Makassar-Maumere-Bajawa

Up early in the morning and reserved taxi to the airport. This time it only took 35 min to get there. Flight with Merpati was alright. We arrived to Maumere where after being harassed by taxi drivers and going through endless bargaining we finally got one and head to the bus station. Common lies like there is no bus, there is no public transportation, etc. are a regular practice in order to take you on a private coach to your destination on prime rate.

I underestimated the travelling time so we didn't know we were about to spent the whole day on the road. Jumped on the bus to Bajawa, after a lot of confusion and bargaining again, you never know what the real price was is, it turns out the ride took 12hr. Lots of stops on the road, picking-up/letting down people, grain bags,  live stock, mechanical spare parts and others. We arrived to Bayawa by dusk and checked in at Silverin Hotel, which has a nice view of the hills especially by sunrise and is decently run. We were very tired and went straight down to sleep.

It would have been a better idea to break the road trip from Maumere to Bajawa in two, maybe staying over in Ende makes it more manageable.

Price Reference

Taxi Makassar Airport: 100K IDR, 35min @ 4:30am
Merpati. Makassar-Maumere: 175K IDR
Taxi Maumere Airport-Bus Station: 20K IDR

Bus Maumere-Bajawa: 250K IDR for two (kind of negotiable)

Silverin Hotel: 200K IDR (double room, including breakfast)

Tomohon-Manado-Makassar

Crazy day. Travelling a lot today to get to Makassar and down to Flores the morning after. We had breakfast by the garden and caught, by chance, a shared car on the road to Manado, just in front of the church. Much more of a comfortable choice than public buses. Once in Manado we killed some time with a massage in front of Minahasa hotel. We picked our backpack and laundry and head to the airport via microlet this time, two of them in town and a third one running all the way to the airport.

Lunch at the airport was surprisingly good. We both had fish, rice and vegies which were very tasty. Lion Air flight was alright.

Arriving in Makassar, we took a shuttle bus to town which took around 1hr to get to the city due to intense traffic. We checked in at Pondok Suada Indah Hotel, which is "ok" for a transit night, don't expect too much. Out for dinner and get some money. We were in the idea that the "warungs" (food stands) by the water were a good option for seafood dining. Unfortunately reality was different and we were a little disappointed with the food and had to bear some harassment from the several stands packed together. We decided to head back to bed and get some sleep. A taxi is picking us up at 4:30 am.

Price Reference
Shared car Tomohon-Mando: 6K IDR, 40 min.
Microlets: 2K IDR (in city), 2.5K IDR (to airport)
Lunch: 25K IDR
Lion Air. Manado-Makassar: 325K IDR
Makassar Airport Shuttle Bus: 15K IDR
Pondok Suada Indah Hotel: 250K IDR

Tomohon

Woke up, shower and ready for action. We were served breakfast by the garden and up to the volcano. Although one of the guides said it was possible to walk up in flip-flops, we recommend bringing good trekking shoes. It is a 2hrs walk-up by a dried lava stream which turns very slippery when wet, so watch your bum. We followed our guide along with a couple of girls from London. Funny enough, one of them was friend of a co-worker of Paula's, which happened to be our neighbor in Hong Kong, a small world. The scenery on the way and on the top of the volcano is beautiful. Lots of steam comes out the crater forming huge clouds filled with sulfur and other chemicals, reason why your stay is limited to 20 min.

By the time we came down it started to rain a little, it was not easy to keep yourself upright. Nothing that much after that, it kept on raining and spent some hours at the hotel. After that, a walk to town and dinner.

The day after we climbed the volcano the activity raised and couldn't be hiked. Our Irish neighbor, whom we met on the flight to Manado for the first time, had to postponed his journey up. 

Tomohon

We left our luggage with the hotel in Manado and took a small bag with clothes for a couple of days. Also left some laundry around the hotel to be picked up when coming back to town. 

We took a small bus on the route to Tomohon picking up people on the way. At some point a local English teacher joined, and from there on we were dragged in to a continuous one way conversation :) An hour later we arrived to Tomohon area and our  new friend help us with a call so that we could be dropped on the right spot to our hotel, Volcano Village. Coming from Manado, you get off 2km before downtown by a church and walk 500m in from the main the road. We checked in, relax and took it easy. Went out to take a walk to town and had lunch on the way. We had a fantastic tofu plate with spicy peanut sauce, best I've tried! So good we couldn't resist ordering a second round. A little walk around town, most of the houses are well decorated with plants and flowers, a charming environment, we never made it to the market. Back to our hotel we played cards and read by the garden, hard life.

Price Reference

Bus Manado-Tomohon: 8.5K IDR, 1hr

Volcano Village: 155K IDR, including breakfast

Guided tour to volcano: 150K IDR for two people 

Tangkoko & Manado

Once again up early in the morning, this time at 4:30am. There is not that much to do in Tangkoko after the sun is down anyways, so going early to sleep is an easy thing. The morning tour starts at 5:00am at the gate of the park. Our ranger was already there waiting for us and ready to take us on another trekking. This time we are out to follow black macaques and catch them coming down the trees, walking all together to the beach. Also, a good trekking to see some of the hornbills and exotic birds that live in the region. After a good sweaty walk, we were taken to the beach to freshen up a bit. The beach is volcanic and the black sand gives it an exotic touch.

Once we had breakfast in our homestay we had planned to spend some days diving in Lembeh. We took the pick-up to Bitung and a microlet to the pier. We bought a sim-card and called several of the dive places after being a bit harassed by the local captains. We were caught by surprise to know that the hotels were either fully booked or quite expensive, so at the end we decided to passed on Lembeh and head back to Manado. The microlet that supposedly was taking us to the bus station in Bitung played the language barrier card and for one second almost head straight to Manado without consulting us. Luckily we redirect this on time and were able to catch the bus. Not that is a more comfortable option, but certainly a much cheaper one.   

We checked in at Minahasa Hotel, it has a pool and is pretty decent. Manado is not a tourist attraction by itself but there is some shopping and some nice restaurant/bars on the back of Mega Mall. We took advantage of the time in Manado to arranged our way to Flores. B & B Travel Agency, located in front of Mega Mall, was pretty good and efficient for this. Our first choice was to fly from Manado to Makassar and then take a ferry to Labuan Bajo. Unfortunately the ferry schedule didn't work for us and we decided to fly to Maumere the morning after arriving to Makassar.

Price Reference:

Tangkoko Park Ticket: 200K IDR

Minahasa Hotel: 235K IDR including breakfast

Lion Air. Manado-Makassar: 325K IDR

Merpati. Makassar-Maumere: 175K IDR

Tangkoko National Park

Up early in the morning, quick breakfast at Sea Garden and run to catch the one and only public boat to Manado. The boat is scheduled for 8am, but it doesn't leave until feeling well loaded. 

Once on Manado side, we took the bus to Bitung, around 1hr, and then a microlet to Girian, 15min. From Girian you jump on a pick-up to Tangkoko, which takes around 1hr. All in all, including waiting time, the trip between Manado & Tangkoko with public transportation takes around 3hr. Be prepared for being squeezed with loud music on the ride!

We were recommended to stay at Tangkoko Ranger Homestay by the couple we met in Bunaken. The place was pretty decent, clean and simple, and it's conveniently located at the entry of the park. By the time we were there, the whole place was being renovated to receive a National Geographic team that was going to stay there for the following 6 months. Ranger Homestay is family run and Franky & Fan, both speaking good English, were our hosts. There is a couple of other homestays around, like Mama Roos that is pretty much in the same location.

After checking in and having a quick shower we hurried up into the park. A walk of about 1km from the main road leads you into the gate. Flashlight is a must, especially on your way back. A bottle of water and a  raincoat are a good idea as well. We bought our tickets and were assigned a ranger who took us into the woods looking up for tarsiers. These exotic animals come early in the evening out of their trees, and twilight is the best time to spot them.  Check them out!

Price Reference:

Bus Manado-Bitung: 8.5K IDR

Microlet Bitung-Girian: 2K IDR

Pick-up Girian-Tangkoko: 10K IDR

Tangkoko Ranger Hotel: 200K IDR

Evening Tarsier Ticket: 85K IDR

Bunaken Island

Early morning, breakfast at our bungalow's restaurant, nice view to the water. Out to scuba dive!
We booked with Cuz-Cuz which was close to our hotel and ready to leave at 8am. The price to dive including equipment is €25 per dive. As an advice, is better to carry some euros with you cos US dollars are badly rated and paying in local currency means withdrawing an awful amount of bills. I can't recommend our scuba team, although our "dive master" was exceptional with spotting all types of things. To explain a little more, on our first dive, our guide disappeared as we turned a corner with strong current leaving Paula & I on our own for some minutes. My gauge happened to never marked lower than 60 bar on the second dive, a little scary discovering it by having trouble to inhale, thankfully we were already swimming around 5m depth. So choose well who you dive with and enjoy. 

The diving spots are awesome! Great coral walls full of life, we saw lots of reef sharks on the first dive and huge turtles on the second among so much more!

Bunaken Island

We took Silkair morning flight from Singapore to Manado, then the taxi from Manado airport to the harbour which takes 40min. Once in the harbour we missed the last public boat to Bunaken which leaves at 2pm. We took the boat from Daniel's Bungalows for the same price as the public boat and decided to stay at Sea Garden Bungalows. The bungalows are attended by Debby, a friendly woman speaking perfect English and who back then was expecting her second child. The place is clean, quiet and has a big garden and a restaurant facing the water. Food is prepared for you and is great! Be aware that spicy is the standard all over.

Unfortunately our flashlight and Paula's necklace disappeared from our room so we can't give all of our blessing to the place, but we learnt the lesson and buying a deadlock resolved having any further problem for the rest of our trip.

There is a more upscale hotel close by if you feel like pampering yourself. Designed and owned by a Dutch architect, Jochem, and his Jawanese wife Angelica, the place is called Bunaken Village and has spa, a little bar and a swimming pool. Don't expect great beaches in Bunaken, expect great diving & snorkeling.

We were tired and took it easy since we had to sleep at Singapore's airport for some hours and then get to Manado and find a place to stay in Bunaken. We had a beer on the porch of our bungalow, book to scuba dive next day and shared dinner at our hotel with a couple of retired Dutch guys, Hans & Louisa, who built their house by the beach, next to the pier 5 years ago and spend some months a year on this quiet island.

Price Reference:
Taxi Manado Airport-Harbour: 80K IDR
Public Boat Manado-Bunaken: 25K IDR - No public boat on Sundays.
Sea Garden Bungalows: 175K IDR person/night. Including meals.
Daniel's Bungalows: 150K IDR person/night. Including meals.
Bunaken Village: €30 person/night. Including meals.