We haven’t done a guest post for a while so this will be a special one. We traveled to Manado in North Sulawesi- Indonesia with a couple of friends (Leti & Peter) and their lovely daughter (Sofia). Leti is a great blogger and she wrote a lovely post about our long weekend away. So, here I give you… Leticia Aranda as Una Paraguaya in China.  If you want to see this post in English, please click here to see the automagical Google translation.

Agosto, 2015 – Para mi sorpresa, Peter resultó ser un aficionado del scuba. Era como una pasión latente que brotó y se volvió muy evidente al mudarnos al sudeste asiático. Y así fue que yo también decidí acompañarlo (dentro de mis limites) a todas sus aventuras y “Diving Trips”.

En Redang (Malasia) conocimos a Mariana y Abraham. Ella Brasilera, Él Mexicano. Ambos aventureros y cómplices en todo. Una pareja con mucha química y buenas vibras. Durante un sábado de brunch, trajeron el ipad y nos mostraron cual seria el próximo destino para ir de scuba: Manado, Indonesia.

Catalogado como uno de los sitios mas cotizados para practicar scuba, Manado es un pueblito (islita) en el norte de Sulawesi. Virgen y poco desarrollado, solo para corazones aventureros y fanáticos del scuba.

Yo, hoy en día opte por ser co-piloto, Peter va decidiendo cuál es el próximo destino y yo sin ya hacer mucha investigación previa, me encargo de hacer las valijas, llevar los juguetes de Sofía y partir. Debo decir que si bien algunos de los lugares fueron mas rústicos de lo que cualquier corazón de madre aguantaría, siempre nos fue bien y volvemos con una experiencia surreal. Manado fue igual.

Nos quedamos en un pequeñísimo hotel llamado Janji Laut, con apenas 5 cabañas y capacidad para recibir a no más de 12-15 huéspedes. El restaurant sirve comida casera y especialidades de la casa: Comimos muchísimos mariscos, pescados y frutos de mar. El dueño es francés y le pone bastante empeño en la comida y los detalles.

Sofía y yo pasamos muchísimo tiempo en la piscina para niños y jugando en la arena. Peter, Abraham y Mariana le sacaron el jugo al scuba. El primer día, yo me acople al scuba de la tarde. Fuimos al “House Reef”. Si no hubiese sido por un encuentro cercano con millares de aguas vivas, para mi hubiese sido perfecto. Al bajar, la vida acuática y la claridad del agua hicieron que me olvide de todo el ardor y la incomodidad.

El segundo día, los divers fueron a Bunaken y volvieron extasiados. Peter prácticamente me obligó a ir al día siguiente; y tenia razón. Solo puedo decir que me encantaría tener una memoria de elefante para poder guardar las imágenes y la experiencia de aquel buceo.

Literalmente, una inmensa pared de coral que uno no alcanza ver el fondo. Bajamos 30 metros como si fuese que nada estaba pasando y uno simplemente se deja llevar por la belleza y la magnificencia de la naturaleza. Tortugas marinas reposando en los huecos, peces en todos los colores y formas y mucha, muchísima vida.

Como dice Mariana: “Las fotos no hacen justicia para tanta belleza” pero por lo menos dan para compartirlas y dejar un saborcito de lo maravilloso de este lugar.

Below you can see more photos to complement Leticia’s post!

The concept: Pangkil is a private island available for private parties. It’s all or nothing. You book the full island with 6 family rooms, one tree house, one pool hut and all services all included – 4 meals a day in different locations of the island, fully stocked bar 24/7, water sports equipment and extremely friendly staff. We were 12 adults and 4 kids but we could have easily fit another 6 people.

The planning: you need to know you want to go to Pangkil quite some time in advance as their calendar is fully booked with months in advance. Lucky for us we had our ‘lovely super planning woman’ Sorcha in control. She did all the booking, arranged the transfer and made sure all the food requirements and fuzziness were met.

The journey: for most people, paradise is this far away land that takes you many hours or days to get to. With that perspective in mind, Pangkhil is only 4 hours away from Singapore. It is off the north part of Bintan – Indonesia. We took an early ferry from Singapore’s Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to Penang ferry terminal (2hrs). The island staff greeted us at the ferry terminal, did our immigration process and took us by bus the island’s private jetty (45mins). From there, it was a quick 15mins speed boat ride to get to the island and enjoy one of the most amazing weekend we had.

The island: the set up is very rustic with accommodations made of reclaimed wood and bathrooms on open air – there are only 2 big houses with en-suite. There is no air conditioning but it is quite breezy. There is a nice pool and the sea is beautifully clean and blue. You can hear the sound of the sea from every room.

What to do there: many people asked me what we did during the weekend. The answer is: we relaxed. Breakfast is served from 7am until 11am at the main house. Then we had a massage by the sea, laid down under the sun and swam at the sea. Lunch was at 12 o’clock by the pool where we stayed for most of the afternoon until nap time. We had the tree house which was an amazing little hut set on stilts on top of the sand that only fit one double bed. Napping with the sound of sea with a nice breeze was incredible. At 4pm there was afternoon tea and then we played beach volleyball or just relaxed reading a book waiting for dinner. Dinner was at 8pm after which drinks, music, bonfire and fireworks followed. Did we feel bored: not for one minute!

Recommendability: 10
Returnabiliy: 8 – we would definitely go back but it is quite a hefty price

We stayed at Elephant Lodge Park which is of a zoo/ attraction park 2,5 hrs away from Dempasar airport. The drive up there is totally worth it and staying at the Lodge gives you the opportunity to really experience being with elephants. Everyday we would open the window and see them munching their breakfast, we would then go and wash a few of them and go for a dip in the lake/pool. The elephants are mostly free and can pick you up in your room for a little ride.

The Lodge is 30mins away from Ubud which is a lovely little town with restaurants and bars in the midst of temples. It really doesn't feel very touristic and we ate very well – ribs on the side of the road were the absolute best – do not miss going to Naughty Nuri's! Korin even went for the classic ribs and cosmo! But we were also extremely pleased with Fair Warung Bale which raises fund to treat people in Bali. I think it is a trend that good-hearted swiss guy/ couple would open really nice restaurant in the region for a good cause. The other restaurant we went to was a place called Bridges, a beautiful place above a river with a spectacular view, and the food was pretty good too!

Typically dance performances are not very good but we went to see a fire dance which was extremely different from everything we had seen. A group of 100 men chanting along a little play followed by a man kicking dry coconut shells in flames. Strange but it works

Ubud is also famous for the proximity to the volcano that we went to see followed by a bike ride through the villages and rice fields. It was interesting to see a typical home where 3 generations live together and build a temple in the yard to pray. The best part of the ride was that we were able to see a special celebration that decorated the streets and brought people out. Enchanting!

We had a chance to learn how kopi luwak is made and try it. Interesting a little different from normal coffee but there is something about grains out of animal poo that doesn't sit very well with me

At the end of the trip we did a pit stop at a beach close to the airport but I wish we had gone to Nusa Dua or somewhere else in the south. I guess we will be going to Bali again! Want to join us?