Heaven. At least for a woman who loves to cook like me. I had been eating meat the whole days and I was craving for my veggies!

If you asked me where was my favourite place to interact with locals every time I travelled? I would have answer: local market.

Pak Hendrik brought us to eat Toraja’s Chicken Lawak at a Halal restaurant in front of a market. I was fascinated by how calm the angkot (public car) station was when he told me, “You’ll find the best coffee inside that market — Pasar Rebo.” He pointed to a market next to that station.

We finished our mega-spicy Lawak, bought some IDR500 fried snacks, and started exploring the market. Everyone paid attention to our looks and also because we were actively looking and asking things to them. Yeah, you know, girls…

Cabai Katokkon, locals claimed this chili as the best chili they ever eaten. This chili tree cannot grow outside Tana Toraja. It looks like a mini version of paprika. But trust me, its spiciness level is out of my control.

Rina did some bargaining here

His name is Pak Yakub. Maya was the first one to buy packs of Kopi Toraja from him then we followed her. I had a bit of conversation about coffee and his daily life.

“Can I take a picture of you?” I asked him.

“I am too shy,” he answered.

“A picture with you smiling will make my day. May I?” I persuaded him. He agreed on taking one and surprisingly, he also smiled shyly.

A very famous snack from Toraja, Deppa Tori’. Well, it looks like … (hmm, you know what I mean, do you?)

No caption needed actually. Kopi Toraja — fresh from Tana Toraja.

Milkfishes.

 If only we stayed longer in Toraja, we would have explored every corners at Pasar Rebo. We arrive there during lunch time, so we missed the every-local-told-us-it-is-mega-chaos buffalo market in the morning here. I want to see an IDR-1-Billion buffalo!!! Well, maybe next time.

Kiss,