Manado - 1st night | Reflection & Rumination

I am quite sure not many among your social circle that you personally knows has been to the Sulawesi. I know because I have friends who have been to places like Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, US, UK and Taiwan but none of those I knew been to the Sulawesi island of Indonesia. If it was not because of AirAsia, I would not have imagined being in the North Sulawesi.

So, I've been travelling to Indonesia for my 3rd time now. My destination this time: Manado. Honestly, before booking the "0 fare" flights during AirAsia's free seats promo, I never even knew there is a place called 'Manado'. We managed to get the free seats return ticket to Manado during Raya season. Back at my mind, I was thinking "of course can get free seats during the peak Raya season la, dunno what place is it also". And obviously, it wasn't even on my travel list at the moment. But, the RM70 (all in) for a return ticket worth of almost 4 hours flight was the biggest consolation. Even if I can get that price for my 50 mins flight from KL-KT it will be a good deal already. Now that I've got the flight tickets, I need to know where exactly am I heading to. I did days of research and travel tips on this place and...

...I landed safely in Sam Ratulangi International Airport, Manado about 8pm (Manado time/Malaysia time, which is same!). As it was dark and we were all tired and hungry, we took a taxi to the town with the offer of 70 000 Rp. The taxi fare from the airport to the town is almost that price but one good thing is that they run on meters actually. As it was the holiday (Raya) eve, the roads were packed and the traffic was bad. We stopped by a few hotels and finally decided in this Travello Hotel in Jl. Sudirman.

It was the the most luxurious looking hotel I've ever stayed in Indonesia. My trips have been more like a backpacker's kind of travelling but this time there were more people travelling so, yeay! I totally love staying here. It was really nice and comfy.

They even have this white towel made into a flower placed on your bed, which I just wish to keep it there untouch, as it is. (It makes you see many "stars" in this hotel, if you get what I mean, hehe...)

And there is even a LCD screen TV attached to the wall. It looks so perfect that it makes you just want to lie down on your comfy bed, snuggled under the blanket, with the remote control by your side and just watch TV for the whole Manado trip.

After placing our bags/ luggages, we went to this row of 'warung' behind the Mega Mall for food. There are quite a number of stalls along the street.

Being in Manado, we have to eat fish, especially ikan bakar. And we took 6 fishes for our dinner. I don't know much about fishes but I knew we had a rabbit fish, one "7-star pan" (literally translated from cantonese), and 4 kampung fish. All 'bakar' (ikan bakar). That is because they only know how to 'bakar'. Ikan bakar is one of their famous local food and it was good. They have this chilli called dabu-dabu which is really spicy for me but my friends just love it. But, it was nice! No doubt about it. Nice meal and all for about 190 000 Rp (about RM70). If you were in Manado, should really come and try one of the 'warung' behind Mega Mall.