Manado Favorites

Favorite thing: manado is a gateway to go further to its mountainous range and underwater world. so, being here i can find both of 'going up' and 'going down' in one package. from exploring the pre-christian tombstones at the hills to see the blue water in the islands. all are interesting.

Fondest memory: i found there are some similarity between manadoian and pinoy. especially for dialects and words which is quite same with tagalog [of the philippines]. since i have many pinoy friends [especially from vt ;) ] so being here i feel "home" somewhere in the philippines :)

Favorite thing: Maengket is one of Minahasa traditional dance. At the end of January to February, there will be Maengket festival in Tomohon. Maengket contents can be seen during the Independence Day week or showed on some national day celebrations. It is a dance by a group of people, dance by pairs and led by a female dancer. The dancers will be singing while they dance most of the time.

Favorite thing: There are not many good internet cafés in Manado. DO NOT GO TO THE CYBER CAFÉ, BETWEEN THE POST OFFICE AND BANK BCA AT SAM RATULANGI STREET. You may be impressed by its stand from the front side but the connection is super slow. The good one from my experience will be ELF COMPUTER, at the intersection of Sarapung Street, Kartini Street, and 14 February Street. You may reach it from the road beside Bank BCA at Sam Ratulangi Street, near the furniture store at the end of that street. Others can be found at beside THE KLABAT UNIVERSITY, AIRMADIDI (quite far from city center) and at the MEGAMALL (top floor). The local name for the internet café is WARNET – Warung Internet. If you stay in the local house with the land line telephone, get the dial up connection. The id is telkomnet instant and the dial number is 08098999. The connection is slow, and you may expect the same to the GPRS service of the local cell phone numbers. The 3+ stars hotels will have the internet connection too.

Favorite thing: Manado will be the paradise for the fish lover like me! Many kinds of fish, the tasty ones will be found all over the city. Many restaurants at the Kalasey beach area (near Malalayang) with the ocean view. If you stay or visit the beach villages like Amurang, Kalasey, Malalayang, or Likupang; ask the locals what time the fishermen boats come from the fishing. Buy the fresh fish from them (very cheap) and grill your fish there. We did it before and had a feast of grilled fish! Eat the grilled fish with the fresh chilli sauce, DABU-DABU!

Favorite thing: The Emergencies numbers in Manado are AMBULANCE – 118, POLICE – 110, FIRE DEPARTMENT- 113
SEARCH AND RESCUE - 115 or 811782. The local hospital number (General Hospital) is 853191, manado airport 814320, Ship information 860908, and the post office is 161. For local information or telephone numbers of a person/company, you may call 108.

Favorite thing: Bamboo music, music bamboo in local language is one of the interesting things in Manado and surrounding areas. It consists of some sets of music instruments made by bamboo and played by a group of people. It is played for special occasions like the wedding parties, birthdays, harvest festivals, Independence Day, or anniversaries. Take some time to enjoy the bamboo music when you are able to do so. For the parties, the dance floor will be available (even the modest one) for the bamboo music.You will not experience it in any other places on earth.

Favorite thing: Exchanging your foreign money with Indonesian Rupiah is quite tricky here.A note of 100US$ will be more expensive than 5notes of 20US$:

Here are some tips for you :

-Bring some Indonesian Rupiah with you if you could get it in your country.500,000 to 1,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah will be enough before you will get the right place to exchange your money.It will be around 50-120US$ for the year of 2006`s rate.

-Bring the clean,unfolded,new $.US$ note with the year series 2000 and above will be good price here.

-Do not change your small bill $.Currency rate of 100US$ note will be better than the smaller note.

-The currency rate will be less in all the bank.Try the Manado Inter Money Changer (in front of Bahu Mall,beside BTN Bank) and ABH store, telp 62 431- 863563 / 866134 (at the entrance of Pall 2 Market,behind President Shopping center,Sisingamangaraja Street #12).The opening time will be 8AM-5PM.Good deal.

Favorite thing: Have you seen the picture?Yup.It is the common toilet in public places here.Take a look closely so you wont be shocked in Manado.Toilets and bathrooms for Indonesians should be wet.Sometimes you may even see some toilets with water flowing on the floor.Don`t expect to find the toilet paper.You sometimes have to pay to use the toilet in the malls!!Even the smell will be horrible sometimes.So just bring tissue with you everywhere and get ready for the wet and stinky toilet.The toilet is around 1000 Indonesian Rupiah in January 2007.Somebody will be sitting or standing near the door with the wooden box where you put your money in.You dont have to pay the toilet in the restaurant.