Cleaning up Bunaken Beaches and Coral Reef

Swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving in Bunaken National Park are a fun marine recreational activity. We can swim over or dive through colorful sea corals and at the same time see various kinds of ornamental fish.

Bunaken is a famous destination for marine tourism. This marine national park is located near Manado city of North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The Bunaken marine park is always full with travellers from around the world. Bunaken sea park is exposed to harmful marine pollutants produced by city dwellers of Manado. Wastes from the city drift to the sea park and cover many of its live corals.

Bunaken National Park

City authority must take serious actions to prevent more destruction of the corals. So far, the bombing practices of the fish have been banned for years but the amount of waste from the city flowing out to the sea has not been reduced. It takes tens of years to restore the condition of coral reefs. Citizens of Manado and scuba divers can cooperate to protect the Bunaken sea park. Citizens should demand the municipality authority to install incinerators for burning the waste and produce electricity from it. In addition, the citizens must regularly do the cleaning up activites along the coastal areas of Manado and Minahasa regions and the nearby islands of Siladen, Bunaken, Mantehage, Nain and Manado Tua.

The National Marine Park of Bunaken near Manado city of North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia

Scuba divers can also be asked to participate in the cleaning up programs of underwater Bunaken coral reefs for lifting up plastic bags, metals and other waste materials that cover the corals.

Through this kind of cooperations among the government, citizens, and scuba diver tourists, we hope that soon we will be able to create healthier environment both above and under water. Eco-tourism which has become the goal of todays modern tourism industry will effectively be implemented in Minahasa region. - by Charles Roring

Also read: 

• Wildlife Trip in Tangkoko and Minahasa Highland
• Birding in Sonder's Forest and Farmland
• Birding and Butterfly watching from Manado city
• Minahasa Highland Tour: Hiking, Birding and Sightseeing

Traveling Across the villages of Sonder in Minahasa Highland

Minahasa Highland is a highly recommended destination for nature lovers. Visitors could travel to Tomohon town to see various colourful flowers or go hiking to the top Mount Mahawu to see its crater and enjoy birdwatching along its slopes. 

Butterfly and flower garden in Tincep village

Another interesting destination is Subdistrict Sonder. It is a small subdistrict town of Minahasa regency in the Republic of Indonesia. It is surrounded by farmland, and forest.  It is a highly recommended destination fo visitors who are interested in nature, and culture. 

Most of local villagers work as farmers. They grow food crops such as rice, corn, sweet potatoes, red beans, carrots, peanuts, and etc.

Farmland and rice field in Subdistrict Sonder of Minahasa regency

People in Tincep village grow beautiful flowers in front of their houses. The flowers are sold to Manado city and other towns in North Sulawesi.

There are two or three waterfalls near Tincep village. I recommend that tourists visit Tincep to see those beautiful flowers, rice fields and waterfalls, travelers can enjoy white water rafting in Timbukar village. Don't forget to wear life jacket when you get into the boat.

Manado city - the capital of North Sulawesi Province in Indonesia. It is the flight destination for tourists who want to explore Minahasa highland. 

Minahasan people are full of smile and laughs. They like singing folk songs, playing music as well as drinking saguer. For this drink, many tourists who travel to this region say that the refined one is strong enough to make you hang over the next day before continuing your trip. When saguer has been fermented and distilled, the end product is called Cap Tikus. Its alcohol content is probably higher than whiskey. 

So, don't drink too much if you plant to leave the village early in the morning. If you still have time, you can take a short trip to Leilem to see how the local craftsmen make furniture. 

Marine Tour in Bunaken Islands

Visitors could combine the trip to Minahasa highland with marine tour to Bunaken islands where they could enjoy sightseeing, swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving to see various species of tropical fish and other marine creatures.

If you are interested in visiting Minahasa land to see its villages and people as well as enjoy its beautiful landscape, please, contact me by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.

Also read: 

• Wildlife Trip in Tangkoko and Minahasa highland
• Birding in Sonder of Minahasa regency
• Birding and Butterflywatching in Sonder of Minahasa highland

Singapore of Surabaya

Surabaya is the second largest city of Indonesia. It is located in the East of Java island. For years, the city has become the trading hub of all businesses in Indonesia beside Jakarta. People who are looking for cheaper Indonesian agricultural commodities can choose Surabaya as the export point.
But in this article, I am not going to talk about doing business in this city. I am talking about travelling around the city. Surabaya has a lot of malls where tourists can shop various kinds of products ranging from electronics to clothes.
While I was in Surabaya, I visited Singapore of Surabaya. It is not located in a strategic place where public transportations pass by. Instead, this little Singapore is located in Citraland in the western region of the city. The nearest mall is Pakuwon Trade Centre.
Singapore of Surabaya looks like little Singapore. It has statues that are similar but smaller than the original ones in Singapore.
At night, city dwellers like to visit this area for eating out and socialising with their friends. Cars are parked along the middle part of the streets and there are no parking attendants like what we see in most big cities of Indonesia. The restaurants offer delicious Asian foods in affordable prices. It also has wide pedestrian foot path with rows of trees along the streets making the area look green and cool.
Despite all the similarities that we can compare between the real Singapore city and the Singapore of Surabaya, there is one thing that I think different. It is the language the people use. If we are in Singapore we will easily communicate in Singlish - the mixture of English with little Mandarin, and Malay dialects.
Here, people speak Indonesian or Javanese.
When I ordered some food, I asked for spicy fried rice which looked attractive. It was very hot and I had to drink more water to cool down my mouth.
After all, Singapore of Surabaya is a great place to visit at night, it offers you romantic scene which is suitable for couples who are in love. But it is also suitable for any single person who wants to look for somebody there for a romantic dating between the statues of Raffles and Lion of this little Singapore. This was written by Charles Roring

Travel Story from Rambunan Village

My tour in Sonder villages was considered complete if I had traveled to Rambunan village. Many travel agency haven't provided tour package to this region. It is around one hour traveling by car from Manado, the capital city of North Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. After two days staying in Sonder, I continued my trip to that village. It is a special village that produce sugar from palm trees. Palm sugar is an important ingredients in South East Asian cuisines. Palm sugar is made by heating the sweet sap that has been taken from Aren palm trees usually in early the morning and at around 5.00 p.m. in the afternoon.

If you plan to travel Rambunan village, ask your tour and travel agency to arrange for a special trip to that village. The best time to visit it is during full moon period. At the time the Aren trees produce a lot of sap. The sap is sometimes fermented and distilled by farmers to make CapTikus. Cap Tikus or Sopi contains high percentage of alcohol. So, if you travel by riding motorcycle or driving a rented car, don't drink too much or you won't be able to return to your hotel.

Palm sugar from Rambunan is sold to local traditional markets in Minahasan towns such as Sonder, Kawangkoan and Tomohon. Some inter-island traders export it to West Papua, Maluku and even Eas Kalimantan. The quality of palm sugar from Rambunan village is the best in the world. The Minahasan people living in Rambunan have been making palm sugar from generations to generations. Although the process is done manually, the sugar they produce is always consistent with it taste. In addition, palm sugar from Rambunan village contains pure brown crystal. I recommend any travelers to buy some so that they use it later when drinking coffee or tea with dodol cake whose main ingredients are rice and palm sugar.

Similar to many other Minahasan villages, Rambunan village depends on agricultural commodities such as rice, clove, fruits, vanilla and corn. I like traveling to the villagers gardens and have parties with them there. Budget travelers can even arrange two or three days staying in such village to experience more about the village life and customs of the local people. This was written by Charles Roring.