Manado: The Land of Beauty
A few weeks ago, I got a chance to visit Manado for work reason. Actually, there is a regional IT competition held there, but it didn’t seem interesting enough to me. But then, when I heard that it would be held in Manado, I simply registered with nothing in my mind to be brought in this competition. LOL.
The competition went well, really! Good partners, good food, good hotel, what else to be expected? Day after the competition, the commitee took us around Manado, especially Bunaken and Tomohon. Bunaken is an island with great view of underwater, while Tomohon is a plateau with great scenery. Oh, and of course I ate a looot there: rica-rica, woku, dabu-dabu.. just name it! My taste bud just love the spice ❤ ❤ ❤
My buddy said, there are 3B’s that people seek in Manado: Bubur (Manadoan porridge called tinutuan.. it is so good), Bunaken (of course, what else?), and Bibir (Lips.. definitely women!). Manadonese girl, usually called ‘noni’, famous for their beauty, the same as Sundanese girl, usually called ‘mojang’. I also have some Manadonese friends, and they are indeed beautiful.. I started to think that maybe those kind of weather make the girls beautiful. Maybe, just maybe 😉
1. Bunaken
You must’ve heard about Bunaken. It is one of the national maritime park in Indonesia. We departed from Marina Harbour and it took us about 30 minutes to get Bunaken Island. After taking pictures, we got into a catamaran, glass bottom boat for sea sight and sea bottom watch. There are tons of fishes in many forms and colours that we can see from above. Not only that, then we got into a semi submarine boat! It is submarine-alike, so we can see the fishes, coral reefs, turtles, and even divers without being wet.. I really enjoyed it because it is the first time experience for me.
Eventhough we already seen the underwater world, it seemed incomplete without being in touch with them. Soooo, here came the snorkelling time! Wooooogh! There are a lot of snorkelling and diving spots here, I just visited one spot between the Bunaken and Manado Tua. Some of my colleagues chose the scuba diving, and I envied them actually because I don’t have the guts to try haha. The catamaran view and snorkelling costs about 200k. The submarine costs 7000k for a whole boat. Scuba diving costs 850k for guide and and the equipments.
Back down in the water, I understand why this place is named Bunaken National Maritime Park. Everywhere I can found coral reefs and fishes.. I wonder the maritime park is pretty old, because the coral on the surface has calcified. Eventhough, there still lots of live coral, anemones, and of corse clown fishes.. I got my self so tired to free dive, still I found another coral reefs, another kind of fishes. So amazing!
2. Tomohon
From the underwater, then we go uphills! Tomohon is like Bandung’s Lembang. Both share the same weather. It has cool air and tremendeous view of volcano. By the time we went there, Mt. Lokon was errupted so we involved in lots traffic jam. We stopped at the view of Jesus Blessing Monument. It looked like Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro (hopefully i will visit there someday!).
Tomohon is also famous for its flowers. The town of thousand flowers, they said. We could find flowers garden and flower shop along the way. Next stop is Danau Linow. It was a lake that could biased in three colors. The wind was so hard, I even found it was hard to stand still hahaha. We enjoyed Cakalang Noodle and Fried Banana with Roa Sauce. The taste were so delicious, i don’t know whether the taste was really that nice or the situation just match up ❤
The day was closed by us visiting the souvenirs shop in Manado near our hotel. I didn’t buy many things, but only food of course. I bought klappertart, talua, bagea, etc. I really loved klappertart and talua. I think I can have it almost everyday as snacks!
So that was my short trip to North Sulawesi, the land of beauty. Hopefully I can visit it again, someday.. For my bestfriend’s wedding maybe? Cheers! ❤
~ selitando ~
beauty lovers
LIVE IT! 
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