Michael's Minahasa Highland Fling

Onong also helped us to arrange a mikrolet and driver so that we could spend a day touring the sights of the Minahasa Highlands. We had a really interesting day with our driver, Michael, and his uncle.

First stop was the "meat section" of Tomohon Market to see some of the more unusual local specialities from the butchers table. It included snake, bat, rat (on a stick just like in Monty Python's Life of Brian), monkey and even dog. Liz has banned me from putting any dog and monkey pictures on the blog so here's a some bats. . .

If you're wondering why they are all burnt, it's part of the de-furring process, they simply singe it off with a blow torch. I should point out that this happens after the animals are dead!

For those who are curious a whole dog will set you back 250,000 Rupiah, about £16. Michael did advise us that they only usually get dog in if there is a special occasion, like a party.

Then it was a drive and trek up Gunung Mahawu volcano which provided some more pleasant photo opportunities than the horrors of the market. The views from the top and the 2km walk around the rim were the highlight of the day.

For lunch we headed to Danau Tondano lake which lies 600m above sea level. The lake has many Fish restaurants on it's shores which breed freshwater lake fish ready for your plate.

We ended our tour with a visit to Danau Linow, a bright green bubbling sulphurous lake. This place, although pretty, smelt really bad - like rancid eggy trumps! You should consider yourselves lucky that blog-aroma hasn't yet been invented!

Tomohon and the Minahasa Highlands

After not seeing the tarsiers we ended our stay on Sulawesi with 3 nights at Tomohon in the Minahasa Highlands. We actually stayed in the village of Kinilow, 5km outside of Tomohon, at a fantastic place called Onong's Palace. In terms of "bang for your buck" (our room cost about £13 a night) it was easily the best place we've stayed on our trip so far. The resort consisted of a handful of traditional wooden bungalows spread over a jungle covered hill. The setting was really stunning with views of the Gunung Lokon volcano across the valley.

It was the first time in over a week that we had hot water, a TV and 24 hour a day electricity. It felt like we had finally made it back into civilisation after the wilds, that first hot shower felt like absolute bliss!

I had intended to climb the 1580m peak of the Gunung Locon volcano on our first day there but Onong advised against it as it had been officially closed for the last 9 months due to ash and sulphur releases. Instead we headed into Tomohon town to re-connect with the outside world via the internet. The trip to the internet cafe provided a bit old world / new world juxtaposition, we went there on a horse and cart!

That evening we had a rather interesting time at the Pemandangan Restaurant, highly recommended by the Lonely Planet. The restaurant is situated on a cliff a few kilometers from our accommodation on the road to Manado. It had great views over Manado and Bunaken Island . . .

. . . but no food! Instead we had to a console ourselves with a couple of warm beers before catching a mikrolet (beat up Indonesian van) back for dinner at Onong's.