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?