Manado - Day 2

The streets in Manado are exceptionally quiet on Sunday morning as most of the people there would have gone to church service or mass. Perhaps in addition to that, it is also the long weekend Hari Raya Aidilfitri (or Idulfitri) holidays. So, it was a quiet morning.

After having our complimentary breakfast buffet in the hotel, we walked down the Sudirman Road (Jl. Sudirman) to Plaza Marina to ask for boat transfer service to Bunaken island. There are 2 ports where boats leave to Bunaken island from Manado which is at Plaza Marina and Pasar Bersahati. Plaza Marina was just about 15 minutes walk from Travello Hotel. After attempting to negotiate a reasonable price, we decided that we should head to the other port instead. Public boats usually leave from Pasar Bersahati.

We took a mikrolet (the blue minivan bus) written "Wonasa" near the roundabout to Pasar Bersahati, which I believe is the main port. A ride in the mikrolet cost only Rp 2,000 (around RM0.70) per person.

You will know you are there when you see...

... a lot of boats and ships.

On normal days, there will be public boats available, which is way cheaper, but it was the first day of the Raya holidays and we have no option but to charter a boat to Bunaken. One can get to Bunaken with only Rp 7,500 to Rp 10,000 if those ferry like public boats are operating. Anyway, we chartered a boat for Rp 400, 000 for a return ride.

Our boat, the smaller one with one engine.

The ride was smooth but slow. It took us about half and hour or more to reach.

Bunaken! :)

The water was clear but the beach was not clean. As we enter the island, we have to pay 'entrance fee' of Rp 50, 000 per day or Rp 150, 000 for a whole year calendar pass. The payment can be made through your resort. If you are an Indonesian, you pay very much less (but I could not recall how much was it already).




Since this is the National Park of Bunaken, the fees are for the purpose of conserving/ preserving the sea, corals, reefs, etc.

There were a lot of tourists around and many of the accomodations were full. We managed to get a place called Froggies, which I have made a reservation earlier online.

There were a lot of frogs in Froggies.

It was a small resort. Initially we thought of staying in Bastianos, Froggie's neighbour, which is bigger and looks nicer (from the outside) but they were already full house. Nevertheless, Froggies was a decent, cosy, little resort.

Their rooms are in atap-house-'bungallows' like this:

which sits on the hill of forest. You'll need to do some climbing too, but it is a cooling place to stay especially at night. Plus, there is free natural fauna orchestra playing in the background.

We stayed in the biggest bungalow on the top which has 2 rooms and a living room (which was not really essential for us). This cost us 30 EURO per person per night, inclusive of breakfast, dinner and drinks, which means as a whole, we paid a total of 120 EURO (RM 600)! A 2 person bungalow without sitting room is 5 EUR cheaper per person per night, which could save us a big chunk of RM 100. But it was all occupied :(

Our bungalow, the Clown Fish.

Honestly speaking, I have no complaints on the resort. Place was okay, people were nice, food were nice but the price is just unbelievably, chockingly, slaughteringly expensive!

Not only this particular resort but the island. We were in Indonesia using Rupiahs, and suddenly in Bunaken, everything was in Euro. No doubt you can pay in Rp but all the charges were too crazily expensive. For 'angmohs' maybe okay but I'm just an Asian student. This was the most expensive island I have been to. If I were to go back to Manado again, I will not stay in Bunaken. I would rather make a trip, do the snorkelling or diving and head back to stay in Manado instead. That one night stay really burnt a humongous hole in my pocket.

Putting that issue aside,... the bungalow we stayed was alright. The view was good as it is a seaview.

They also have a variety of books for you to read. I wanted to read Tony Parson's Starting Over but did not really have the time to do so as it was a short one night stay.

Food were really good. It was nice and tasty. During lunch, we had this corn fritters called "perkedel milu" which is one of the must try if you go to Mandano. Lunch is inclusive if you are doing snorkelling or diving with the resort. Oh! They serve desserts during dinner too. We had chocolate brownies. Yum! :)

Meals are served in that long table.

There were also local live band playing while we were having our dinner. They were all workers of the resort.

What did we do over there? Basically, we arrived in the afternoon, had lunch, went to snorkelling/ diving, came back, bathed and rested, had dinner, met and chatted with a French couple who sat beside us, went back to bungalow, chatted a while, went to bed and sleep. We left Bunaken the next day, after having breakfast.

At first we wanted to do the Discover Scuba Diving course (half day course) but the resorts that offer this course were pack and full. So, we did snorkelling instead except the one who had the license to dive. We went to this diving spot called Fukui, which apparently has giant clams sitting 20 metres underneath. Snorkelling was nevertheless great. I saw a lot of fishes and corals. Sometimes those corals are so freaking near and that makes me swim panickly over to a deeper area. It is always amazing to look under the sea. Looking under the sea is like looking into a totally different world. I should have gotten a underwater camera! sigh.

I would love to float there and snorkel all day long and enjoy the wonders of this underwater world but there were too many 'things' biting me. I have no idea what on earth was it. We were all bitten but I am the most severely bitten, maybe because the other 2 snorkellers went up first and I don't have a wet suit. :S

The locals said it was the little jellyfish but my friend said it was the sea 'bacteria'. I don't know. I just know it was painful and itchy. :( But it was just for a short while. I was fine after napping and have forgotten all about it.haha

Next stop: Tomohon-Tondano

Manado - 1st night

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.

Our dinner.

'Cone shaped rice'

Alpokat (or Alfokat?) juice.

This is one of their nice local fruit drinks. A must try if you love milk and chocolate!



Thats all for my first night in Manado :)

Next stop: Bunaken island

Trip to Pulau Kapas & Pulau Gemia

(from left to right)

1. KBC - the place we stayed overnight for RM50. Won't say it is cheap though. It is just a room with 2 beds and a pathetic table fan, that's all.

2. Noted while strolling along the beach. The tree with the special pair of hands.

3. Just me, posing :)

(from left to right, 1st row...2nd row)

1. Went canoing for about 1.5 hours! The rate is not too bad. Cost us only about RM15 for the whole activity. You can get the best rate (as far as I am concerned) at Makcik Gemuk. (just beside KBC). And plus, it is nearer to canoe to Gemia Island from there.

2. The first 'island' conquered. (nothing there but a collection of rocks)

3. The ultimate challenge for that day; Gemia Island! A small, dainty, quiet, and nice island. Did I mention it is a private island? Yeapz! But we are still allowed to go 'lepak' around.

This is the view of resort rooms in the private island ;)

4. Baby turtle! (in Gemia Island)

On the way...

We passed by a little cave on our way to Gemia. There were bats flying and shrieking away while those 'mat sallehs' in the water scooped and wet those flying creatures. I was really tempted to canoe through that cave though.

On the way...

There were really nice views if you would just look under the water. Canoe leisurely. Stop. Look down. And enjoy the amazing lives underwater! The water was so clear that even I managed to snap clear underwater pictures! Cool aye!





Time flies. And the next thing we realized is that it is morning already and it is time to go back. If I were to recommend you KBC, my only reason would be that the place is operated by Dutch and Malaysians! Really cute guys! *drool* And hot, pretty girls too of course! :D

Goodbye, Kapas!

The driver doing the "sweep" thingy... cool ^.^

Overall, it was a nice and relaxing trip. There is nothing much in Kapas Island. You will see resorts lining along the beach and basically thats all. There are few places that offers water activity. You can do things like snorkelling, diving, boat riding, canoing, and fishing. However, I did not notice any para-gliding, banana boat, or adventures of this sort offered over there. Nonetheless, Kapas is nice in its own way. Quiet and nice. It reminds me of the guy in 'The Lotus Eater' who fell in love with Capri Island (the one in the SPM English literature's short story).

I spent most of the time on the beach and plus electricity is only available form 7pm to 7am. It is not really windy over there though. After dinner, star gazing session is just perfect as the dessert. There will be few tiny bonfire set up over the beach too. Everything is just plain relaxing. Stroll around short while, lie down to enjoy the majestic picture of stars across the sky, and then call it a night.

Besides the not so comfy accomodation over there, I have no other complain. It was convenient to go (From Marang jetty, it takes about 10 to 15 mins of boat ride to reach. From Kuala Terengganu to Marang, a bus ride will only cost about RM2 or less, depending on your stop). The people there were nice (and some even makes you go drooling too! ). And you can get 'edible-but-not-so-expensive' food there as well. Had my lunch in Warong Pak Ya and you can get a plate of fried rice there starting from RM5. Cool rite?

In short, this 1D 1N Kapas-Gemia trip was really lovely and relaxing :)

Project-24 (IV)

Solo Yogya trip (Day 2)

Day 2

-30th April '07-

..the adventure continues. (click here to read on Day 1's sharing)

Early in the morning, we woke up to catch an early train to Yogyakarta from Solo. We intended to catch the earliest train available but I guess sleep is still more a little more important. But anyhow, we managed to hop on to a morning train. We bought our tickets, which cost only 7,000 Rp per person. Train is indeed a cheap way to get by. While waiting for the arrival of the next train, we had our breakfast at a stall outside. We took Soto for our breakfast, which cost only 3,ooo Rp per bowl. The Soto is a bowl of soup with some rice, bean sprouts (tauge), and sliced meats (beef). Tasted quite alright but not really filling. There's a whole stretch of food, mostly fried stuffs, for you to add on to your bowl though. Some advice; if you happened to order tea, please remember to ask them to reduce the sugar or else order a plain tea. Those people are super genorous when it comes to sugar. [Rate: 3 stars]

Upon arrival at Yogya, we walked to Malioboro street, which is sort of like one of their main and busy street. From there we took a 'becak' (a.k.a 'beca' in Malaysia language or trishaw in English) to Metro hotel. The ride was quite some distance but we only got a bargain fee of 2,000 Rp which is only equivalent to RM0.80!!! With bags, luggages, and two butts that the seat can fit, for a distance about 3 or 4 km, for only 80 sen?! I can't believe I offer that little to this guy. By far, he is the cheapest trishaw ride we got. A trishaw ride can be cheap but have to be very careful because once they spot you as a foreigner, the price can be much more costly. So, it is good to roughly know the price range (ask the locals..i mean those with a trustable look) before hiring a trishaw. Set a limit to how much you can give and discuss with them. With all the trishaws and 'kereta kuda' lining up along the whole Malioboro street, it is not hard to get one with a reasonable price.

We settled for Hotel Metro. It was nice and cheap compared to others. The tourist information counter operator at the train station tried offering an arrangement to get us a place in that hotel. Not a bad idea, but it is cheaper if you go there by yourself to get the room.

After settling in the hotel, we hired another 'becak' to tour around Yogja. He first brought us to some commercialised tourist spots like the Batik place, Yogja T-shirts centres, and souvenirs shop, which is not our main interest. And just beside a souvenir shop, there is a bird market. They sell all kind of birds and bird foods. Oh, they even sell bats there. We spotted one weird and creepy looking bird which is not caged. The owner went and pook the resting bird and it went staring at us with a creepy look. By the way, they have also put up a big banner saying that this market is free from bird flu.

(a.) Soto for breakfast

(b.) Yogyakarta's train station

(c.) The backpacker me ;)

(d.) Malioboro street @ Yogya

(e.) Batik making

(f.) This is the bird I am talking about

And then finally, we were brought to some real tourist spots. Our first destination was Keraton, the place where the Sultan lives.

The Keraton. The royal family are really still staying inside, but we are not allowed to go to that area.

After a guided visit at the Keraton, we had Bakso at a stall outside. It was nice. It is somesort of noodle with balls; I mean fish balls kind of balls. One thing we learnt from this lunch is that, never eat at any place without checking at the price first. Alot of them charge a slaughtering price to tourists. It may not be very expensive to you, but eating at such a price in that place is expensive. We tend to go for places where they put their prices up. It is far safer that way. Anyway, I really love Bakso. Should try one! [Rate: 4.5 stars]

After our lunch, we told the trishaw guy we would like to visit Taman Sari, the royal's bathing place or something like that I think. Then he brought us through some places with papaya trees, and went through housing areas like this...

..before reaching to an abandoned like site. I think that is the old Taman Sari.

The old Taman Sari. And the dark guy is my trishaw guy for that day ;)

And this is the new Taman Sari, I think. Quite a majestic look from outside. It is a water park. We did not go in though.

The famous Nasi Gudeg street

At night, we were brought to eat Nasi Gudeg by our trishaw guy. One cute thing you can see in Indonesia is that if you see one selling coffin, the whole street/ area will be selling the same thing as well. And here we are at the Nasi Gudeg street. haha. It was quite alrite. Just pick any of the one shops there, they all sell the same thing. [Rate: 3 stars]