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
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