Letter1Pemba

From Bali I flew to Manado, which is just north of the equator in Sulawesi (still in Indonesia)
for some more diving. I was planning to spend about a week on an Island called Bunaken, just
north of Manado, for some world famous wall diving and then about a week in Lembeh, south east
of Manado, and renowned for its muck diving (i.e few coral reefs, black sand and sea grass, but
loads of very interesting critters).

I Spent the first night in Manado at a hotel situated in the middle of the fish market in a the
most dubious looking end of town - The lonely planet recommended it and it was cheap. Aside
from the intermittent electricity it was fine for a night. I treated myself to a Chinese dinner
late and was walking back when some guys sitting on plastic chairs on the pavement insisted
that I join them for a drink, which turned out to be some of the local wine, called 'Irak'
(pronounced in the same way that George W says Iraq). similar to tequila in taste and strength,
and tried to chat to me in very broken English. I was happy to go along with it until they
offered me some dog - a local delicacy. I guess I am not that adventurous after all.

The next day I took a boat to the island of Bunaken, which, according to the lonely planet, is
where "Divers go when they die" (probably right after sampling some of the local cuisine). It
was a small local boat shaped like a canoe with outriggers, but because of the tide couldn't
quite make it to the wharf, so I had to walk a few steps through the most disgusting water I
have ever seen, or smelt or that matter. Imagine a sewer with plastic bottles, packets, wood,
ropes and other unidentifiable flotsam and you'll be close. Thankfully it clears up soon out of
Manado, although a lot of the plastic rubbish finds its way onto Bunaken, so you have to pay a 10
pound "cleaning up fee" to dive there. Despite all that, the diving is phenomenal. Check out the
pictures.

After a week diving, eating some fantastic Indonesian food, meeting great people and having an
all round good time at Daniel's Homestay, I thought I would head to Lembeh. But whilst there I
fell ill with a mysterious illness that had me throwing up, with a fever, dizziness and exhaustion
for a few days so I had to stop diving and go back to Manado to recover. Its a pity, as the
diving and the accommodation and food were excellent. I stayed at Sulawesi Dive Quest, which
is the cheapest accommodation in Lembeh, for those that are interested.

Aside from a few missed photo opportunities, there was no real harm done and I recovered
quickly back in Manado. Check out the few pictures I did manage to get. I also decided to quit
diving for the remainder of the trip as it felt as if my body had had enough after 60 dives.

I was quite happy to go back to Manado as its a really friendly city. Its the largest city in
North Sulawesi and is pretty dirty and run down and seems to have more microlet (small blue
minivans clearly made for people much smaller than me, adorned with blue or red lights inside,
booming sound systems and at times hundreds of rearview mirrors). But the people are
unbelievably friendly and the girls are gorgeous. I felt like a celebrity walking around town
almost everyone would smile and greet me or shout out: "Hey Mister, how are you?" Or "Hey
Mister, where are you going", or "Hey Mister, where you come from?" I even got a "Hey Mister,
you from Hollywood?" once.

It was also very safe so that I felt quite comfortable walking around at the dead of night and
got invited a number of times to drink with random people on the side of the road. On a
walkabout on Friday night, I bumped into my 4-words-of-english friends again and spent an hour
drinking and listening to them saying my name over and over - at least they were trying. Once I
had extracted myself from that party, a hundred meters down the road I was hailed by some
Indonesian Navy Seals. They gave me the customary plastic chair and shared their Casa Gari (a
mix of local beer, whiskey and coke) with me. I also bought them a few drinks and they were my
best mates. One even offered his services as a dive guide saying we could use the navy boat,
gear and compressors and dive for free. I declined as I wasn't too sure about diving with
someone who couldn't speak a word of English (his friend had been translating for me). And all
this at 1am in the morning on a very dubious looking street. They kindly offered me their
prostitutes too, which I also politely declined

The nest day I was befriended by some students, who came and sat with me as I was eating
dinner in a shopping mall. They claimed to be at university studying medicine and business
administration (although I am not so sure of that) but they seemed harmless enough. They said
they lived 'on the street' and were part of the 'underground movement', but exactly what that
means is anyone's guess. They could speak English well enough and just wanted some different
conversation, so I spent one evening 'hanging' with them.

So that was Manado, city of smiles. I just wish I could speak more Indonesian.