Visiting Rammang-Rammang Village, Makassar

The idea to visit Rammang-Rammang came from a friend at Makassar's office. Pak Rissyo said that it is the second largest karst in the world, and the largest karst in Indonesia. The next thing I did was googling abouth Rammang-Rammang Village in Makassar, and I fell in love with this place.

Pak Rissyo arranged the trip for us. We managed to leave the hotel at 8 am, headed to Rammang-Rammang and back to the airport at midday, because we had a flight to catch to Palu.

All the effort was really worth it, because this is the first sight I saw when we arrived at the small jetty for all the long tail boats going to Rammang-Rammang Village.

From the very first start, I knew this trip would be a special one

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RM Heni Putri Kaili

After visiting Donggala, we went back to Palu to catch our afternoon flight going back to Jakarta. As we still had time, we stopped by at RM Heni Putri Kaili to have lunch. The resto is located on the Talise beach, so we could enjoy Palu's view from the resto.

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Tanjung Karang Beach

It was my first experience ever visiting a beach in Sulawesi, and glad that I have extended my business trip to visit the Tanjung Karang Beach. We tried to see the sunset, but it was too cloudy that morning. We walked along the beach, but the further we walked from Prince John Dive Resort, we found garbage on the beach. It was really a pity that people left garbage on the beach like diapers! Aaargh! But in the morning I saw people from each of the resort located on the beach were cleaning up the beach.

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Prince John Dive Resort

We were recommended by our friends in Palu to stay at Prince John Dive Resort when we told them that we were planning to stay at Donggala on our last night in Sulawesi. Then I look through its website, the place looks great, that I decided to look no other and directly book the resort by phone. We were confirmed that they will accommodate us at their stone houses, near the beach. A single room cost us IDR 600,000 while the ladies room cost us IDR 800,000 with an extra bed. The room price includes three course meal, what a bargain.

When we reach the resort at about 7.30 pm, we were informed that they could only provide the wooden house, and the ladies room was really small that they couldn't provide us with the extra bed. The worst thing was, they didn't record my friends' reservation! Ended up my friends staying at other hotel next door. 

What about the four of us? We spoke to the manager named Alex, we told him how disappointed we were and that we would have to stay at the stone houses located near the beach (as promised). He said sorry that somehow he missed our booking and offered us a 50% discount and that we'll be moved to bigger room, but located 300m from the beach. We didn't have any choice other than to accept Alex's offer.

The next morning we went up early to see the sunrise. Too bad it was cloudy that morning. Prince John Dive Resort has a direct access to the beach. It has also a common area consist of dining room, a bar and of course a dive center.

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Cafe Desa Donggala

On our way to Donggala from Palu, we stopped by a floating restaurant which called Cafe Desa to have our dinner. The wooden resto is really floating, and looks quiet romantic after the sunset. To reach this resto, you only have to follow the road (passing the Swiss BelHotel), after some km aways you will find this resto on your right.

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The Beauty of Palu

I have never thought that Palu is a beautiful city with sea and mountain as the highlight, until I visited the city in September 2012. We arrived at 10 pm in Palu, the city was really quiet and dark when we came. We were hungry but there was nothing opened around the hotel we stayed in, Santika Palu. So we had to order from the hotel, and that night again I underestimate the city. But the next morning, when I opened the curtain, I saw the view of a quiet city surrounded by mountain. It was love at first sight, I love the city.

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Must Have Food in Palu : Kaledo

My first time ever visiting Palu, the capital city of Central Sulawesi. And my first culinary experience in Palu was eating their Kaledo which stands for "Kaki Lembu Donggala" (may I translate it as "cow's leg from Donggala"?). Well from the name of the food, I knew it wasn't my fave food at all, but I tried it anyway (for the sake of writing this post:p), sharing my half portion with a friend. So here's my Kaledo soup.

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Ulu Juku Restaurant Makassar

This place was introduced by our friends in Makassar, the Ulu Juku restaurant. "Ulu" means head and "juku" means fish. The building of this restaurant is huge, and it was very busy when we visited this resto during lunch time. We had lunch at their vip room located on the third floor.

Even though I was at Ulu Juku, my fave is their fish satay, it's really delicious! It taste like chicken, and I really love the sauce.

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Sunset to remember at Akkarena Beach

As we were waiting for our 9 pm flight to Palu from Makassar, our friends in Makassar took us to see the beautiful sunset at Akkarena Beach before going to the airport. Makassar traffic is becoming very hectic (at least compared to my previous visit in 2010:p) especially after office hours, when people are rushing back home. Alhamdulillah, we made it on time for the sunset at Akkarena beach.

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Somba Opu Makassar

This is a must visit place while you are in Makassar, the Somba Opu market, where you can find cheap Makassar souvenirs. We went there at 8 pm, many shops were closed already, only few shops were opened. Our driver took us to one shop called Sulawesi Art Shop. I was intended to buy Minyak Kayu Putih for my friends, but ended up buying tshirt and Makassar snacks as well:p

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Surya Super Crab

This is our first time visiting this super famous resto for its crab in Makassar; Surya Super Crab. We rented an innova from Clarion Hotel to have dinner, it was about 20 minutes from the hotel to reach this resto. We have just arrived from Manado, check in at the hotel than directly went out for our dinner, for sure the five of us were hungry, that's why we ordered a lot of food:)

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Mapanget Indah Restaurant

Our friends in Manado told us that up to now, Mapanget Indah Restaurant is the only choice to have lunch before our afternoon flight as it is located only 5 minutes from Manado's Airport. And that's why this resto is always full, though it has a huge dining area. We arrived at 1 pm, although we have ordered our food by phone, still we had to wait for the food about 40 minutes. It was a really hectic lunch time at Mapanget Indah Restaurant.

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Pasar Kue Lili Loyor Manado

I asked my friends in Manado what can I do in Manado early in the morning? My friend recommended us to visit a special market for Manado's traditional sweet treat called "Pasar Kue Lili Loyor", which opens at 6 am and it's a short walking distance from the hotel we stayed in - Aston. The next morning, we went there, looking for a real market, but it turned up to be two shophouses selling all kinds of snacks. It wasn't something I would called "market" but yes you can find so many sweet treats here. 

Although we could find Lalampa and Panada in Jakarta, these two things were my most wanted items that morning. They were sold IDR 1,500 each.

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A short visit to Tomohon

We went to Tomohon which is one hour away from Manado to visit one of our product retailer. Tomohon located on a higher land, we passed over hilly area, and stopped for a while to capture a picture of Manado.  

Too bad we didn't have much time that day, so we couldn't visit Tomohon market which is famous for selling many kind of animals to be eaten by locals (rats, dog, snake:p). After completing our assignment, we visited Gua Bunda Maria. My friends did their prayer there, while I enjoy the greenery of the place.

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Merciful Building Manado

We went to Manado for a business trip, so we had to utilize our time while we were there:p We heard about this place called Merciful Building Manado which opens 24 hours and provide food, snacks and Manado's souvenirs. So early in the morning at 6.30am, we took taxi from the hotel we stayed in - Aston Manado - to Merciful Building Manado. The taxi fare was IDR 20,000 for one trip (for sure it wasn't a metered taxi). But when we arrived there, the building was not on the main street, and we asked the diver to wait for us, so we paid him IDR 50,000 for a return trip.

The area is huge with spacious parking lot, many snacks restaurant, and they also has a traditional Minahasa house. Guests are welcome to enter the traditional house, but as we came there early, the house was closed. The shops which sells all Manado's souvenirs and snacks were not that big and packed with so many stuffs. Glad we came there early in the morning, and we were the only visitors that morning:p

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Wahaha Restaurant Manado

On our previous visit to Manado, we had a seafood dinner at Ria Rio Restaurant, located a little bit off the city. This time we tried its sister resto callled Wahaha Restaurant, located in the Mega Mall area of Manado.

We arrived at Mega Mall area around sunset time, yes it was too early for dinner but the good thing was, we could enjoy the beautiful sunset just outside the resto :)

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RM Rajawali Manado

On my second visit to Manado, we tried very yummy fried Ikan Mas at Rumah Makan Rajawali located just beside Swisbelhotel Manado. From outside the resto looks like an ordinary house, but this small resto always packed with guests especially during lunch time.  

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