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?
