Bunaken and Minahasa, Sulawesi

It was trip I thought I had made mistakes all along before embarking on this journey. Firstly I made a mistake of booking an 8 day trip, instead of 3, because I keyed in the wrong date of return. On this trip too, I was travelling solo, without tour agent ,  no hotel booking and no itinerary. I took this journey to Manado ,an exotic  place on the  fringe of the  Indonesian archipelago. the birthplace of famous filmstar Maria Manado.

Upon arriving at Manado, I surveyed the town and ended up at the busy waterfront  market. This was the focal point of the town acting as transport hub, market place, meeting place  and pit  for cockfighting.  As I  sat at a warong, contemplating my next move, a young man sitting at the next  table suggested that I should go to Bunaken , an island about two hours boat ride from the market. Having no plan whatsoever, I took a ride on an underpowered boat to the idyllic looking island.

I didn’t disembark on the touristy jetty of the island, but at another point called Udjungbenua. I then walked along the island path and came upon some attap huts on the hill slope facing the sea,   a homestay of a kind operated by two elderly sisters. There were  no running water and electricity, but the two sisters promised me  breakfast , lunch and dinner for my 5 days stay.

Unknown to me, Bunaken is a marine park, with a reputation that says “If divers dies, they go to Bunaken”. Not an avid diver, I found snorkeling among the spectacular coral most absorbing and taking most of my time. I didn’t have to go far  to find a good snorkeling spot, just 50 meters from the shoreline, I was already in the underwater world teeming with luxuriant corals and other marine life. I got the whole field of coral to myself, fringed by dark abyss that plunged to the depth with barracuda , sharks  and big sardine shoal leisurely swimming in the background. When not snorkeling I would explore on foot  the whole length of the island which was only about 5 kilometer long, meeting villagers who were Sanghir,Tidorese ,Minahasan,Talaud,Christians,Muslims,all living side by side on this island  for years.

On my last night, as I sat on the verandah listening to sound of waves that lapped the beach, a villager came for a chat. We talked over many subjects, but one topic that was new to me was his statement that the Malay had its beginning in this very area,Melayu Tua, he called them. I was puzzled by his opinion because my history book told me it all begun along the Straits of Malacca, which was the birthplace and the heartland of the Malays . He elaborated that Melayu Tua in its pristine and uncorrupted form is evidenced in living language by Orang Sanghir, a predominant ethnic group of this area. He proved this by listing some common words, which despite some phonological variations, were the same in Malay vocabulary.  Manado had been a bustling  port  like  Malacca during its old days and Melayu Manado had been the lingua franca for this part of the Malay world that had known no geopolitical boundary. This perspective was new to me and  I wondered  where this guy learnt his history.

I took a boat back to Manado but the hotels were fully booked because of a maritime convention in town. I proceeded to Minahasa Highland on a  minibus that took me to its last stop at Tomohon,a  small mission town on a hill plateau . This town reminded me of mountainous Kundasang in Sabah except its many volcanic features-active volcanoes,geysers,hotsprings  and crater lakes. As  I found no hotel in Tomohon , I  hitched a ride to Danau Lokon  but most of the hotels along the lakeside were closed. I walked  to Desa Lielam, a village adjacent to Danau Lokon, where I met a trusty Minahasan,  and he took me  to his house.He was a hospitable host and we talked a lot about culture , religion and politics into the wee hour of the morning, until he was in  insobriety after draining down  glasses after glasses of the home concocted samsu.

The next morning I woke to the noises of loud talking and shouting. I looked outside to see about 30 villagers had gathered to do gotong royong to repair the village road and drain. I walked to the village morning market where  items like rat meat and  babi panggang were sold  . Desa Lielem had many churches of different denominations-Pentacostal, Seven  Day Adventist, Methodists-providing  the people good education and building religiousness  to a society  already good-natured and open. Despite their rural setting, the  people of Desa Lielam lived in well-kept houses, enjoyed  affordable electricity generated through thermal energy and  had running hot water in their backyard through flowing hotspring.

It was trip I discovered a lot about society and culture because I spent time with the people I visited.There  were surprises and anxious moments, but  I would not have experience more should I make this trip through a tourist agent.

Written by AR Mohamed

The impromtu Trip

The Trip that opened my window

It was trip I thought I had made mistakes all along before embarking on this journey. Firstly I made a mistake of booking an 8 day trip, instead of 3, because I keyed in the wrong date of return. On this trip too, I was travelling solo, without tour agent ,  no hotel booking and no itinerary. I took this journey to Manado ,an exotic  place on the  fringe of the  Indonesian archipelago. the birthplace of famous filmstar Maria Manado.

Upon arriving at Manado, I surveyed the town and ended up at the busy waterfront  market. This was the focal point of the town acting as transport hub, market place, meeting place  and pit  for cockfighting.  As I  sat at a warong, contemplating my next move, a young man sitting at the next  table suggested that I should go to Bunaken , an island about two hours boat ride from the market. Having no plan whatsoever, I took a ride on an underpowered boat to the idyllic looking island.

I didn’t disembark on the touristy jetty of the island, but at another point called Udjungbenua. I then walked along the island path and came upon some attap huts on the hill slope facing the sea,   a homestay of a kind operated by two elderly sisters. There were  no running water and electricity, but the two sisters promised me  breakfast , lunch and dinner for my 5 days stay.

Unknown to me, Bunaken is a marine park, with a reputation that says “If divers dies, they go to Bunaken”. Not an avid diver, I found snorkeling among the spectacular coral most absorbing and taking most of my time. I didn’t have to go far  to find a good snorkeling spot, just 50 meters from the shoreline, I was already in the underwater world teeming with luxuriant corals and other marine life. I got the whole field of coral to myself, fringed by dark abyss that plunged to the depth with barracuda , sharks  and big sardine shoal leisurely swimming in the background. When not snorkeling I would explore on foot  the whole length of the island which was only about 5 kilometer long, meeting villagers who were Sanghir,Tidorese ,Minahasan,Talaud,Christians,Muslims,all living side by side on this island  for years.

On my last night, as I sat on the verandah listening to sound of waves that lapped the beach, a villager came for a chat. We talked over many subjects, but one topic that was new to me was his statement that the Malay had its beginning in this very area,Melayu Tua, he called them. I was puzzled by his opinion because my history book told me it all begun along the Straits of Malacca, which was the birthplace and the heartland of the Malays . He elaborated that Melayu Tua in its pristine and uncorrupted form is evidenced in living language by Orang Sanghir, a predominant ethnic group of this area. He proved this by listing some common words, which despite some phonological variations, were the same in Malay vocabulary.  Manado had been a bustling  port  like  Malacca during its old days and Melayu Manado had been the lingua franca for this part of the Malay world that had known no geopolitical boundary. This perspective was new to me and  I wondered  where this guy learnt his history.

I took a boat back to Manado but the hotels were fully booked because of a maritime convention in town. I proceeded to Minahasa Highland on a  minibus that took me to its last stop at Tomohon,a  small mission town on a hill plateau . This town reminded me of mountainous Kundasang in Sabah except its many volcanic features-active volcanoes,geysers,hotsprings  and crater lakes. As  I found no hotel in Tomohon , I  hitched a ride to Danau Lokon  but most of the hotels along the lakeside were closed. I walked  to Desa Lielam, a village adjacent to Danau Lokon, where I met a trusty Minahasan,  and he took me  to his house.He was a hospitable host and we talked a lot about culture , religion and politics into the wee hour of the morning, until he was in  insobriety after draining down  glasses after glasses of the home concocted samsu.

The next morning I woke to the noises of loud talking and shouting. I looked outside to see about 30 villagers had gathered to do gotong royong to repair the village road and drain. I walked to the village morning market where  items like rat meat and  babi panggang were sold  . Desa Lielem had many churches of different denominations-Pentacostal, Seven  Day Adventist, Methodists-providing  the people good education and building religiousness  to a society  already good-natured and open. Despite their rural setting, the  people of Desa Lielam lived in well-kept houses, enjoyed  affordable electricity generated through thermal energy and  had running hot water in their backyard through flowing hotspring.

It was trip I discovered a lot about society and culture because I spent time with the people I visited.There  were surprises and anxious moments, but  I would not have experience more should I make this trip through a tourist agent.

Haj trip-Medinah

Performing the haj is one of the must do thing for a muslim.It is a religious obligation for those who can effort and whom god has chosen to be His visitor to his House.My Haj performance happened at the beginning of my retired life at 62.Usually people go earlier, but I just waited  until I was fully ready.It was a journey of a lifetime anyway, so I attended a series of courses organised by Tabung Haji.

The day for the trip hjas finally arrived. My send off was a simple occasion, unlike the one I had witrnessed when sending my friends away on similar trip.I got hold of a friend to say the muazim and I was off driving my car to the haji complex at Kelana Jaya. There were many people already there to send off their loved ones and friends .But my entourage was a small one as I hate big send off. After doing all the necessary paperwork and check in procedure, we were assembled in a hall for a briefing and marched to the bus that took us to the airport.Soon we were in the air for the five and the half hours flight to Medina.So far so good.It has been a smooth journey.

Things began to check challenging when we reached the airport at Medina.The plane couldnt find a spot for taxing because the airport was jammed with plane arrivals.The plane just sat on the tarmac for about 3 hours without moving.I had been a seasoned travellor and had always been eager to get off the plane after every flight.But waiting for so long had kept me anxious and jittery.It was my wife who kept me under control reminding me that god has put a small test on our journey and we should be patient. At last the plane moved to a taxing spot and I was relieved to the possibility of relaxing my aching body and perhap enjoing a cup of hot coffee. The soor of the plane finally open and I rushed out to the fresh air to the airport terminal.

But problems were far from over.The airport terminal was jammed with haj arrivals from all over the place.There was no place for the planeload of us to sit, and we must be seated together for easy cxommunication. At last space was found for the 800 of us and we make do with whatever area to relief our tiredness.There was no foodoutlet and the habitual cup of coffee to start my morning off was not there.We waited again in the arrival hall for the passport clearance.There were earlier arrivals from India, Pakistan, Turkey, African countries still in the que for the passport clearance. Looking at the crowd im front of us, it must have taken a few hour more before out turn would come.Waiting has always been a torture I could bare even for a few minutes, but waiting for 3 to 4 hours in a line is unimagineable.Again my wife consoled me syaing that this is the journey that God really put a test on our endurance and we must learnt to take his tests.At last my que started to move and I got to the immigration officer for my passport inspection.

The passport inspection point was actually the bootle neck. The computer was slow and ocassionally jammed.When my turn came there was a a power failure because somebody was hacking the floor to do renovation and he disturbed the power cabled.. The clearnce procedure itself was cumbersome wiuth finger print and iris identification which the computer found it slow to recognised and we have to redo the procedure again and again.The Arab staff manning the counter themseleves were not very active in trying to clear the passenger.They were all males and were taking their time with no sense of urgency. But at last I had my passport chopped and headed for the bus that would take us to our hotel in Medina.

The bus journey was uneventful.The road to the city was nice and the traffic was not heavy despite the fact that this is the peak season.There seemed to me Medina has no industry or commerce other than activities related to the haj. I had been to Medina a few years ago, but this city this time is completely different from the one I visited before for there were so much buildings and roads now and the suburb has grown.

At last we were in the hotel and I felt comfortable again being handled by our own efficient tabung haji staff.Soon we moved into our hotel room.Despite being put 4 to a room I was happy because my room was right in front of Nabawi mosque.It was already zohor and I quickly joined the crowd for the zohor prayer in the mosque.I am going to spend 8 days in Medina and I pledge not to miss a single prayer.

The day at Medina began very early before subuh. At 3 am people were alraedy marching to the Nabaw2i mosque to secure a good spot to say the prayer and the best spot was the one neareast to the imam.One hour later the mosque was full to the brim and many more thousands sat on the covered verandah until the city street. Subuh started at 500 am, which meant that that a person normally sit for 2 hours waiting for Subuh and in the meantime he have a lot of chance to perform sunat prayer, After subuh, I procceed to the cafetaria for breakfast and went back to the room to unwind.After some rest I went for ziarah both within the mosque parameter and outside.normal places we visited were baqi which is the burial ground of shuhadah, rowdah which is the most holiest part of the mosque to pray, Mohamed and shahabah mousoleum, and historical sites around Medinah.

Before noon we were already in the mosque for zohor.After lunch break we were back to the mosque for ashar, but some stayed in the mosque between zohor and ashar.At night we performed the maghrib and isyak.In between thos prayers we have religious lesson given by tabung haji.

Medina nabawi mosque was a huge mosque that accomodate 2 million people. It amazed me to see how people of various ethnic and colour can be so focus in harmony in saying their prayer. The crowd was thick no doubt, but they were orderly. When prayer time come after the muazim call, everybody p[erform their prayer together.

After 8 days at Medina, we wore our ehram dress andboarded the bus for Mecca to begin our haji ritual.The journey took about 10 hours with a stop for prayewr at Bir Ali.There was big traffic jam in mecca, and so it was almost subuh when we made it to the hotel which was about a kilometer away from the masjidul haram.

Gunung Chemerong

Chemerong is one of the most beautiful nature's park many have not known yet. The park has a a variety of typographical features such as mountain peaks close to one another, waterfall, clear water river , a diversity of flora and fauna and beautiful campsites. But this place is hardly visited and so when it was suggested to me that we should trek this park, I hardly can figure out where in Treangganu is this place because I had known Trengganu for its beaches and coral islands.

To get to Chemerong, one must drive to a town called Durian Mas or Bandar Billah which is situated midway along the Kuantan Jabor Highway . From the highway junction one has to take an ancillary road iinland towards Banjaran Titiwangsa which is the backbone of Peninsular Malaysia.Traveling  for about 40 km of country road along palm oil plantation, the road ended up at Chemerong Forest Reserve, a park maintained by the Forestry Department.This place is well maintained with facilities like campsite, jungle track, running water and electricity ,toilets and gazebo. From this station there is a track two hours track leading to the beautiful Chemerong Waterfall which is the highest waterfall in Malaysia at 300 meter

Our journey started early in the morning towards Kem Balak trekking through jungle trek and climbing steep terrain in a never been logged tropical forest .It was steep climbing at the first leg of the journey, followed by steep descend, until we were just about to reach Kem Balak four hours later to take a good rest by the side of the stream which was the upper reaches of Sungai Chemerong. We continued to walk through undulating ground following closely to the bank Sungai Chemorong until we reached the first camping site.

The first camping site was beside a river and we pitched our camp at the riverside.It was raining most of the night and we stayed under the flysheet. We cooked our supper and had a good night sleep despite the rain. The next morning we pushed forward after breakfast for the summit of Gunung Berembun.From where we were in the morning we were somewhere midway to the  5000 ft summit, and most of the rest of our journey was ascending. But the trek was interesting with stunted bonsai type plants and small trees and cool air.After five hours of climb we reached the summit. After taking some rest we trekked down towards Langsir Waterfall.The journey to the campsite was a tough descent with steep gradient and difficult track.It was only when we almost reach the campsite, the track got better as we traced Sungai Langsir downstream towards the waterfall.

The campsite at Langsir waterfall was among the best I ever stopped in my outdoor experience. It was by the side of clear water Sungau Langsir and on the upper reach of Langsir Waterfall.The waterfall dropped to a depth we could not fathom because the sheer slope of the fall made it impossible to see its bottom.But at the beginning of the fall, just above our campsite, the skyline was a vista of mountainous forest with Gunung Keling as the backdrop.We could sit for hours enjoying the vista before us. The site , even though small and could accommodate only about 5 tents, was clean and had little sign of being trampled about.

The next morning we trekked Sungai Langsir on our downward journey to Kem Balak again .From Kem Balak we proceeded to Chemerong Waterfall which was one of the most beautiful Waterfall I had ever seen. At Chemerong Waterfall, water fallout of sheer slope cascading thunderously to a depth of 1000 feet.Where it fall there was enormous pools which cascading down to many more fools big enough for swimming and diving. It was getting late , we did not spend too much time and trekked for about two hour to Chemerong Camp

We reached Chemerong Camp when it was almost dark and as it was too late we spent another night camping at the campsite.

Transborneo Trip-Sabah and Sarawak.

It was a memorable trip undertaken by 3 friends covering Sabah, Sarawk and Brunei in a 4 wheel jeep. The trip took 8 days covering a distance of 2500 kilometers, crossing borders during which our passports were stamped for 16 times.

We started in Kota Kinabalu and travelled towards  south to Sarawak.On the first day we came over many towns in Sabah such as Papar, Beaufort, Sepitang,Lawas and Limbang where we stopped for the night.I had been to these towns before, nearly 30 years ago, but these towns had changed very much with better roads, more buildings , increased population and more traffic.Take Beaufort for example, when I stopped at this town in 1972 on my train journey from Tenom to Kota Kinabalu, Beaufort was a one street small town with shop houses on stilt.Now Beaufort is sprawling with a new township on the opposite side of the river, which was before a small plantation. Indeed all other towns like Papar and Sepitang had grown in size and had become very busy.

Limbang and Lawas  in Sarawak are riverside towns  that have grown to become important commercial centres serving its riverine hinterland.Despite their remoteness these towns look very clean and very organised with good roads, well tendered landscaped gardens and clean restaurants. The people are homogeneous lots making up the Malays, Chinese ,Limbawang,Ibans,Murut and many more, but they are friendly and easy to engage them in casual conversation.We spent a quiet night in Limbang, and the next morning I headed for the wharf where life started early in the morning.Boats were plying to and fro  on both banks of Sungai Limbang cvarrying goods and passengers.There was a hive of activities in the market selling agricutural produces and husehold iten and clotings.Limbang is an active commercial town serving the riverine.


After 6 hours on the road we reached Brunei.Being a petroleum producing country Brunei is wealthy.This is evident from the good infrstuture, good houses and good life the Bruneian are experiencing.The towns that we passed through looked like they were well managed with good roads, clean restaurants and good housings.Hospitals, playgrounds, townhalls,stadium , public park and playground were visible facilities in the town.Brunei beng the capital city is adorened with office complexa band mosques. The landmark is Sultan Omar mosquie which is situated in the centre of Brunei city.

  After crossing Brunei, we travelled to Miri which is an example of a booming Sarawak oil town .It is a town which is easy to live with amenities for modern lifestyle set in rural setting.Around Miri there are many things to see and enjoy such as Niah Cave and Forest Reserve, and Miri is an embarkation point to Mulu National Park and Upper Baram

Two days to the end of our 8 days foray, we travelled north to Kota Belud and Kudat to meet some old friends.The road to Kudat was good, and Kudat waterfront has extended into the sea.I met a few friends who had been staying in Kudat for the last 40 years and never intend to move, for life is easy, seafood is fresh and friends are plentiful in Kudat.