The Westerner who travels in Indonesia through the rural zones and poor eastern part of this huge archipelago is generally welcomed by children with a tonic “Hello Mister!”. This “cry” nearly always precedes a request (for money, sweets, etc.), but can also express a wish for communication and an opening to the world that are not really proper to western industrial societies. The exchange induced by the touristic relation, either a north-south one or not, remains scandalously inequal: the meaning of life so much sought by tourists is a luxury for these visited people who have to cope with a difficult everyday life. The example of the Toraja of Sulawesi shows that tourism is perceived by both natives and travellers either as a blessing or as a threat.