When Air Asia launched its first ever sale of tickets from Kuala Lumpur to Manado on the 22nd of July, 2008, one of my friends eagerly called me up and asked, "Jean! Are you tired? Are you stressed? Do you need a break? Come! Let's go to Manado!"
At the beginning of the conversation, I knew she was going to ask me to go for a holiday somewhere. But Manado? Where is it? I have never heard about about this place!
So, I began searching on the Google website. Lo and behold! Sulawesi is like the shape of five fingers on our left hand, stretched out towards the east. Manado just happens to be in the middle of our last pinky finger. Geographically, Manado is in the north part of Sulawesi, east of Kalimantan and south of the Philippines.
"Hmm... " I thought. "I've never been to Sulawesi before! I've only studied about Sulawesi in history books. Its stories of past kings and kingdoms, as far as I remember, how it was once the centre of trade in the region of South East Asia really captivated me. Wow! Whoever heard of people visiting Sulawesi for fun?"
Suddenly, the idea really captivated me. The next day, I went to work and asked my Indonesian colleague, Pak Muchtiar, "Pak! What's Manado famous for?"
Instantly, his eyes lighted up and answered with a sparkle in his eyes . "A-hah! Bunaken Island! Diving and snorkeling!"
"Wow! Snorkeling!" I thought. "This is fun! I only snorkelled once in my life and I really loved it so much!"
Now, I really caught onto the idea. I checked the price online, did some calculations, weighed my purse and decided that I still have some cash to spare. Thus, on the 6th day of the promotion, which was also the very last day, on the 27th of July, 2008, I finally made the call and bought the tickets to Manado for two at the very last minute, which comes with 3 days 2 nights stay in a Villa Duplex room at Cocotinos hotel, complete with breakfast, and a complimentary massage, all for the price of RM 641 per person.
Satisfied that I had made a very worthy purchase, now all that was left was to plan the trip. "Hmm.. What will we do when we go there?"
So, I emailed the person in charge to ask for more information about the tours offered by the hotel. Mega, the coordinator in charge, mailed me back, recommending a 1-day Minahasa Highland tour on the day we arrived and snorkeling at Bunaken Island on the 2nd day.
However, looking through the itenary, visiting a pottery factory, traditional market, and traditional houses did not appeal to me. After all, in Malaysia we have these things too. In fact, the place where I come from is famous for pottery too! So, I opted for something else instead, which was the visit to the volcano!
Within 2 weeks, everything was settled. Now, all I could think of was Manado, Manado, Manado. I just couldn't wait to fly to the Isle of Sulawesi!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Click here for a more accurate idea of the location of Manado.*
At the beginning of the conversation, I knew she was going to ask me to go for a holiday somewhere. But Manado? Where is it? I have never heard about about this place!
So, I began searching on the Google website. Lo and behold! Sulawesi is like the shape of five fingers on our left hand, stretched out towards the east. Manado just happens to be in the middle of our last pinky finger. Geographically, Manado is in the north part of Sulawesi, east of Kalimantan and south of the Philippines.
"Hmm... " I thought. "I've never been to Sulawesi before! I've only studied about Sulawesi in history books. Its stories of past kings and kingdoms, as far as I remember, how it was once the centre of trade in the region of South East Asia really captivated me. Wow! Whoever heard of people visiting Sulawesi for fun?"
Suddenly, the idea really captivated me. The next day, I went to work and asked my Indonesian colleague, Pak Muchtiar, "Pak! What's Manado famous for?"
Instantly, his eyes lighted up and answered with a sparkle in his eyes . "A-hah! Bunaken Island! Diving and snorkeling!"
"Wow! Snorkeling!" I thought. "This is fun! I only snorkelled once in my life and I really loved it so much!"
Now, I really caught onto the idea. I checked the price online, did some calculations, weighed my purse and decided that I still have some cash to spare. Thus, on the 6th day of the promotion, which was also the very last day, on the 27th of July, 2008, I finally made the call and bought the tickets to Manado for two at the very last minute, which comes with 3 days 2 nights stay in a Villa Duplex room at Cocotinos hotel, complete with breakfast, and a complimentary massage, all for the price of RM 641 per person.
Satisfied that I had made a very worthy purchase, now all that was left was to plan the trip. "Hmm.. What will we do when we go there?"
So, I emailed the person in charge to ask for more information about the tours offered by the hotel. Mega, the coordinator in charge, mailed me back, recommending a 1-day Minahasa Highland tour on the day we arrived and snorkeling at Bunaken Island on the 2nd day.
However, looking through the itenary, visiting a pottery factory, traditional market, and traditional houses did not appeal to me. After all, in Malaysia we have these things too. In fact, the place where I come from is famous for pottery too! So, I opted for something else instead, which was the visit to the volcano!
Within 2 weeks, everything was settled. Now, all I could think of was Manado, Manado, Manado. I just couldn't wait to fly to the Isle of Sulawesi!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Click here for a more accurate idea of the location of Manado.*
1 comment:
Jean, Manado is my next diving destination. The area is full of strange macro marine life... Try intro dive if you dare, no need license...
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