Makassar – 42 @ Magayon

First impressions

Back after 25 Years

With a 35 minutes delay I arrive on Sultan Hassanuddin Airport in Makassar. The airport has been upgraded significantly since we left in 2001 and now major reconstruction is going on inside the terminal building. I find my luggage and leave the building exposing myself to the many taxi agents trying to sell me their „cheapest taxi“ service. This has not changed. But now you can look up fairs on GRAB and you are not totally dependent on the information the agents give you, which increases my negotiating position.

I chose the only lady agent, not only because I want to support women’s business, but also because she holds up a printed sheet with fares to the most asked for destinations. Turns out that the driver she assigns to me is her husband, and she joins the trip to town because it is the end of her shift. I have the first opportunity to practice my Bahasa Indonesia. I understand around 80% of what they are talking about. A bit rusty, so I think.

The Jalan Ujung Pandan that passes the Swiss BelHotel is blocked by police. Supposedly an important woman related to a politician is having a function somewhere along the road. The taxi driver tells the police that he has this important guest from Russia whom he has to deliver to the hotel urgently. First the policeman seems unimpressed, but after 5 minutes of repeated insistences always mentioning „Orang dari Russia“, the policeman opens the barricade and I am driven down the empty road to the hotel.

I tell the driver that I am actually Orang Jerman, and he explains me with a long statement that why the guy from Russia is more impactful, but unfortunately my Bahasa is too rusty to understand. Correction, I understand around 20%.

After checking into the hotel, i walk along Jl. Penghibur, the former beach promenade with all the street food stalls, until I reach Kios Semarang in search for a nice place for a beer. The street is noisy and a bit filthy (was it like that before?) and I turn around and have two Beer Bintang and two bowls of peanuts at the rooftop club of our hotel. On my way to the hotel I turned down the offer of a motor becak driver to drive me to a bar with girls. Some things never change.

Kios Semarang, the watering hole where the Makassar Hash House Harriers (MHHH) used to meet

The view over the sea has changed completely, with lots of newly claimed land in the sea and with huge buildings on it. From the rooftop I can see the little boat harbor where we had moored Magayon.

View onto the pleasure boat marina with the new container port in the background.

The next Morning – Money Changer and Bank

The first thing the next morning was to change some money and do the downpayment for the Kapoposang Resort. We take a Rikscha, formerly they were all pedal powered, now they are small motorbikes with the seat for two people attached to the front. The driver brings us first to the money changer, with an office that had the same vibes as offices used to have 25 years ago. He then brought us to the bank to make the money transfer to the Kapoposang resort.

Touring Tanjung Bunga by Car

Nany, a former employee of the Sedona Hotel (now Ariadutta), drove us around the newly developed areas of Tanjung Bunga and Tanjung Merdeka. When we left in 2001, Tanjung Bunga was just reclaimed land, there were no buildings on it. We sometimes went with the kids to the beach of Tanjung Merdeka, there were no buildings at all, just a few huts with street food and showers. Now it is full with huge hotel and commercial buildings and residential areas.

View from the hotel over Hotel Pantai Gapura on Tanjung Bunga, which did not have a single building in 2001

My former ATIAMI office

Our hotel room is actually overlooking Fort Rotterdam and the building of the former Kanwil DEPERINDAG. The Kanwil DEPERINDAG office has moved long time ago, the building now houses a foundation of a university and our former office seems unoccupied and run down.

View over Fort Rotterdam. The ATIAMI office was in the building of the Ministry of Industry and Trade just next to the Fort

An Evening Walk

To enjoy the sunset we walked along Jalan Pasar Ikan (Fish Market Road) and Jalan Penghibur in the evening. These roads used to be separated from the see just by a concrete embarkment. A lot of development has also happened here as the pictures show.