Destination: Sulawesi

Review: Happy Gecko Dive Resort Bunaken

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We stayed at Happy Gecko Dive Resort, also known as Happy Gecko Resort or Cicak Senang Resort, for a week and enjoyed every second of it. We were very sad to leave. The bungalows are basic but the views, hospitality, food and diving are absolutely fantastic. Happy Gecko Dive Resort is a small dive resort on Bunaken Island, only about 1,5 hours away from Manado Airport. It’s owned by Jerry, … Read more

Six months on the road…

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Pretty much unnoticed we passed the half way point of our Big Adventure a few days ago. Six months on the road with our little world traveler! And what’s even better… we have another six months to go! So far: 🙂 We traveled by plane, train, car, bus, boat, motorcycle, scooter, horse carriage and becak,  🙂 visited 5 countries, 🙂 went to 16 destinations, 🙂 took 11 flights, 🙂 and … Read more

Diving on Bunaken

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We’ve been on Bunaken a few days now and have done some dives. It’s really an underwater aquarium here and Jimmy, the local guide at Happy Gecko, is a genius at spotting the tiny stuff, such as miniature shrimps, crabs and tiny little sea horses. We haven’t been as lucky in actually capturing it on camera, but we do have some nice pictures to share. So, no long story this … Read more

Visiting Tangkoko NP with a small child

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Tangkoko National Park near Bitung, North-Sulawesi, Indonesia was the first National Park we visited with our son during our 10-month adventure. The park is quite accessible, so very doable with kids.  Apparently, Mama Roos Homestay is very popular, but we decided to inquire for availability at Tangkoko Hill Cottages. Since we didn’t have any phone credit left, we send the manager, Franky, an email. And, lo and behold, he answered within … Read more

Review: Sendowan Baru guesthouse, North Sulawesi

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We were so lucky we found this hidden gem! Sendowan Baru in North Sulawesi, Indonesia is a great place to spend some time with or without kids. A real home away from home. This guesthouse has a large pool, basic but comfortable and clean rooms, a beach right outside the gates and lots of space to run around and play. We were here in August and the weather was perfect, even though in most other parts of South-East Asia it was wet and humid. Let us tell you a bit more about our stay at Guesthouse Sendowan Baru.

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Sriwijaya Airlines

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Yesterday we decided to take a flight from Makassar in South-Sulawesi to Manado in North-Sulawesi. We were stuck in a hotel in Makassar, a noisy and dirty city we didn’t like, and did not want to spend Jace’s second birthday in a hotel room in a big city. Because we decided to go to Manado last minute there were no direct flights anymore. We ended up flying wit Sriwijaya Air … Read more

Makassar, South Sulawesi to Amurang, North Sulawesi

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We soon found out making a last minute booking at Bunaken in high season isn’t as easy as it sounds. So we kept looking and found a listing on Airbnb that sounded promising: Sendowan Baru near Amurang, about 1,5 hours west of Manado. Fortunately we received a really quick reply when we send a message to inquire about availability. We learned later that two of the Dutch owners were actually … Read more

Makassar – South Sulawesi

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Somehow Makassar wasn’t quite the place we thought it would be. It sounded a lot more promising when we read the information on the internet, but in our experience it’s dirty and noisy. Maybe it was because we were in a city again after having already been in Kuala Lumpur for 10 days. Maybe it was because we were tired and didn’t venture out much, except to get food. Maybe … Read more