Togeans, my paradise

After 4 days in Bunaken it was time to move on. I decided to skip the 10 hours bus/kijang ride to Gorontalo and flew instead for small money. It was a bit risky as the plane was scheduled to land around the same time as the ferry to Togeans leaves. And the airport is 1 h car ride away from the harbor and Lion Air is basically always late. But so are the ferries. As this time too. My flight landed only 30 mins late, I run to the taxi and boarded the ferry about 1,5 h after it was supposed to leave. And waited for another hour for it actually to leave. Always good to rely that everything is late in Indonesia :)

Welcome to the paradise!

Finally on my way back to the paradise! I absolutely loved it there last year and planned to be back much earlier. It's actually scary to go there as you never want to leave. Last time I stayed in Poya Lisa (and Wakai&Una Una) but now I heard the old crew is not working there anymore and I anyways wanted to dive so I decided to head to Fadhila Cottages in Katupat. And got stuck there (waibele!). Great crew, fantastic dives and cold beer. Really, I never want to leave this place. Maybe next time I'll buy a one way ticket.

Elly picked me up from Wakai and I stayed in Fadhila almost the whole time. Once we went to Wakai to celebrate a festival. It was great to see his family again and have some arak with his uncles. Just a shame my bahasa is still bad. I really have to start learning. Or just spend more time in Indonesia, which would be the way I prefer it anyways.

Arak & finnish Vodka with the Holupi clan. 

The diving in Togeans is a bliss for the eye. Amazing coral formations, lots of small fish and nudi and if you are lucky you might see some sharks, rays or if you're extremely lucky, a dugong. The highlight for me was the Bomber B24, sunk during the 2^nd world war. Planes are fascinating anyways and the ones deep in the ocean even more so. The dives near Una Una were good too, but it took us 3,5 h one way to get there so I'm not really sure if it was worth it. And lesson nr. 2, don't dive is you 're even a bit hang over. I think now I learned my lesson.

Jellyfish lake

I extended my stay in Togean to as far as I could. It's too hard the leave the place. Once I tried to take the day ferry from Dolong to Bumbulan but we arrived to the village 6 am in the morning just to hear that they haven't seen the ferry for a month. I had flights booked from Manado but it looked like I'll never make it there in time. So new plan, next day I took a ferry to the south and then a kijang to Palu. 7 h in a boat, 10 h in a car. A few hours sleep in a losmen and off to the airport. I flew from Palu to Makassar and then forward to Kuala Lumpur. Really, it's hard to leave the Togeans mentally but also in practice. I'll be back...

Omnomnom!

Dudes building a new house. For me?

Bunaken

 Back in Sulawesi! Finally. It took me over a year but better late than never. I flew from Kota Kinabalu to Balikpapan in Kalimantan. Or first I spent 5 hours in the airport coz the flight was of course delayed. After landing in Balikpapan I had to get a ticket to Manado. Garuda had the next flight but tickets were over 100 e, Lion Air flew 8 hours later but for 30 euro. Easy choice. 8 hours gave me loads of time to get to know the airport better than well. Luckily the airport had a nice lounge. I had to pay entry, huge amount of 3,5 euro including free food, drinks, wifi and a sofa :) They really should have a lounge like that in every airport.

I made it to Manado quite late in the evening, took a cab to my hotel and had a HOT shower. The last one at this trip I assume. Istanaku Guesthouse, highly recommended. For sure one of the best choices in that price range.

In the morning I had everything packed and felt a bit bored so I decided to go to the harbor already quite early. Good for me! I bumped into the son of the owner of Daniels Homestay which was one of the places I anyways wanted to check out. So bags to the boat, off to lunch and I still had time to check out the local market.

I really like Manado. The ugly dirty city has really good vibes & extremely friendly people. I just wish they would throw their trash into a recycling bin. Oh well, Asia...

In Bunaken I got a really nice bungalow for about 15 e, including 3 meals a day, which turned out to be one of the best ones I have had in Indonesia. I did 4 dives with their dive shop. All good but to be honest I might have been expecting a bit more. Bunaken is such a famous dive destination that I expected to be amazed. Not really. All good, saw lots of turtles but otherwise nothing spectacular. It is still a place I might go back to. I loved the village, had good laughs and photosessions with the kids. I also got lost in the jungle, ended up in the other side of the island and hitched a ride on a motorbike to get back. And of course there was local wine tasting with the dive crew and 2 french doctors. Did I already say it's fantastic to be back in Sulawesi?

Taking it easy at Manana & KK

Feeling sick is no fun at Kota Kinabalu as there's no hammocks at a beach so I made my way to Manana near Kota Belud, north of KK. Lovely isolated place where's not much to do. Exactly what I needed. I got a nice room where I fell asleep listening to the roaring waves coming in, stood up just to lie in a hammock and dip to the water once in a while and I red a few books.

I was quite lucky as when I came in 20 people left the place the same day. I love the silence. And as there was not much to do I really had to take it easy and also started to feel better after a few days. If Manana would have had internet I could have stayed longer but a freelancer has to work so I had to head back to KK to meet a deadline. And I also wanted to check out if I can make it to the jungle or should I start booking flights to the Philippines as I need to dive.  

Beach at Manana. 

So back in KK. What to do? Quite easy actually.

Drink.

And sleep.

And as Philippines still has unpredictable weather and diving in typhoon/thunderstorm doesn't sound appealing I ended up booking a flight to Balikpapan in Kalimantan, from where I'll hopefully fly forward to Manado in Sulawesi. Or somewhere. If I ever make it there as for now the flight has 5,5 h delay.

Tinggi, tinggi Gunung Kinabalu

Back in Borneo! Once again. Probably quite a short stay this time but still, if I'm here now for the 5^th time I think it's also time finally to climb the mountain. But paying huge fees for dorm accommodation at Laban Rata is not what I wanna do so why not do the climb in one day. Also just to see if I can do it. Plan was made and I also found company for the climb, Shane from Ireland who I met while diving in Lembongan in July.

One day, 17,2 km, from starting point at the elevation of 1866 m to the summit at 4095 m. We were well prepared, I had been sick for 2 weeks before leaving to Borneo and also still not feeling 100 %. Shane climbed up with a rash west, shorts and a dry bag. Our guide was also really supportive and reminded us every time we saw him (not many times) that we are too slow, we won't make it in time and that the other climbers are in better shape than we are.

The climb/trek is really hard. For sure easier made if you climb to Laban Rata on the first day and then to the summit the next morning for the sunrise. We were total of 6 men and 1 woman doing the climb in one day, divided to 4 groups. At some point I was climbing with Shane, the summit I reached with two swedes and I came down mostly alone. It was important just to make my own pace, not to go too fast but also not too slow. And I still don't know whats's the point of having a guide (mandatory) as I hardly saw him and when i did, he just annoyed the hell out of me.

Laban Rata. The hardest part still to come.

Reached the summit! I dunno who was freezing more, me in shorts or the swedish dude taking a picture of them.

The total climb took me 9,5 hours. At the summit it was raining, icy cold wind and about +3 degrees. I was freezing, couldn't feel my hands, cheeks or legs. There were icy spots in my shorts. And there was also no view. But at that point I didn't really care, I was just happy I made it! The last 2 km's are the toughest ones, no shelter from the forest, going up really steep and and less oxygen as you are reaching slowly 4000 m. And at that point I didn't know yet how much fun I'm gonna have while coming back down.... My legs were absolutely frozen and muscles in my both legs were starting to let me down. The further I got, the slower I was. I was quite a happy woman when we reached the starting point again and got back to Kota Kinabalu for a hot shower, food and beer.

The nasty surprise came the next day. My throat started to ache already during the climb and the next day my tonsils were swollen and infected. Probably thanx to the icy wind at the summit. Now I'm eating antibiotics for the next days and trying to take it easy. Which is not easy.