Trip report to Sulawesi and Singapore
The plan
In early october ago I left
on a wednesday evening for a 3.5 weks vacation in Asia. My thoughts when
planning had been that it was easier to use miles for a business flight to
Singapore as this would mean as well that I wouldn't have problems with
overweight on luggage since my dive gear is heavy. From Singapore I bought a
second ticket to Manado in Sulawesi/Indonesia with Silk Air. Silk Air is a
daughter company of Singapore Airlines and I preferred that to the indonesian
airlines that have been on the european black list of airlines....
Had planned the trip in February and found that that was already late for
october. In the end I found a small resort that still had a cottage available
for 2 weeks. I really wanted to go to Lembeh. Lembeh is a small island in
northern Sulawesi and the Lembeh Strait (between Lembeh and the Sulawesi
mainland) is known among underwater photographers for it's strange underwater
world (which partly consists of VERY small things).
After the two weeks in Lembeh I was supposed to go on the Sulawesi mainland and
stay in a much more expensive resort. On the way back I had two days in
Singapore.
That was the plan and when I finally was on the train to Frankfurt I had a glass
of champagne celebrating the fact that I was finally on vacation.
The trip
Flight to Singapore was uneventful. I was lucky enough to fly business class but
that doesn't necessarily mean that you can sleep comfortably. Still better than
economy class though... 13 hours after departure we landed in Singapore. Arrived
in Singapore - went through imigration in a heartbeat, found my bags and took
the skytrain to the other terminal where my hotel was located. Since my flight
arrived in the afternoon and the flight to Sulawesi was only the next morning I
had chosen to book a hotel at the airport. After checking in I walked around the
airport terminals checking out shops but didn't really find a lot that
interested me. Was too tired anyway for doing anything interesting... During the
night I got thirsty but when I saw that the hotel wanted 10 bucks for a 1 liter
bottle of water I found the price too high and didn't buy it.
Got up early the next morning as my flight was to leave at 9:30 AM and I knew
that my luggage was too heavy. When checking in I was surprised that my luggage
was heavier by 3 kg although I hadn't bought anything. Don't have to understand
everything, do I? Of course I had to pay overweight but had known that
beforehand...
Once we were in the air we were offered orange juice or beer. Strange
combination as I was waiting for plain and simple water... Got a snack
afterwards and after about 3 hours we landed in Manado/Sulawesi. There we had to
pay arrival tax first, then go through immigration and then get our luggage.
When finally I had done the first two steps I got my luggage and went outside.
Found the guy with the sign 'Two fish divers' who was waiting for me. Asked him
if I could use the toilet for a moment and go to the ATM. Of course I could.
Closest toilet was closed (why does that ALWAYS happen to me whereever I go???????)
and I had to walk over to the other end of the airport. Got money afterwards and
bought a bottle of water before I was finally ready to go.
It was hot and humid and I was glad to be finally in the car to Bitung from
where I had to take a boat to go over to Lembeh...
So here are the pics from the trip to Lembeh.
This was my room at the airport. Like I found already in two hotels in Bangkok
you can see into the room out of the bathroom... :) There are shades though that
you can use if you don't want anyone seeing you in there... ;)
The airport (in the background you can see the islands around Singapore).
This is one of the first impressions that I had on the way from the airport in
Manado to Lembeh. Along the road there were these coke bottles everywhere. I had
no clue what their meaning was so in the end I asked the driver. He told me that
these were used for fuel for the moto bikes as there not that many gas stations...
(and stupid me had thought that these bottles had really something to do with
coke... :joker:)
A few more impressions along the way....
These decorations were everywhere...
And my first glimpse of the harbour of Bitung from where I had to take the boat
over to the Two Fish divers resort.
Not sure I would trust that ferry....
That was one of the first times I saw just how friendly the people in Sulawesi
are.... they just saw me on the boat and started waving.
Two Fish Divers Lembeh and Lembeh Strait
When I arrived Helen and Gizmo, who manage the Two Fish Lembeh Resort, were
already waiting for me and they explained me how everything worked. After we
went through the paperwork they showed me to my cottage which was VERY spacious.
Two Fish Divers Lembeh is a very basic resort without aircon and Minibar in the
rooms but I didn't miss anything (except maybe a good cup of coffee in the
morning
). They are a very good value for the money that you pay. Food was always very
good (the cook is a local).
Unfortunately I didn't spent my first day in the water diving but in bed. I
probably should have paid those 10 bucks for the water in Singapore as I think I
didn't drink enough water during the trip to Manado. And when I don't drink
enough water I get a headache. Bad luck that I had left the painkillers for
strong headache at home... so there was no way I could have gone diving that day.
Only in the evening I was able to get up to have something to eat. That was not
how I had imagined my first day of vacation...
Doesn't make sense to write a day by day report for the rest of the stay since
the days were mostly the same for two weeks. Get up around 7, have breakfast, 8
AM departure for the two morning dives. After we got back lunch, short break and
at 2:30 or 3 PM we would go diving again. After that time for a shower and then
we would sit together to check the pictures and find out what we had seen. The
guides often helped us when checking the pics so we didn't have to search in the
books for the names of the fish. After dinner we either continued or went to
sleep. Sounds boring but it was all but... the guides and boatcrews would sing
together so we had evening entertainment as well. I have to say that I loved
them all. They were laughing a lot together (and with us
) and seemed all so good humoured all the time although they are working long
days. And they were as friendly as I found all the people in Sulawesi. When we
were out diving they were very attentive and helped us with our gear. The staff
at the restaurant were the same. So I was perfectly happy at Two Fish divers....
Saw that family passing by one evening from my deck.
'Leisure room'
The dive boat
Compressor room
The resort
Chris singing and I am not sure if this instrument is called guitar as well...
View from my deck one sunny afternoon. You can see how dirty the water is with
waste that is swimming in it.
They do have garbage collection though.
Resort seen from the water
In between dives...
Bitung seen from the resort
And the only evening that we had a spectacular sunset...
Frontdesk with the standard rooms
Leisure room seen from the restaurant
The dive sites of Lembeh strait
Sem, my guide, who found so many spectacular things for me.
Lembeh strait
Jet Ski sulawesi style...
Handry, who saved my feet from the sea snake, with indonesian food.
One of the few beaches with white sand.
And I think this pic of Hendro, Handry and Yusuf shows exactly how they are.