Blogs from Sulawesi, Indonesia, Asia - page 8

The Togean Islands are white beaches, turquoise waters, swaying palm trees, coral reefs and jungles. They are strange rock formations sticking out of the water. They are friendly locals and interesting wildlife. And until recently they were not too easy to reach, which always is good to keep out the hordes. But times are a changing and the gateway to the Togean’s, Ampana, now sports an airport. And airports mostly mean one thing: more tourists! The hordes haven’t arrived just yet, but the locals are preparing for them. Resorts are popping up like mushrooms, and the amount of boats servicing the various islands are increasing. It was off-season now, but still I was surprised by the amount of travellers. Luckily they are spread out over the various islands and resorts, so at any given place there ... read more

This place is part of the endless islands named "Tukangbesi Islands" off the coast of the southeastern part of Sulawesi and does not receive many tourists. I caught a ferry from a town called "Bau Bau", the place is just a tipical small fishing village on the the coastline but what picked up my eyes in this little town was, just walking around the port while waiting for the ferry to depart for my destination, that inside a creek there were schools of tropical and colourful fish of different varieties and it was something that has never happened to me before. Ferry was about to arrive and I got myself ready to embark on it. The view of the pier was really pretty with all the fishermen boats anchored to it forming a row along it. ... read more

The only way to claim that you have dived the world, is to dive , one dive site at a time! Leslie has two weeks of school holidays before starting serious school exams...and Tiffany is already back at school in South Africa....so the boys are back on the road, and under the water! I have already dived in few places around Indonesia, doing Pulau Weh, Gili Trawanggan, Komodo and even Bali. So for Indonesia, North Sulawesi was still on the list. You may have heard of Lembeh, world class muck diving. You basically dive on a black sandy bottom, meeting little creatures that you will only find here. There is also Bunaken and the wall diving. To complete the triangle, you have at the top north tip of North Sulawesi the islands of Bangka and less ... read more

Four nights in Paradise? Well perhaps not paradise but pleasant none the less, there is a mosque opposite the island which is a little annoying at 430am, the lack of running water and power during the day kind of sucked and the steamy mosquito filled nights were terrible but for $25 a night full board who am I to complain. The first full day we visited Malenge Island hoping to see some wildlife, there aparrently is some there we just didn't see any, the jungle hike was extremely hot and comfortable although the guide cracked a few coconuts open so we could have a drink. Finally we reached the other side of the island and popped out at an eco Resort where we had lunch and a lot of h2o. We then headed out to Hotel ... read more

Eggs on toast for breakfast then off to Ke'te Kesu for some very impressive traditional homes,granaries, a white buffallo, a friendly dog and ofcourse more human bones. Next we visited a number of other similar sites at Sangalla, Tampangallo and Suaya villages before visiting the Kambirra baby graves. Now that was a macabre site they carve a hole into the side of a fast growing breadfruit tree and place still borns and infants in the hole then cover the hole with burlap, eventually the tree grows and the hole seals. We then returned to Rantepao for lunch I have to eat at westerner cafes to get a vegetarian meal which is more expensive. Tonight I may have seafood pizza before bed. Today is our last day in Tana Toraja so we visited the market which runs ... read more