Blogs from Togean Islands, Sulawesi, Indonesia, Asia

Noc bola riadne vlhka, k comu dopomohol aj dazd. Ten ma zobudil okolo 4.00. Nuz ked som bol uz hore isol som sa vystat. Ale v dazdi sa mi moc na zachod nechcelo ist, tak som to oprel z balkona. Izbu mam na poschodi. Potom som sa uz len prehadzoval, trocha zima ale hlavne vlhkost. Chuj som nechal vonku uterak aj plavky. T.j. su nepouzitelne, totalne premocene. Ranajky poslabsie ale lepsejsie ako v predchodozom ubytku. Cakacku na jedlo a po nom som si kratil spisovanim korei. Jojo bez netu to ide tazsie ale nemam sa kam ponahlat, mam tu kopu volneho casu. Neskor sa pytam obsluhy na potapanie, ci ma tam niekto zavezie. No problem o 20.min vyrazame. A tak aj bolo, presne o 9.00 smer sifa diving center. Lodka mala drevenna, po stranach vybavena vahadlami. ... read more

Could you survive with no mobile, no internet, no hot water and limited electricity? These are some of the 'compromises' you have to make on a visit to the Togeans. We did it for a week and we've had a wonderful time. Kadidiri island is one of the more developed Togean islands, and is home to four 'resorts'. Kadidiri Paradise, our home for a week, was chosen simply because I'd fallen in love with the pictures of their water bungalows. With a little creative accounting we'd convinced ourselves we could afford it. Since the price included all meals our only additional costs would be for diving and Bintang. I think most people associate water bungalows with the Maldives and instantly have an image of some super glamorous five star resort. This was a little different. I ... read more

Getting to and from the Togean Islands in Indonesia requires a serious amount of effort and a serious amount of time. The reward at the end of the journey are stunning and isolated tropical islands surrounded by massive coral reefs amid crystal clear turquoise waters and golden sun kissed beaches. This place is awesome. From Toraja I took a 16 hour bus ride from hell complete with farm animals on my lap and all manner of crops under my feet to the lakeside town of Tentena for a day of recovery amid some nice scenery and some fresh water swimming. From Tentena it was another 8 hours to the port town of Ampana in North Sulawesi. From here it was a three hour ferry ride to The Togeans. I had arrived at Poya Lisa Island and ... read more

Na 5 dagen zonder internet en bijna helemaal zonder telefoonverbinding, is het nu weer tijd voor een korte update. Momenteel zit ik in een veel te warm internetcafe in Gorontalo, een kustplaats in Noord-Sulawesi. Hiervandaan vertrekt de boot naar de Togean eilanden, waar we nu net van teruggekomen zijn. Mijn vorige verslag schreef ik terwijl we net op Pulau Bunaken zaten, de dag voordat onze duikcursus zou beginnen. Samen met Martijn, een college van Tessa die vanaf Jakarta t/m Bunaken met ons meereisde, mochten we op 3 januari voor het eerst ‘echt’ duiken. Normaal begin je in een zwembad, maar dat hebben ze op Bunaken niet, dus onze eerste duik vond plaats in een lagune, met weinig stroming. Vooral Tessa zag hier een beetje tegenop, omdat ze nogal verkouden was. Als je duikt, moeten je oren ... read more

Bolilanga = > Fadhila = > Malenge = > Gorontalo = > Manado It is not the first time. It has happened before. We researched and we planned and yet we ended up doing completely different thing anyway. Why? Because we met some travelers on the way who told us stories that altered our plan. Some French family in Poyalisa/Bomba was just one of those instances. Sarah, Bas and us planned to go to Kadidiri after Bomba and we even booked bungalows for a specific date. Then we wanted to go to the remote Malenge Island after which we would have traveled back to Wakai (port very close to Bomba) for the ferry to the other side of Sulawesi. The family told us that they just did the trip but other way round and that we ... read more