Crystal Clear Water in Bunaken Island

I was looking through my travel blog entries and realised I didn't show you the crystal clear water in Bunaken Island in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

So here it is:

The dark blue part of the water is a 90-degree wall that goes deep down into the unknown. That area is also where I saw the most beautiful sea life and corals in my entire snorkelling experience.

Manado - Of 'The A-Team' & Fairy Tale Castles

Throughout my 4 days in Manado, I spent a bulk of my time on Bunaken Island. I didn't get to explore the outskirts of town or to climb Mount Tukun - all 'thanks' to AirAsia.

Manado is situated in Indonesia, in North Sulawesi to be precise. Apart from being a gateway to Bunaken Island, Manado is a town with many mikrolets.

The ubiquitous mikrolets in Manado town.

There're so many mikrolets that sometimes I think there are more mikrolets than people. Each ride cost less than RM1.00. Cheap, huh?

These mikrolets reminds me of the 80s television series called The A-Team because they move around with their doors wide open to enable passengers to get on and off easily.

Despite being in Indonesia which has the largest Muslim population, 80%-90% of Manado's population are Christians. That's why you'll find churches in every corner instead of mosques.

Even a small tropical island like Bunaken has its own church.

Church on Bunaken Island.

Spires of the church on Bunaken Island.

The spires reminds me of the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany

Neuschwanstein Castle (Pic from internet)

which was the original inspiration for the infamous castle you see in all the Walt Disney cartoons.

Walt Disney Castle (Pic from internet)

In Manado town, there are also many sculptors in the middle of the roads.

This one reminds me of Tugu Negara.

This one is artistic.

My flight to Manado landed late in the evening when there were no more boats to Bunaken Island. As such, I had to put up a night at Celebes Hotel which is situated beside the harbour before taking the boat to Bunaken Island early the next morning.

View of Manado harbour from Celebes Hotel.

Our Beautiful Chalet on Bunaken Island

This is the chalet that Angie and I stayed in whilst we were on Bunaken Island.

Swaying coconut trees and blue skies provide a superb background for our chalet.

This is how the inside of the chalet looked like:

Check out the mosquitoe net hanging above the beds and the antique fan on the table.

The unique part about this chalet is it's open air washroom.

Whenever I took a shower, I look up and see this:


It's even prettier at night when I shower under millions of twinkling stars.

And every night after a tiring day of snorkeling, we'll sit on the veranda of our chalet and enjoy a bottle of Bintang beer.

What would life be on a tropical island without the Bintang.

AirAsia - Cheap but Troublesome

I've been a fan of AirAsia since it started operations. However, my views of AirAsia has gone down the drain these couple of days.

Now don't get me wrong here. I adore AirAsia because it offers me an opportunity to fly cheaply and I think Tony Fernandes is one hell of an entrepreneur with strategy and foresight.

However ...

Story 1

My friend DM was down in KL recently. After KL, he was scheduled to continue his travel to Hong Kong, and I convinced him to use AirAsia, which he did.

After saying our goodbyes at the LCCT, I took the limo back to my apartment. Along the way, DM called to say that his flight got delayed. I was not surprised since it was raining cats and dogs.

When I reached my apartment, DM called again.

I was surprised to see his name blinking on my cellphone cause he was supposed to be on the flight by then.

"Wah ... so fast reach Hong Kong, ah ???" I thought.

Apparently after 10 minutes in the air, the pilot detected something wrong with the plane and turned back to LCCT !!!

DM told me it's the shortest flight he ever took in his life and I laughed at him. But despite DM kutuk-ing (condemning) AirAsia for its poor services and all, I still defended the airlines simply because it's a Malaysian airlines (not being disrespectful to the national carrier). Must fly the Malaysian flag mah ...

Yesterday, I had my dose of bad experience with AirAsia. Read Story 2.

Story 2

I was looking forward to my trip to Manado from 1 - 5 May. Angie and I had booked our flight way ahead in September last year for RM412 per person (including return Skybus from KL Sentral to the LCCT).

We already had a draft itinerary planned out to make use of the precious 5 days of glorious holidays. Our itinerary included snorkeling with the rich marine life of Bunaken Island and climbing Mount Lokon, which is a volcano!

However, yesterday I received an sms from AirAsia:

"Urgent! AirAsia flight AK432 from KUL (LCCT) to Manado on 01 May 09 is now cancel and moved to 02 May 09 (1550 hrs). We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

WTF !!!

First of all, 1 May is gone cause we'll only be leaving on 2 May. And with a flight at 3.50pm, we'll reach Manado late in the evening when it's already time to go to bed. So that's 2 whole days totally wasted!!!

For people like Angie and I who find it hard to take time off, this is ONE HELL OF A BAD NEWS !!!

Now since we've only got 3 days in Manado, it looks like we'll have to cancel our climbing escapade to Mount Lokon. What an utter disappointment !!!

When I told DM about this, he said, "I told you so".

He told me that apparently there's also a low-cost airlines in Europe called Ryanair that operates as shitty as AirAsia.

Today I received another sms from AirAsia:

"Urgent! AirAsia flight AK433 from Manado to KUL (LCCT) on 05 May 09 has been retimed later at 8.05pm (2005 hrs). We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

The original flight was supposed to be in the morning. But now since we'll be reaching LCCT late in the night, looks like I'll have to take leave the next day, which could be saved for other better things. One screw-up after the next !!!

I've never had an encounter as bad as this with AirAsia. And at publishing time, the airlines have not offered any compensation yet. But I hope they do cause they're gonna have many unhappy customers if they don't, especially those who have booked and paid for their hotel, tours, etc.

Damn you AirAsia !!!

Where To After Laos?

After my trip to Laos at the end of last year, my bags are already packed for my next destination.

Let me give you a clue ... it's a tropical island somewhere in Indonesia; somewhere where AirAsia flies to.

If your answer is Bali, guess again ...

This May, I'll be going to Manado in North Sulawesi to snorkel with the colourful fishes of Bunaken Island. Climbing an active volcano is also part of the trip.

I bought the return flight tickets in September last year for only RM412. Since it includes return bus from KL Sentral to the LCCT (low-cost carrier terminal), I felt it was freaking cheap! So off will I go for a island holiday in May.

Stay tuned ...