21st Dec 2011, Volcano Resort
The dramatically named Volcano Resort sits at the foot of Gunung Api Lokon, just outside Tomohon, Minahasa Province, Sulawesi, Indonesia. The latter is presently not climbable, the volcano a little too active. Instead we are spending the night in a wooden bungalow at the resort. Besides the one resort staff, we had a big party of 6 to 10 year olds having a Christian learning camp, to keep us company at the resort.
The day started out in Ternate: We took the Sriwijaya flight out from Ternate to Manado. Bizarrely, the time difference between the two cities resulted in the flight arriving 15 minutes before it departed! Manado’s Sam Ratulangi airport is much bigger than Ternate’s Babullah airport. The drill is the same though, avoid the first person that comes up to you when you exit the airport. He will quote some ridiculously high price as his transport fee. This time round however, the cab driver actually pointed out the direction when I said we wanted to take the public transport (bemo).
One of the many churches in and around Tomohon.
Christmas is coming and nowhere is it more obvious than here in North Sulawesi. From the get-go, the bemo (or angkut, or mikrolet, as it is also known as), from the airport to Manado’s Terminal Paal 2 passes through roads with X’mas light up. You can hear carols and hymns everywhere. The bemos are playing through Silent Night, Jingle Bell Rock, O Holy Night, and the lady in the bemo had a ringtone playing We Wish You A Merry Xmas. The folks here are devout Christians, and you can see it by the number of churches seen along the way.
From the Terminal Paal 2 station in Manado, flag the bemo to Karombasan Terminal at the south of the city. This is where you can take the bus to Tomohon. We decided to get out of Manado and instead chill at Tomohon, higher up in the hills, cooler and without the bustle of the big ciy.
Tomohon’s terminal – Terminal Beriman – was where we arrived at. We picked our resort for the night, Volcano Resort, at the town just before Tomohon (Take the Terminal Beriman to Kakaskasen bemo – The good thing about the bemos here is that their destinations are clearly labelled, unlike those in Ternate).
At Tomohon, we delved into the market, and there it was, the macabre sight that I was looking for, on the chopping boards, for sale, you have pig’s heads, dogs, and bats with wings torn off. There were some live dogs in cages as well, awaiting their unfortunate fate. I lasted all of five minutes before staggering out, trying hard not to gag. Don’t judge I say, the Minahasans have their own delicacies, just not the type I would try anytime soon.
We had lunch (soto Makassar, if you must know, I had no stomach for the special local cusine) before deciding to drop by Tondano. The bemo takes around a half hour, and from Tondano, a connecting bemo goes into the countryside (Tondano- Remboken route) where we ended up at the Sumaru Eno Family Spring Resort. It was a weekday so the place was pretty empty. There were hot spring pools, fishing areas, those water pedal thingies, all in the middle of a park overlooking the Lake Tondano. Serene and a good way to while the afternoon away.
Back in Tondano, it was dusk and the x’mas decorations were out. Little lighted xmas trees lined up the roads, throughout the entire town! Very x’massey feel which the light drizzle didn’t dampen.