is house and "le nua" is outside of the house while "a'e nua" is inside of the house; "tana" is floor, while "ridi" is wall and "kivé" is door.*

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We headed back to our place, abit tramatised and quite full, when a second dinner greeted us upon arrival. More rice, more fish, but thankfully, no dogs - Pelé's family seemed to treat their dogs well (We were staying with Pelé's brother, with Pelé's place being the house next to us, up on a slope...).

Ended up VERY, VERY full - 2 dinners!

After-dinner entertainment consisted of a movie that was played halfway; the rest of the time was spent playing karaoke songs on the TV, which included Bahasa Indonesia covers of 心太软 and 那一场风花雪月的事...

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The night ended early for us - the next day would be the proposed visit to the island's active volcano, and with a sense of eagerness and anticipation, I fell asleep at 2200hrs...

To be continued...