Visiting Sulawesi? Be sure to connect with our friend Dodo Mursalim
January 30, 2013 in Asia, Indonesia, Inspiration, Travelogue
We spent a couple of weeks researching Sulawesi and found very little information for independent travel on the island. Then, I lucked into Dodo Mursalim’s contact details on a TripAdvisor forum.
Dodo turned out to be a gold mine of information and he bent over backwards to help us do Sulawesi our way.
He rented us his little house behind the mosque for a fraction of what the cheapest hotels in Makassar could offer, and it has a kitchen and washing machine! He arranged an 8 seater van rental for us for the price of a much smaller car through any of the agencies we’d contacted on the island (car rental on Sulawesi can be expensive!) and he was willing to let us self drive, which is not commonly done on this island, with terrible roads and questionable signage. He taxied us all over Makassar for three days out of the goodness of his heart, helped arrange our three days on Samalona island, and sent us off on our road trip armed with his recommendations for hotels in various towns and a list of phone numbers of contacts in different places.
Dodo has an almost uncanny network of friends and cohorts on Sulawesi.
Four separate times during our very unplanned journey around the island, complete strangers would walk up, shake our hand and say, “Mr. Dodo says, “Hello!” He wanted me to make sure you knew that his recommendation for a certain hotel is full… or can I help you with a guide… or do you need help finding….” He was attentive to the highest degree, calling to check in with us, calling ahead of us to be sure that the arrangements we had made (independent of him) and just mentioned in passing, were properly sorted and awaiting us suitably. We have never encountered a tour guide of his calibre anywhere in the world, but certainly not in the developing world, where we expect things to go a little haywire.
Nothing goes haywire on Mr. Dodo’s watch; nothing.
He also does magic tricks, tells jokes, and speaks nearly perfect English. If you’re inclined to an adventure on Sulawesi, have Mr. Dodo be your man on the ground in Makassar. He can arrange any journey you want, guided, or solo, and he’ll take care of you like you’ve never been taken care of before.
Contact info for Dodo Mursalim
donow77(AT)hotmail(DOT)com
https://www.facebook.com/dodo.mursalim
http://dodopenman.blogspot.com (visit this page and you’ll see our picture and entry in his guestbook!)
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Dear Tony, Jennifer and family.
Thank you very much for e your kindness to promote and recommended me.
I am very happy to meet you in Sulawesi, but I am very sad cause I am traveling in Borneo when you finish your trip in here, so, I do apologize who knows something inconvenience through your trip in Sulawesi.
Thank you very much once more.
Best regard.
Dodo and team ( http://dodopenman.blogspot.com )
Dodo… we had the best time, thank you so much for all of your help. There wasn’t a moment of inconvenience, and we’ll recommend you whenever we get the chance!
I just found your blog. I think what you guys are doing is awesome and inspiring! My family is from Manado in Northern Sulawesi but I’ve been living in Australia since 2000. I grew up in West Papua and I think it’s so great that you’re exposing your children to different cultures and ways of life.
I’ve always wanted to go to Tana Toraja and I’m definitely going to look this guy up in July when I’m in Indo next. Thank you!
(Also, I know exactly how you feel about Jakarta and Makassar…)
Hi Catherine! I’m so glad you found our blog! Where in Australia are you? We’re going to be in Perth next week and then East Coast for a few months this fall, we’d love to connect and hear your story! I appreciate your words of encouragement, we’re doing our best to raise them in the “real world!”
Hi! I’ve been living in Sydney for a few years now but I’m moving to Melbourne in a few weeks. Where on the East Coast are you guys planning on travelling to?
Catharine… we are going to be on the east coast for about 3 mos. Mid Aug-whenever if all goes as planned… although actually there are no plans beyond that. We’re flexible… and open to suggestion! Educate us!
Me and my wife get along with mr dodo with only 4 hours, we’ve get 3 cemeteries (Sultan Hasanuddin, King of Gowa, Diponegoro), 2 Mosques (Al Markaz, Center Mosque), 2 castle (Somba opu & fort rotterdam) and Bala Lompoa (Big House)
thx alot to him