Blog 54. Selayar. 3 September. 06.06.92S 120.27.18E
Alcedo
David Batten
Sat 7 Sep 2019 06:32
Carl and Ship’s Boy enjoying the alcohol facilities
They also organised the best laundry service as well as car hire, fuel deliverers and money exchange. Having said that, it also appeared to be a much more radically inclined Muslim society. The mosques had the loudest and longest call to prayer and we were woken at between 4 and 5 every morning to a chorus of wailing, each participant trying to out yell their neighbour. We were told we could not take beer out of the building and part of the first day’s exposure to their culture and customs was to witness the parade of school children celebrating the Muslim new year.
These parading children were the least smiley that we have seen and they were, with a few exceptions who sang songs and smiled, serious and chanting slogans or responding to adult encouragement in a way that reminded one of Nazi behaviour. Not a reassuring display of religious intent.
Selayar’s visit was very much based on their desire to show us their schools, their traditional cultural activities, such as dancing and children’s sports, their way of life in the villages and their domestic activities such as cooking and making implements.
Elementary school in a remote village where the boys were learning to dance and drum
A little snack put out for us at the Elementary school. This is fairly typical of the regular intake of sugary produce offered to us almost everywhere we go, if we are lucky, or unlucky depending on how you look at it, barely an hour goes by without something to eat or drink being offered.
The kitchen and cooker in one of the old wooden houses in the remote hillside village we were driven to and explored
The skipper demonstrating his skill in fire stoking with unusual bellows in the Blacksmith’s forge
Lining up for the stilt race at the community sports ground in Selayar. Note the sports wear for the Muslim girls.
We also saw a beach resort, a beach clean up, a smart resort in the mangroves where we had the farewell gala dinner and, best of all, their turtle conservation project where, for a small sponsorship fee, we were able to release one or more turtles that had been hatched by the project. See next blog.
Alcedo
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