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Thursday, May 14, 2009

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.

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