Nicko Go Blog

At last, my new post!
Belakangan ini bener2 repottttt gila ama segala macem kerjaan, jadi baru bisa ngepost lagi sekarang…Blog kali ini mengenai pengalaman gue waktu liburan lebaran kemaren. This is all about Manado in this blog. Sebenernya juga sempet ke Makassar, Toraja, dsb tapi karena keterbatasan waktu kayaknya Manado aja yang gue ceritain lebih dahulu, secara emank hari2 awalnya gue ke Manado dulu…

Enjoy then….

My Trip to Celebes

Finally, i’ve reached another big island in Indonesia, Celebes, the island
called Sulawesi today. Then this journal will describe my journey there.

I used Garuda Indonesia Airlines which was recently banned by Europe, but i
found that the trip was just fine and no trouble occured. The plane transited
at Makassar before continuing to Manado. It is Manado with a not e as I
knew before. Hehehe… Then we arrived at Sam Ratulangi Airport
,
we have our first lunch in Sulawesi at a
restaurant. If you haven’t known before, you have to be aware that the food in Manado is well-known for
its spicy flavor. Everything seemed to be hot and spicy, that made quite a big
problem for my brother who can’t afford for such flavor. The people of Manado are notorious for
their appetite, as everything was eaten by them. Almost every animal living in
the jungle are eaten by them, for examples are: pigs, bats, dogs, chickens,
cows, and even cats were eaten by some of the locals there.

For the first of
the day of the journey, we spent our times at the centre of the city. We went
to the Governor’s office, the office of the counsel for the prosecution, and
some other government office. After that, we went to a viharra and Mega Mas
Mall, what I recalled unique here was the logo of the mall is similar to Mc
Donald’s, the difference was only that the logo used red as the main color.
Then, we go to the restaurant to have our dinner at Raja Sate, as the name, the
special menu in the restaurant is sate which was just very delicious. We also
liked the soup-consists of chicken and coconut flesh. The flavor was sour and
salty. Then, we went back to the hotel (Sendano Hotel) and had our rest.

For the second
day, we went to Tondano Lake (the third largest lake in Indonesia), having
our lunch there. Then, we went to the local village producing the traditional
houses and clay art of Minahasa (one of the largest ethnic in North
Sulawesi). We also visited a traditional market where we may find
the dogs and bats which were killed and then were sold-quite a “panoramic” one
there hehehe… Then we visited Bukit Kasih – a fabulous site where they built a
mosque, 2 churches, a pura, and a viharra, representing the religions in Indonesia which
tolerate each other well. Manado
which was dominated by Christian had a very great tolerance culture. On
Lebaran, the Christian youth will guard the mosque when the Moslems hold sholat
Ied. On the other hand, the Moslems youth will guard the church when the
Christian celebrates Christmas. This is a great culture which I think should be
kept and maintained, or even should be spread out to another provinces in Indonesia.
After Bukit Kasih, we enjoyed a fantastic lake (I forgot the name-for any one
of you know, you might add the comment then) whose color may be different
according to the weather. This lake was magnificent and breath-taking since it
was so clean and the background (a mountain) was very magnificent. Then, we had
our dinner and headed back to the hotel.  

For the third
day, we went to Bunaken. At first, I thought (as soon as I arrived at the beach of Bunaken Island) what the heck. The beach is not
good at all. It is not a beach with white sand and everything. The good thing
is only that before we saw the fishes, coral, from above the boat. What’s so special
about that? We can do it almost everywhere in Indonesia! There was unique thing
that I’ve only experience there which was a fried banana with sambal. Wow! The
taste is quite different with our regular fried banana, since it’s eaten with
sambal. But I have to tell you that the taste quite good. The, we had our
lunch, and I was thinking we will just head back to Manado. But I am wrong, we will go
snorkeling!! After renting some snorkels, we went to the sea. Wow, this is my
greatest experience at the sea. The fishes, the coral reeves, they were
FANTASTIC! It’s like a big Seaworld, but way more beautiful! After about an
hour we spent our time in the water, then it’s time to go back. We arrived at
the hotel with happy thoughts and all.

For the fourth
day, we enjoyed es campur, it’s a
little different with the ones available here, you should try it also. And you
also have to try KLAPERTAART! It’s one of the most delicious desserts I’ve ever
eaten! You also have to try Minahasa Food, it’s really spicy, but again it’s
really wonderful. We ate almost every kind of animal there hahaha… Pork, Bats, celeng, etc! It was all-you-can-eat, but
guess what? It cost only 12500 rupiahs, it’s like the cheapest all-you-can-eat
I’ve ever eaten hahaha…Really you should try those things!

Then the next
day, we went to Makassar. The journey at Makassar will be told in the later blogs. Just wait for
it!