The Rolls Royce of Water Buffalo

The water buffalo is invaluable throughout Asia as every thing from the milk, meat and dung are used in everyday life.  There are few places where the powerful animal is more prized than in Tana Toraja on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.  The huge animal is treated like a member of the family and their human partner spends each and everyday with the bovine beast washing, feeding and caring for his companion.  The relationship is mutually beneficial as the beast of burden provides labor by plowing fields, providing transportation and many other tasks that the largely agrarian society requires.

The animals come in various colors, hide patterns and sizes with horns up to 2 meters (over 6.5 feet) long. The most prized however are the albino variety with blue eyes and well-shaped horns, much like the guy pictured here.  To own a near perfect specimen like this is akin to having a fleet of the finest automobiles, a private jet or any other show of wealth in our Western world.

These images come from Balifornian Films (http://www.balifornian.com) upcoming documentary on the elaborate Torajan funerary traditions and rituals, which include the slaughter of these loyal animals.  The funeral celebrations can last weeks with hundreds of mourners bringing offerings including cigarettes, pigs and their own coveted water buffalo. The deceased are then entombed in cliff side tombs, deep in caves or even hanging graves. There is much mystery and intrigue woven into this part of the world.

Bali Tour Toraja

Sulawesi is the home of the age old frightening myth of the "boogie man" propagated in the 15th century by the English to promote negative views of their rivals, the Buginese, who battled the marauding English, Dutch and other Europeans who were trying to obtain strategic control of the lucrative spice trade. In colonial times, cloves for example, coveted by dentists for their anesthetic properties, were more expensive than gold. The cloves only grew on the small ‘spice islands' of Sulawesi. This was also home to many other spices that were desirable the world over.

Copyright © 2010 Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ Michael Doliveck

Our Adventure Photo Safaris ~ Are you a photographer or just love to take pictures?  Contact us to find out about our special tours for photographers.  Take a look at the images in the gallery, as they are good examples of the types of images you will be able to create on our tours.  The tours are led by Michael, a professor of art and photography as well as some very special guest teachers and pro photographers.  Contact us atphoto@balifornian.com today for more information.

Do you have some great images from your Indonesian travels you would like to share? Want to submit your fantastic photo for the Balifornian Tour and Travel Blog Photo of the Day?  Please send your JPEG, location and description to photo@balifornian.com  Files must be under 500 kb.

Happy travels! Salamat Jalan!

Michael and Maryam ~

Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ Is The best website for news and information on Bali and Indonesia.

Photo of the Day ~ Arak, Tuak and a Torajan Elder ~ Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog

This happy man is an elder from Tana Toraja.  We had a brief chat with him over a few glasses of tuak. Tuak is similar to arak (Balinese arak made with coconut palm flower, not the Turkish and Iranian national drink).  It can be a powerful alcoholic beverage made of fermented rice, sugar and yeast. Quality or well brewed tuak can be 50% alcohol.  It is commonly shared and drank at Torajan funerals, festivals, weddings, hosting of guests and other special occasions.  Both tuak and arak are more than just recreational or celebratory drinks.  They are also used as a base for medicine.  Balians (Balinese healers) will commonly use the arak base and add roots, herbs, and other organic materials and use it both internally and externally to cure a variety of maladies. It is said to provide more than simple intoxication and can lead to visions, messages in dreams and even hallucinations.  Authentic high quality tuak and arak are hard to find and are sometimes completely fake and can even be poisonous.  Unfortunately, reports of death from fake arak are not uncommon.  Perhaps illogically the real arak and tuak can be found at warungs (small roadside stands where you can see them making it) vs. liquor stores where the product can be very weak or even cut with harmful chemicals and liquids.

Please note: Beware when purchasing any arak, tuak or any 'homemade liquors' while traveling.  Balifornian Tours can help you source real arak and tuak.  We do not make, manufacture or gain profit from this, we just want you to travel safely.

Copyright © 2010 Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ Michael Doliveck

For more on tuak, arak and Toraja, Sulawesi and its incredible funerary practices, keep an eye out for the upcoming Balifornian Films documentary.

Our Adventure Photo Safaris ~ Are you a photographer or just love to take pictures?  Contact us to find out about our special tours for photographers.  Take a look at the images in the gallery, as they are good examples of the types of images you will be able to create on our tours.  The tours are led by Michael, a professor of art and photography as well as some very special guest teachers and pro photographers.  Contact us at photo@balifornian.com today for more information.

Do you have some great images from your Indonesian travels you would like to share? Want to submit your fantastic photo for the Balifornian Tour and Travel Blog Photo of the Day?  Please send your JPEG, location and description to photo@balifornian.com  Files must be under 500 kb.

Happy travels! Salamat Jalan!

Michael and Maryam ~

Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ The best website for news and information on Bali and Indonesia.

Photo of the Day ~ Torajan Marlboro Woman ~ Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog

A woman sells tobacco, betel nut and vegetables at a weekly market in Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia.  Betel nut is chewed as part of social occasions or as a part of daily life. Betel nut is a stimulant and traditional local people chew it for recreation, stress reduction, heightened awareness, and suppression of hunger.

Sulawesi and its incredible funerary practices in Tana Toraja is the subject of an upcoming Balifornian documentary.

Copyright © 2010 Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ Michael Doliveck

Our Adventure Photo Safaris ~ Are you a photographer or just love to take pictures?  Contact us to find out about our special tours for photographers.  Take a look at the images in the gallery, as they are good examples of the types of images you will be able to create on our tours.  The tours are led by Michael, a professor of art and photography as well as some very special guest teachers and pro photographers.  Contact us at photo@balifornian.com today for more information.

Do you have some great images from your Indonesian travels you would like to share? Want to submit your fantastic photo for the Balifornian Tour and Travel Blog Photo of the Day?  Please send your JPEG, location and description to photo@balifornian.com  Files must be under 500 kb.

Happy travels! Salamat Jalan!

Michael and Maryam ~

Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ The best website for news and information on Bali and Indonesia.

The Real Home of the Boogie Man (photo)

In Southeast Asia the term is commonly used to refer to the ethnic group The Bugis and Buganese pirates, who were (and to some extent, still are) ruthless seafarers from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes).

Sulawesi is the home of the age old frightening myth of the "boogie man" propagated in the 15th century by the English to promote negative views of their rivals, the Buginese, who battled the marauding English, Dutch and other Europeans who were trying to obtain strategic control of the lucrative spice trade. In colonial times, cloves for example, coveted by dentists for their anesthetic properties, were more expensive than gold. The cloves only grew on the small ‘spice islands' of Sulawesi. This was also home to many other spices that were desirable the world over.

Sulawesi and its incredible funerary practices in Tana Toraja is the subject of an upcoming Balifornian documentary. 

Photo Copyright 2010 Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ Michael Doliveck

Our Adventure Photo Safaris ~ Are you a photographer or just love to take pictures?  Contact us to find out about our special tours for photographers.  Take a look at the images in the gallery, as they are good examples of the types of images you will be able to create on our tours.  The tours are led by Michael, a professor of art and photography as well as some very special guest teachers and pro photographers.  Contact us at photo@balifornian.com today for more information.

Do you have some great images from your Indonesian travels you would like to share? Want to submit your photo for the Balifornian Tour and Travel Blog Photo of the Day?  Please send your JPEG, location and description to photo@balifornian.com  Files must be under 500 kb.

Happy travels! Salamat Jalan!

Michael and Maryam ~

Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog ~ You're best source for news and information on Bali and Indonesia.

Strange Brew- Worlds Priciest Drink? Indo's Secret

By Michael Doliveck ~ Balifornian Tours and Travel Blog

It’s highly sought after and its worth its weight in silver. It’s only available from certain parts of Indonesia.  It’s the drink of choice for the ultra-wealthy.  It’s been featured in movies, Oprah swears by it, and its known as one of the most expensive coffee in the world.     What is it?  

 Well it’s called Kopi Luwak.

Kopi is the Indonesian word for coffee, and Luwak is a small marsupial also known as the paradoxurus or Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). They only live on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in Indonesia. The Luwak is a small tree-dwelling animal that climbs among the coffee trees eating only the ripest, reddest coffee cherries. They then digest and eventually excrete the bean. The proteolytic enzymes in the cat-like animals' stomachs adds a unique flavor through fermentation during the digestion process.  Locals then collect the “processed” bean.  It is then washed, sun dried, lightly roasted and then brewed to yield an aromatic coffee with very little bitterness.

 Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world.  It sells for $100 to $700 a pound and special varieties have sold for over $3000 a pound!  It can also be purchased by the cup for up to $50.  Not to worry as Balifornian Tours can take you to authentic locations selling some of the highest quality Kopi Luwak found in the islands for a much lower price (around $4-$6 a cup)

Copyright © 2010 Mikaku ~ Michael Doliveck