Novotel Manado Convention Ctr

20 Dollars less in our pocket, a lot closer to the equator. After an amazing final night in Bunaken we took the ferry back to Manado. From there, the bus to Gorontalo. A nine hour jeep ride through tiny villages, by an abundance of rice fields, passing election posters, rivers and not so solid bridges. When we reached the mountain range the drive became less pleasent as the many curves that our driver had to enter with a speed of 80 km/h kept ...

... all of the deadly critters mentioned are totally harmless so long as you aren't stepping on them or placing some other body part in contact with their pointy parts. We saw many other cool things along the way and can only imagine what else is in store for us what with 10 more dives to go! The second and third dives were also fantastic. We spotted a very small cuttlefish that ...

Last day at Minahasa, and diving in the beautiful, stunning, amazing, overwhelming, and so on... Bunaken Marine Preserve. Words just cannot describe how heavenly this place is where sea life is concerned. There is no shortage of fish, corals and other invertebrates, and they come in the widest variety that would seem possible. We will truly miss diving this absolute gem of a ...

... Finally time to end the dive after nearly an hour of bottom time. This dive was quite the teaser to the next two dives we were going to make today. Dive 2 was at a site called Emma's Point. This was mostly a coral garden site, filled with tons of fascinating and very colorful fish. The corals were amazing and make for ...

... thanks goes to Will, who looked after us & met us at the airport despite having Typhoid & generally not being able to eat anything...at all... Since returning to Bogor I've been enjoying getting back into the swing of things at work. Mum has been crazy sending over all kinds of learning resources and packages for the kids- thanks mum! The Very Hungry Caterpillar is going down a treat! Our little library is starting to boom & the ...

... in a wooden cottage which was spacious and clean. Lembeh Straits is considered one of the best macro dive sites in the world, there is little coral in it, the bottom been mainly black volcanic sand. And lots of rubbish. But the critters seem to like it. I'd decided to move on from using a point and shoot camera for my underwater photography and splashed out on a underwater housing for my Canon 40D SLR, along with a strobe and ...

... a horrendous, snarling death-grin. In one stall where they were in the process of de-furring 2 dogs, there was a third laying on a table in the back. It was breathing - either sleeping or unconscious. We tried to convince ourselves that it was somebody's pet - at least temporarily. Gunung Mahawu is a semi-active volcano that spews sulfurous steam and has a fairly large crater about 600 meters across and maybe 300 meters deep. Our driver ...

... like, living in a place like this and what do the villagers do everyday for the rest of their lives? The simplicity of life here is something I've never encountered. Try as I might, I could not imagine myself living here for years without getting demented. I was already restless after a day. I realised then just how lucky I am, living in Singapore with almost everything you can ask for. The ease of life and ...

... hours. My natural sweet disposition doesnt usually come around until mid-day on a fabulous day. Today isnt a fabulous day. I was on a mission to find another homestay that has 'decent' facilities. So, after breakfast, Dave and I went to check out the island. Even though I had my hat, sunnies, fan and an umbrella, it was so hot, I was still steaming. Nothing seemed to cool me or my temper down. Poor Dave. I ...

... et un autre a Borneo ou etonemment on trouve meme des kinder surprises qu on sle dise!!!)....et une ptite heure de bateau. completement nazes, mais entiers et avec nos bagages, cool. On est arrives a Bunaken, une ptite ile quasi deserte avec un recif corallien tout autour...genial. On a passe la semaine a plonger, faire du snorkeling avec des nemos (d ailleurs ca a des sacrees dent ces betes la), des raies, etc. Le snorkeling etait ...