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RANTEPAO |
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RANTEPAO is a prosperous market town on the rocky banks of Sungai
Sadan , home to both the Sadan Toraja and, for half the year, swarms of
foreigners. However unfavourably you view this, Rantepao has excellent
facilities and a couple of sites within walking distance. West of the
exhibition grounds and away from the couple of main streets, stalls
supply locals' day-to-day needs - heavy stone rice mortars, plastic
chairs, noodles, fish (couriered up from the coast by motorbike every
morning), fresh noodles and tempeh, and chillies, with a warung or two
for fried bananas and coffee. Rantepao's main market - the biggest in
Tanah Toraja and located 2.5km northeast of the centre at Terminal Bolu
- is a must: where else could you pick up a bargain buffalo then
celebrate your purchase with a litre or two of palm wine? It operates on
a six-day cycle, and an entry fee of Rp2000 is demanded of foreigners.
An easy hour's walk from Rantepao follows Jalan Singki west across the
river, and then bears right into the fields along the Sadan's west bank.
Across the paddy, hamlets such as Pa'bontang are marked by stately
tongkonan, but look for where a white mausoleum at TAMBOLANG stands
below a cliff-side niche sporting rows of tau-tau and coffins. A path
leads briefly south from here and then climbs through woodland to the
summit of Bukit Singki and a view over Rantepao.
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