The Bunaken Marine Park, Best Dive in the World !

Wow ! What a fantasy ! What a dream ! I have never seen anything like this. If you have been to the Butchart garden in Victoria, just think of that under the sea. My husband who has been a certified diver since he was 11 (the certificate was held till he turned 12) and grew up in the Hawaiian islands, was amazed at the experience. "Now I can die", he said as he got out of the water while removing his diving gadgets. I didn't go under the sea as I am just a snorkler. But even the view from the surface was amazing.



The boat captain and the crew members were such experienced divers. We were very fortunate to have found them. My husband was so thrilled. In this park, you can hop from one atoll to another. It is heaven down here ! I can't even describe the spectacular color of corals.... the blue calm water is a playground for dolphins. It's a place worth flying to.




We had flown 3.5 hours from Jakarta to Manado, then to get to this place we drove 45 minutes from Manado city center to catch the boat. There are direct flights from Singapore to Manado, cost and time is about the same. Go chase your fare !



We noticed, however, there are not that many fish around. Not where we snorkel and dive. As we walked along the coast of Manado and checked out the seafood restaurants, we now know the answer.

The town of Jepara

The town: Jepara
The island: Java
The country: Indonesia

Durian, the spiny fruit

Jepara, Indonesia

The beach town of Jepara is a world reknown center of furniture manufacturers. The furniture which mostly made of teak wood are sold all over the world. Find the label that says: Made in Indonesia, and you can trace the products back to the town of Jepara where the furniture was originated, carved, polished, and packed for shipping.

But beyond the known furniture business, the town has been known locally as the town for durians, the spiny fruit the size of a coconut which comprises of 5 compartments inside, each bears a croissant-shape fruit with texture that resembles custard, and the aroma that is so distinctively "durian". Many of us are crazy about the fruit because of the smell, and so many hate it because of the smell. So, here is the key to positively introducing it to your friends (if you love the fruit yourself): The smell is fragrant, and the taste is so delicious. In saying so, you will be demonstrating that you truly love durians. Better yet, if you have supporters who eat durians with you at the time of introduction.

For those of you who still resist on trying, once you can get beyond the smell, you will find that the taste is truly delicious. Sometimes it tastes like custard, but sometimes it's so rich it tastes like cheese cake. I have been a durian fan since I was 5, and recently at 50 years of age, I am told that I am not a durian fan until I find RED DURIAN and experience the taste of it. So, my husband and I decided that it will be our next adventure. We have been researching possible islands in the archipelago where we might find the rare species.

The Beautiful Town of Tomohon

The Road to Tomohon
October 7th, 2009

Our local guide took us for a drive to a resort town about 1.5 hours up towards the hills from Manado. It was dusk, and what a breath taking view !From the top of the hill looking down the valley of treetops covered with layers of fogs, some are thin some are thick forming such a picturesque scene. I wish I were a painter. I don't always remember bringing my camera either. More often than not, I end up running into a "photographing opportunity". The road was so narrow and winding, and down below is deep valley I tried not to think about it. Once in a while, there is a fruit stand along the side of the road. One caught my attention. Mangosteens ! Fresh from the trees! I asked the driver to stop, and naturally we got honked on by the traffic behind us. I pulled some money out, gave it to the vendor, and grabbed a basket of mangosteens and hopped back in the car, all in approximately 2 long minutes. My husband shook his head. It's dinner time. He is hungry. We saw restaurants seemingly hanging right on the edges of the cliffs. I rolled the windows down and smelled the food. We are in a pretty resort town of Tomohon. On a higher elevation the climate changed from hot and humid to cool and breezy.



The Rijstaffel and "That Meat !"

We stopped at a restaurant my husband thought would be interesting to try. It was dark already. The time was almost 7pm. We walked around the restaurant and saw behind a glass compartment dozens of pots full of local dishes. I asked the restaurateur to explain every one of the dishes. All kinds of meat stews and curry dishes, vegetable soups, fish fillets and whole fish (heads 'n tails on) and the one before the last pot........ you don't want to know this one. It took me good 30 minutes to neutralize my mind, emotion, and appetite. Mitch was curious why I was acting strange. I finally told him what the restaurateur told me the meat was. It stirred my stomach once more time. We took a long table just for the two of us, knowing that Mitch would have a lot of dishes to try. It doesn't seem to bother him the fact that this restaurant serve "that" meat. I asked the waiters to bring us every dish they have except for "that" one. The driver was sitting outside away from us. I told the waiter that he is with us. Soon our table is covered with about 30 bowls of different dishes. I watched my husband looking like a King. He is so happy to see so many different dishes in front of him. There is not one dish that he didn't try. If he had two stomachs he would have asked them for some refills.

The delicious fish soup with the fresh garden debris !

I requested a local vegetable dish cooked just for me, not precooked. So, it took longer for my order to arrive. It was worth waiting. The big bowl of soup consists of fish with its bones and some rare vegetables, along with with some fresh root slices were wide leaves that you are not supposed to eat and yet they didn't remove them. The people of Manado and others in several south east asian countries want you to know that they prepare the dish fresh from scratch and that every spice is freshly picked from the garden, thus it is important to show them by leaving them in the serving dish, instead of discarding them prior to serving. In their opinion, the smell and the taste come before the look. The fish and vegetable soup was the most delicious soup I have ever tasted in my life.

The surprising invoice !

After all of the fiesta, my husband was ready to see a big number on the bill. Just as he put the credit card on the table the waiter said "tidak bisa pakai kartu, mister" (can't use credit card, sir). He began to feel nervous. He didn't know I brought plenty of cash usually on a road trip like this, but I asked "what's the total?". When the waiter showed us the total bill, my husband and I were looking at each other in disbelief ! It was Rp60,000 or about USD $6 for 3 people. I covered my opened mouth. This can't be right. I looked at the details. .... All you can eat per person Rp16,000 (USD $1.60), 3 people times $1.60, then plus the soup..... the rest of it I didn't even look and neither did I care. We couldn't help ourselves but laughing like we had just won a lottery. Nowhere in the world would we ever expect such a bargain, ever !

Epicurean Experience in Manado

Seafood along the beach of Manado.
October 5, 2009

We passed several big signs along the coast that said "seafood blah blah blah" or "blah blah blah seafood". Great! We are in the area where we want to be. I asked the driver to stop, paid him, then walked towards the biggest, noisiest, and brightest seafood restaurant by the sea. It was after 7pm. The place was busy. Apparently one of the most popular one. They asked us if we wanted to select our fish in the back of the restaurant. We followed the waiter to the area where you can choose your sea dinner. I picked a local whole fish, some local clams, and local vegetables. While waiting, we did our observation. The beach area by the restaurant was lit up. I saw some good size fish in the clear water below where we sat making me feel like I just want to scoop them with a net. There is no licensing required to fish in Indonesian water for residence.

The Salsa of Manado

One hour later, which was worth the wait, our table was covered with yummy local dishes. The sambal (the salsa of Indonesia) is quite different from that in Java. The chili peppers are finely chopped, rather than ground, with garlic and crispy tomatoes. I noticed the tomatoes are very small, like cherry tomatoes but crispy fresh and delicious. We enjoyed every shell fish on the table, savoured every unfamiliar weeds, and having a hot sambal fun race. Mitch won again. He had been a winner in a chili eating competition once, eating 10 hot thai peppers with only one spring roll to go with the peppers, finished in one minute.


Sing your heart out !

As we were stuffing ourselves, across the lawn on the other side there was a private party going on. From the microphone we could hear they were doing a Karaoke, a popular social entertainment in Asia. The peoples of Asia are not so shy when it comes to singing in public. It doesn't matter if they feel they have a good voice or not. They just want to sing their hearts out. Some of them have very good voice which was surprising that the recording studios have not grabbed them yet, but there are some whose voice sounded more like a loose guitar strings being pulled and sometimes like a tin roof getting whacked. But regardless, I always see the joy in their hearts through their eyes and body language when they sing.


Bubur Manado (the porridge of Manado).
October 6th, 2009

It's our first breakfast in Manado. The hotel served generous breakfast buffet. Anywhere in Indonesia, where a hotel is rated 4 star and above, there is always a grand international breakfast buffet with at least a local breakfast dish. I do miss having eggs and bacon sometimes. It's been at least 4 weeks since I had eggs and at least 6 months since I had bacon. But my eyes caught a clay pot of porridge that looked enticing. I saw the sign said "Bubur Manado". Bubur is the Indonesian word for porridge. To some of you who don't know what porridge is can put hot cereals or grits into the porridge category. Every bubur we had on the island of Java comprises of rice porridge with hot chicken broth and side garnish of chicken meat, chopped green onion and celery leaves, fried shallots, fried peanuts or cashews, shrimp chips, wedged limes, thick sweet soy sauce called kecap (pronounced: ketchup). This bubur of Manado looks yellow and creamy. I asked one of the attendants what it's made of for I couldn't detect it. I am usually good at guessing but it was easier to ask. It's pumpkin porridge ! An unexpected taste of bubur.

The City of Manado and the Epicurean Experience

"To join our next adventure, please contact ika.gilbert@gmail.com"


The city of Manado - Sulawesi Island
October 5, 2009

Manado inherited much of the Dutch influence since their occupation in the early 1600's. (Indonesia became independent on August 17th, 1945). Unlike most part of Indonesia, the majority of the Manado population is Christian. Everyone I met has a western first name, such as Ben, Albert, Rudy, Henry, Hendrik, Melisa, Suzie. When I asked the local guide "When the Manado people started to adopt western names", he said "Since I can remember, all my great grandparents have western names"..... not the family names, of course.

The twenty cents public transportation

On our first day in the city, we did some exploration on foot as well as on the public transport which is a mini van, it costs about USD $.20 (twenty cents) per person each way, any destination within the city. It can seat up to 10 little people or 7 medium size people bending over a little bit. We were on the hunt for best seafood restaurant by the sea. After everyone got off the little mini van, the driver asked us where we wanted to get off. I told him the name of the restaurant by the sea. He said: "That's outside the city limit. I can take you there for Rp 20,000 (USD $2) more." I agreed. So now we are a charter. From the point where everyone got off to the restaurant it took 20 minutes.

From Jakarta to Manado

Four Hours Flight on Garuda was worth it !
October 5, 2009

We were at Jakarta airport for about 2 hours waiting for the 10:30 am flight to Manado. The flight would take 4 hours from Jakarta to Manado. If you look at the map of Indonesia and locate the island of Sulawesi, you will find Manado on the north eastern tip of the longest arm of the island. Manado is the nearest airport to the Bunaken islands, a small cluster of islands famous for the best diving site in the world. That's our destination next.

We arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon, negotiated a taxi and headed to the hotel I had contacted from the US. I called the hotel from the taxi to make sure that the Internet is ready for use in our room when we arrive. Mitch couldn't wait to set up his "office on vacation". If you can telecommute for your job, there is one big advantage with vacationing in Indonesia, with the 15-hour time difference from the West Coast of the United States, you can play during the day, and work at night. But if you have a spouse trying to go to sleep and you are constantly on conference calls, then you may have to get your own room !

"To join our next adventure, please contact ika.gilbert@gmail.com"