Main town - Penuba - and "The Mess" Guesthouse
Penuba is the main village of Pulau Selayar. There seems to be two parts to the town. The city center - a concrete footpath with wooden shophouses owned by chinese people on one side and the mosque on the other. Then there is the rest of the town that is more kampung-like and mainly inhabited by malays.
As everywhere else in Asia the Chinese seem to dominate the economic life also in this small island. The bigger shops and restaurants are Chinese owned. The local school teacher was complaining to me that the Chinese monopolise the prawn trade and that they buy prawns cheaply from the Malay fishermen and sell it for a high price in Singapore.
As I didn' t know where I would be sleeping a was relieved when I saw that they had a small wooden guesthouse called "The Mess" right beside the mosque.
As everywhere else in Asia the Chinese seem to dominate the economic life also in this small island. The bigger shops and restaurants are Chinese owned. The local school teacher was complaining to me that the Chinese monopolise the prawn trade and that they buy prawns cheaply from the Malay fishermen and sell it for a high price in Singapore.
As I didn' t know where I would be sleeping a was relieved when I saw that they had a small wooden guesthouse called "The Mess" right beside the mosque.
The Mess guesthouse. 15,000 Rs (less than 1.50 EUR at time of writing) gets you a room with balcony access in this colonial wooden beauty. Ensuite toilet with bucket shower (i.e. a mandi...).
A Canadian guy - also on a short trip from Singapore - was also staying there that weekend. The owner told me that the previous foreign guest had been there 2 years ago back in 2005. Not a really touristy place...
The row of Chinese shophouses seen from the balcony of the Mess.
Just around the corner, on the left, every evening at around 6PM the satay stall serves the best satay I have ever had. The second evening me and the Canadian guy who was staying there bought a chicken and asked the satay woman to cook it for us. Fantastic ayam bakar!
The cats love the balcony of the Mess...and so do I.
