Makassar (Ujung Pandang)
Makassar is a fairly big and modern city for Indonesian standards. It's got a long history as being one of Indonesian bigger spice trading ports during the Dutch colonial period. Nowadays there's not much interesting to see, although some efforts are made restoring 'Fort Rotterdam' (a fortress from the colonial period).
After some hardcore traveling through Indonesia, it's a good place to relax a few days. The accommodation is good and affordable. Makassar has got numerous links by ocean and air to other parts of Indonesia and they are cheap as well.
Links:
Malaysia
- Nunukan: from Nunukan
various ships are leaving daily with stopovers in Kalimantan to Makassar
and directly to Pare Pare and vice versa. Depending on what ship and
route you take, the trip takes between 2 and 3 days and will cost approx.
35€/OW/Cabin. Don't try to save here, it's better to take the
private cabin. From Nunukan you can get to Malaysia easily by taking
one of the many daily ferries to Tawau (1 hour/5€/OW).
Philippines
- Manado: from Makassar
the easiest way to get to Manado is by plane, competetion is fierce
and prices vary around 25€/OW (2005). It's also possible to get
to Manado by boat or bus if you want to explore Sulawesi a bit more,
but the travel costs will be somewhat higher. From Manado there's a
flight going to Davao in The Philippines on Monday and Thursday (between
90-120US/OW)
The boulevard on the beach is a nice spot to see the sunset and look the people walk by.
I'm Dutch, but am not sure if this is suppose to be a typically colonial house as we were pointed out...
