Selamat Malam
(Good Evening)

After a week of relaxing and diving at Siladen, this morning we put on our flip flops, took the resort boat over to the mainland, and ventured out to some local villages and the Highlands.

Indonesia consists of 5 major islands, but actually there’s 1300 total islands and over 400 unique tribes that speak more than 300 local languages. North Sulawesi is one of the 5 major islands and has 4 tribes, totaling over 2 Million people. Manado is its major city with 450,000 people… most work for the government or they are fisherman exporting tuna. Some work for the major motorcycles companies. This area is 60% Christians and there are over 1300 plus churches.

We drove straight up the mountain (actually a seriously curved road) to The Highlands where the climate is perfect for growing food. We walked thru the local Tamarin traditional market and saw a variety of local specialties. The vegetables and fruits are much larger than ours, and are all very fresh and tasty. One of the staple foods here is Chilis. They eat Chilis at every meal…even with breakfast. They start their babies at 6 months eating small amounts of the chili sauce. There’s lots of fresh & smoked fish everywhere and unfortunately lots of flies.

WARNING… the following info is not for the faint at heart. Remember these people have a different culture than us… so our next visit to the Jungle Food market…might not meet your American standards for food staples. As we walked thru the market, the stench was overwhelming. My first sighting was an entire hog head. But this was nothing compared to the next booth which specialized in roasted fruit bats. UGH!!! Hang on… it get worse..how about rats. Yelp, roasted rats! Thinking it couldn’t get worse, I saw the snake table… Cobra snakes are a delicacy. At this point, I was quickly headed to the exit, praying I didn’t get sick, and trying to ignore the rest of the market tables. Unfortunately, before I could exit, there was the dog table. Don’t freak out… it’s a tradition for these people to eat dogs.

Let’s get back on a positive note… we ate a fresh fish lunch over a beautiful lake and then drove on to a small village where they made pottery …and then a sulphur lake… Lake Linow. Overall, our day was full of new experiences and samples of the local culture. By the time we returned to the resort, we were totally exhausted and ready to chill for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow we start our 2 day journey across the world to return home. Ready to see our family and friends.