{"id":1128,"date":"2018-07-01T16:47:24","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T16:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torajamelo.com\/?p=528"},"modified":"2025-05-19T18:59:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T18:59:18","slug":"melo-and-toraja-melos-guests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/melo-and-toraja-melos-guests\/","title":{"rendered":"Melo and TORAJAMELO\u2019s guests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many years ago, I had a Golden Retriever called Dominique, who then died. \u00a0My sadness stayed with me for a long long time and I could not bring myself to have another dog. \u00a0Last year I decided to spend more time in Toraja starting 2018. I picture myself on my house verandah in Toraja with a Golden Retriever like Dominique.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly in November 2017, my sister Nina told me, that there was a Golden Retriever up for adoption-not for Sale! \u00a0I immediately contacted the pet shop, that took care of the dog, situated about one hour\u2019s drive from Central Jakarta. After a long interview, I was allowed to have the dog. \u00a0I have to promise that the dog has to sleep in the house, he cannot be chained, he has to be taken to the doctor if he is sick. I also have to promise, that we will not eat the dog!<\/span><\/p>\n

We named the dog, Melo which in Torajanese means Beautiful or Good looking. \u00a0In early February, 2018 we flew Melo from Jakarta to Makassar. Afterwards, we drove for ten hours to Toraja. \u00a0We stopped every two hours to stretch our legs and to let Melo play on the beach or in the garden of a restaurant. \u00a0Late that night, we arrived at our home in Batutumonga, around 30 minutes north of Rantepao, the capital of Toraja Utara Regency. The cool air of Sesean mountain, 1400 meter above sea level makes Melo healthier and his hair shines brighter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Friends and guests often come and stay at our home called Banua Sarira, which means \u201cHouse of Rainbow\u201d. \u00a0We often see a single or double rainbow from our verandah. Melo always welcomes our guests warmly, with a hug. He is happier when the guests give him a piece of meat or rice. \u00a0Some guests do get scared, because Melo is around 1 meter high standing up and weighs almost 30 kg.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, in no time, most guests will start playing with Melo or even start taking a walk with Melo around our village, Batutumonga.<\/span><\/p>\n

Melo loves taking a walk and going on a car ride. \u00a0Melo always smiles and enjoys the scenery from our old Kijang van. \u00a0So, we often take Melo to accompany our guests in their travel around Toraja.<\/span><\/p>\n

Melo has two favourite walks, each lasts for about two hours. \u00a0The first one, we call <\/span>\u201cBatutumonga Valley Walk\u201d.<\/i><\/b> \u00a0Melo loves to walk down into the Batutumonga valley, past the rice fields, jumping into a clear water creek, meeting grassing<\/span> tedong<\/span><\/i> or Toraja water buffaloes. \u00a0From there we can look up to admire Sesean Mountain, which guards Toraja area and is often covered by clouds as white as cotton. The second one, we call <\/span>\u201cBack of the Dragon Walk\u201d<\/i><\/b>. \u00a0We will take a walk with Melo in the afternoon. \u00a0We will walk past the rice field strewn with black volcanic boulders, dip into little stream and water-fall, talking with the locals who usually are drinking coffee in front of their <\/span>tongkonan<\/span><\/i> or traditional homes. Along the walk, we will admire the beauty of Sesean mountain from the side, which looks like the back of a gigantic dragon.<\/span><\/p>\n

We hope Melo will gain more friends to go for a walk with from outside Toraja and from the villages of Toraja.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Melo dan Tamu-tamu TORAJAMELO<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n

Bertahun yang lalu, saya pernah punya seekor anjing Golden Retriever, si Dominique yang lalu meninggal. \u00a0Kesedihan tentang Dominique mengendap di hati saya dan membuat saya tidak mau punya anjing lagi. Tahun lalu, waktu saya memutuskan untuk lebih banyak tinggal di Toraja, terbayang terus, bahwa saya ingin ditemani oleh seekor anjing Golden Retriever seperti Dominique.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tiba-tiba pada bulan November 2017, Nina adik saya memberi-tahu, bahwa ada seekor Golden Retriever yang akan diberikan untuk adopsi (bukan dijual!). \u00a0Saya langsung menghubungi <\/span>Pet Shop<\/span><\/i> yang mengurus anjing itu di pinggiran Jakarta. \u00a0Akhirnya saya boleh memelihara anjing itu, setelah proses wawancara yang panjang dengan berbagai janji, seperti anjing itu harus tidur dalam rumah, tidak boleh dirantai, harus dibawa ke dokter kalau sakit. \u00a0Harus janji juga, bahwa anjing itu tidak boleh dimakan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kami namakan anjing itu, Melo. \u00a0Dalam Bahasa Toraja berarti bagus atau ganteng. \u00a0Singkat kata, Melo kami terbangkan dari Jakarta ke Makassar. \u00a0Lalu selama sepuluh jam, kami tempuh perjalanan darat ke Toraja. Kami berhenti tiap dua jam untuk meluruskan kaki dan membiarkan Melo untuk bermain di pantai dan di kebun rumah makan. Malam itu, kami dan Melo tiba di rumah kami di Batutumonga, 30 menit naik mobil di utara dari Rantepao, ibu kota Kabupaten Toraja Utara. \u00a0Udara sejuk di lereng gunung Sesean, 1400 meter dari permukaan laut membuat Melo makin sehat dan bulunya berkilat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sering banyak tamu yang datang dan menginap di rumah kami Banua Sarira, yang berarti Rumah Pelangi, karena kami sering melihat pelangi dari beranda rumah. \u00a0Melo selalu menyambut para tamu ini dengan ramah. Apalagi kalau tamu memberikan sepotong daging atau sekepal nasi. Sebagian tamu memang sering takut kalau melihat betapa besarnya Melo yang kalau berdiri lebih dari satu meter dengan berat badan hampir 30 kg. \u00a0Tapi setelah berkenalan, para tamu akan mulai bermain bahkan jalan-jalan dengan Melo ke sekeliling kampung di Batutumonga.<\/span><\/p>\n

Melo senang sekali jalan-jalan dan naik mobil. \u00a0Melo selalu tersenyum dan menikmati pemandangan dari jendela Kijang tua kami. \u00a0Sehingga kami makin sering mengajak Melo untuk ikuti menemani tamu-tamu TORAJAMELO waktu keliling Toraja. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ada dua jalur jalan kaki yang disukai Melo, masing-masing lamanya sekitar dua jam. \u00a0\u00a0Yang pertama kami namakan <\/span>\u201cBatutumonga valley walk\u201d<\/i><\/b>. \u00a0Melo suka sekali jalan pagi hari ke lembah Batutumonga, melewati sawah, main di sungai yang jernih, bertemu dengan <\/span>tedong<\/span><\/i> atau kerbau Toraja yang gagah. Dari situ, kita bisa mendongak ke atas dan melihat Gunung Sesean, penjaga Toraja yang penuh wibawa yang sering diliputi awan seperti kapas. Yang kedua, kami namakan <\/span>\u201cBack of the Dragon walk\u201d<\/i><\/b>. Kita akan jalan-jalan dengan Melo, biasanya di sore hari. Kita akan melewati sawah dengan batu-batu hitam yang besar, sungai dan air terjun yang jernih dan ketemu dengan penduduk yang ramah yang sedang ngopi di depan <\/span>tongkonan<\/span><\/i> atau rumah adat mereka. Sambil berjalan kaki, kita akan mengagumi punggung gunung Sesean yang bentuknya seperti <\/span>Back of the Dragon<\/span><\/i> atau punggung Naga.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kami harap mudah-mudahan Melo akan mempunyai makin banyak teman untuk diajak jalan-jalan, dari luar Toraja maupun dari kampung-kampung Toraja.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many years ago, I had a Golden Retriever called Dominique, who then died. \u00a0My sadness stayed with me for a long long time and I could not bring myself to have another dog. \u00a0Last year I decided to spend more time in Toraja starting 2018. I picture myself on my house verandah in Toraja with a Golden Retriever like Dominique. Suddenly in November 2017, my sister Nina told me, that there was a Golden Retriever up for adoption-not for Sale! \u00a0I immediately contacted the pet shop, that took care of the dog, situated about one hour\u2019s drive from Central Jakarta. After a long interview, I was allowed to have the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-stories"],"blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_6999-min-e1530463630153-1024x989-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_6999-min-e1530463630153-1024x989-1.jpg",1024,989,false]},"categories_names":{"36":{"name":"Community Collaboration","link":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/category\/community\/"},"34":{"name":"Stories","link":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/category\/stories\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2101,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128\/revisions\/2101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torajamelo.digitechvault.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}