VISIT INDONESIA: Manado Trip 2015

Traveling has been taking part of my life this day. And I was so grateful that I lived in this archipelago. Indonesia has so many things to offer despite our politic and economy problems seem never end. 

So, last June I got a chance to visit another island/province in Indonesia which is quite popular for underwater adventure seekers. It is Manado, the capital city of North Sulawesi. The key to the popularity of this province is Bunaken Island. It is a small island with wonderful underwater view. The heaven for divers all over the world. This trip was executed as my last trip for our school field study program :( The main purpose of this trip was to try something new, which is diving. Our main lesson on the 6th semester is about adventure tourism, and we learn by doing from this trip. I'm going to write what I did on each day, to make it more structural and clear. So, if anyone interested, keep on reading! :)

Day 1

To reach Manado, we have to take airplane. It's been a long time since I flew. I think the last one was when I went to Bali. Actually, I do enjoy flying, but I didn't get a chance to travel by plane a lot these day. Any way, we took Lion Air to take us from Jakarta to Manado. We took the first flight that day which mean we have to gather at the airport quite early, around 5 AM I guess. The flight lasts for about 3 hours. I have severe flu that day, so I really had a bad flight. My ears hurt so bad, it feels like your ear drums stung by a bee. 

When we arrived Sam Ratulangi Airport, we headed to Tomohon, a city near Manado around 30 minutes. Before we start the trip, we stopped by for having our brunch. Because we took Lion Air, we did not get any food on the plane, so we were starving at that time. We ate sorts of traditional Mandonese food, such as Mie Goreng Cakalng (Fried Noodles with Cakalang fish), Bubur Tinutuan (Manadonese style porridge), Bakwan Jagung (Corn fritters), and fried fish. I expect to be a nice food, but it wasn't. :( Then we took one hour ride to Tomohon. Then, we went to visit the famous monument there, which looks almost the same with the famous monument in Rio de Jainero. Can you guess what monument it is? It is the Jesus The Redeemer Monument's sister site, Jesus Blessing Monument. It was still under some construction (or repairment), but it is worth the visit! You should come here and take a lot of good photos or selfies like I did. After that, we stopped by at a village that made wood-houses and traditional coffee shop. 

Jesus Blessing Monument, Tomohon

Doesn't it feel like we use green screen?

At the authentic traditional coffee shop, we ate a lots of eggs! from fried to boiled eggs we tried. Also we tried the toasted bread and bakpao (buns). The coffee is very special there, but I don't really like black coffee, so we tried the milk coffee instead. It was pretty okay. After our afternoon snack, we went to our accommodation. We stayed at a great homestay, named ... It was clean and neat, there are a lots of room also! and the best part is they have the best food (dinner and breakfast) and hospitality. 

Day 2

We have Tomohon City Tour on our second day. What makes it special, we did not use the bus we rode yesterday, but we use ANGKOT/BEMO, which is a public transportation. We were divided by several groups because the car could only carry 7 people. After breakfast, we started our visit to a traditional market. This market is not a regular traditional market you could visit all over Indonesia. (Before you continue reading, I would like to remind you beforehand that after this paragraph you might see something disgusting, inhumane, dirty, etc. If you don't want to see that, you may skip to the next paragraph by closing your eyes). 
This market sells variety of meat, from fish, pork, chicken, m***, s****, d***, and b***. The answer of the censored words could be found in the picture below.

D**'s Meat

B**'s

                                                                                                                                   


I won't tell you much about it, since I don't want to remember this 'scenery' anymore. After the market, we went to visit Linow Lake. The most famous lake in Manado is actually Tondano Lake, but Linow has a better view and facility. RECOMMENDED! :D Linow Lake is a special lake because it contain sulfur which in result it can change the water colour. Despite a little bit smell, but the view is majestic! And instagramable too! In this site, there is a cafe that serve various of food and beverage. It was very comfortable too. Here's some picture of me and my friends. 

The Cafe

Linow Lake

 

Sulfur Hills (?)

We have a Manadonese typical lunch after visiting the lake. It serve chicken, pork satay (my fave!), vegies, and many others. The lunch was okay for me, even though I don't really enjoy the lunch. If you come here, you should be aware with what you eat, because some restaurant might sell RW (dog meat) and Paniki (bat meat). 

The gorgeous satay

Manadonese style lunch

After lunch we went to Bukit Doa Tomohon or literally translated into Tomohon Prayers Hill. This place is wonderful!! Very calm and the nature is still preserved. So nice. This place was built for Catholics to do the Stations of the Cross, church, wedding, and relaxing. The air here is very clean and refreshing, so it is good for relaxing. The little church here was also majestic. You can see a beautiful scenery behind the Cross statue inside. 

Starting Point

Stations of Cross

Inside of the Beautiful small Chapel

The Small Chapel

Outdoor Theater

Overall View

After we walk around the Tomohon Prayers Hill, we went to visit Buddhist Pagoda. We went there at the Vesakh Day, so the Pagoda is closed for visitor. They only open for people who wants to pray. That's why, we could not take picture inside the Pagoda and we have to keep our voice low. We could not enter and see the inside of the Pagoda unless we want to pray inside.

Our city tour has come to ended when we were dropped off at a horse cart station. After a long day riding bemo (Angkot is generally use in Indonesia, but Manadonese called angkot as bemo), we tried the traditional transportation which is a horse cart, called Bendi in Manado. We were packed into one horse cart consist of 4 BIG PEOPLE. It was the most painful ride ever in my life. We got cramps also. But, it was nice to ride on horse cart again after a long time. 

We had a blissful night after we ended our city tour. We had fantastic dinner, karaoke, dancing all night (especially salsa), heart to heart session, and we got some educational games from our lecturer. She gave us that games to help us studying for exam after we came back to Jakarta after this trip. That is our last night in Tomohon before heading to Bunaken Island tomorrow.   

Day 3

We went to cross the sea to Bunaken Island. Bunaken is a heaven for divers, and we will try to dive for the first time for the few days ahead. It took 30 minutes to reach Bunaken. We stayed at ... Resort. The owner is an Australian married with a Manadonese woman. They have run this business for quite sometime. They have a great acommodation in a small island like Bunaken. Even though, I have some trouble with the electricity and bathroom. Also, it was really hot and there are rarely cold water to drink. :(

Starting Our Island Hoping

Manado City View From The Boat

Hello, Ocean!

On the day we arrived, we just have a short briefing and they hand out some form about our personal data and health condition. It is a necessary procedure if you want to dive. Unfortunately, at that moment, I missed the moment to dive for the first time because I have sinusitis. :( I could not breath underwater for too long and I'm afraid if my ears hurt. I've hurt my ears when I took the plane earlier. So, I just get to see the beautiful underwater by snorkeling. At the afternoon, around 3PM, we took a glass-bottom boat tour. We got to see beautiful corals and school of fishes from the boat. It was amazing and it kinda help me too see how beautiful the underwater life without diving.

Glass Bottom Boat Tour- The Beautiful Corals Of Bunaken

We experienced black out in the evening and it made us harder to sleep at night. The wind was also not our side that day, so it is freakin' hot at night. 

Day 4 - 5

It's the day for our main activities on the island, DIVING! (and snorkeling). We will be on the sea/ocean for all day long. Unfortunately, I couldn't try diving because of the sinus. But, I'm not alone! There were 7 people who didn't dive. Even though I didn't dive, still I could see the beautiful underwater scenery. By the way, there were a lot of jellyfish, so be careful! I didn't have any picture of the underwater, but if you are curious you can google it. Sorry! (At that time I didn't have GoPro or other camera for underwater).

My Kind Of View For 3 Days

On The Way

Just For Documentation (Did you notice my skin color difference??)

My Little Squad, After Snorkeling

Even The Dead Shells Were Still Pretty :)

Do You See The Starfish???

Day 6

We woke up at around 5 AM to see a beautiful sunrise and dolphins! We were supposed to have a dolphin tour on on our second day in the island, but it was canceled due bad weather and waves. It was our last day in the island before we headed to the city and back to Jakarta. 

Wakey Wakey, Bunaken!

Praise The Lord!

My Favorite!

We rode a boat to a certain point to see the dolphins. Usually, they showed up early morning. But, luck is not with us that day. We have already woke up early, but the dolphins were nowhere to be found. We've been searching the dolphins for 1 hour, though. But on the way we had a little rain and we could see a rainbow! It was so pretty and it's been a long time since I saw a rainbow. oh! On the way back to the resort, I was fell asleep. When I woke up, I saw red spots all over my hands. I was very shock, I didn't know how it showed up. Many speculations were made due my red spots, it is either food allergy or I got cold since I was outside the boat in the morning and it was very breezy or drastic temperature. :( Not only got red spots, I also got sunburn plus color difference on my skin. It was one of the bad effect using a wrong type of swimwear and too much sun. 
 

Hello Rainbow!

No Filter

We arrived at the resort at around 7 AM. We had to packed our bags and prepared to go back to the city. After we had our breakfast, we were ready to go back to the harbor by boat. We flied back to Jakarta using Batik Air. It was my first time, and I had a quite good experience with it. Recommended!

It was such a quite nice trip and it was our last trip together. Even though we had a little bit trouble in the beginning, but in the end it was such a memorable trip.

TIPS: 

- Use travel agent service to help you get to Bunaken Island or find a resort that provide transfer in/out to Bunaken Island - Manado. 
- Bring extra battery for your phone or other electronic devices since you will experience a lot of black out in the Island.
- Bring A LOTS OF BOTTLED WATER!
- Wear a shoes for walking on the sea (outdoor specialty shoes) since in the afternoon the water is in low tide situation so you can walk on it and there were a lots of small fishes, corals, starfish, seaweed, and other things that can't be seen by our eyes. It is better to use that kind of shoes than your regular flip flops. 
- You will experience skin color differentiation even you wear sufficient sunblock, so be wise with your swimwear type.
- You have to save water in the island because it was hard to get the clean waterean eha, so be a wise and friendly traveler.
- Don't litter, follow the instruction from your diving/snorkeling guide, don't touch or step on the corals. 
- JUST HAVE FUN AND ENJOY!

Alright readers, thank you for reading through this long post. I hope you find this helpful and give you enough information about Manado, Bunaken, and Indonesia. I'm sorry for the late posting. See you on my next post!

xoxo,