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After reading lots of reviews and seeing a few demonstrations I decided on the Manduca baby carrier. I bought it when our little one was just four weeks old and to be completely honest, the first 1,5 years we hardly used it. My shoulders are quite narrow and when carrying our son at my front, the shoulder straps kept sliding off. I’ve since learned that the trick is to cross the back straps to create a narrower fit, but I didn’t know this back then. If being too small for a comfortable fit isn’t your issue and you’re leaning towards the other end of the spectrum, it’s good to know there are also great baby carriers for plus size parents.

Baby carrier: an essential travel accessory

Why do you need a baby carrier? Transporting your child is a whole different matter when you’re on the road. During our 8 months in South East Asia we’ve used our Manduca baby carrier practically every day. So you could say we’ve thoroughly tested it! Travel with babies and infants is so much easier if you have a baby carrier! We almost left ours at home and I can’t tell you how happy I was that we decided to take our Manduca.

Baby carrier comparison table

The importance of an ergonomic baby carrier

Before I start with our experiences and the pros and cons of the Manduca carrier, just one more thing… Whichever baby carrier brand you buy, please make sure you get an ergonomic carrier! If you know how to tie them, wraps can also be a great choice. The best position for your baby in a carrier or wrap is the so-called ‘M’ position, with their bum lower than their knees (which should be flexed) and hips spread to 90 degrees. This minimizes the stress on your child’s lower spine and evenly distributes their weight. Ergonomic baby carriers by design also make it much easier for you to carry your baby for long periods. Your child sits close to your body and this, combined with the padded waist strap, minimizes the strain on your lower back by letting you carry the weight on your hips.

So often I see parents carrying their baby’s in a forward facing-out carrier, like the Baby Bjorn. With little legs that are dangling, back forced in an upright position and hips not supported they look so uncomfortable. And the kids are often definitely not close enough to kiss (the trick to know if your carrier is adjusted correctly). I really have to fight to keep my mouth shut.

The best baby carrier for travel

Which baby carrier you can best use for travel depends on your needs. You can buy lightweight travel baby carriers, such as the Boba Air and the BityBean. They might work if you’re only using it for short stints, such as boarding and embarking an airplane. These travel carriers are lightweight and pack small, so you can easily put them in your daypack and they can also be used for infants and toddlers. Making them as small and lightweight as possible has a downside. They offer less support for both child and wearer.

If you’re into the outdoors and hiking it might pay off to invest in a proper baby back carrier for hiking, such as the Deuter Kid Comfort Pro. We’ve had no trouble using our Manduca for hikes, but then we’re not into hardcore hiking. Baby hiking backpacks are more suitable for use on the trails than in the city. We love that the Manduca can be used for both, but if your travels have a high outdoor component a baby carrier hiking backpack might make more sense.

Another great option for a travel carrier is a ring sling, such as the Kol Kol ring sling. Basically, this is just a large piece of fabric held together with two metal rings. The fabric can also function as a picnic area, a shawl to cover yourself etc. So perfect for travel.

If you plan on using your carrier for longer periods a proper, ergonomic carrier, such as the Manduca, Ergobaby or Tula, really is the best choice though. Not only does it support your baby better, but it also distributes the weight more evenly making it easier to carry your child. Ergonomic baby carriers are a bit bulkier than a travel carrier, but still small and easy to pack compared to a pram or stroller. I used to just clip the carrier around my waist and let it hang down when we weren’t using it. Not the most fashionable look, but definitely practical.

Our experience with the Manduca baby carrier

Since we didn’t use the carrier much when our little world traveler was really young, we weren’t even sure if we were going to bring it for our big trip. We had way too much luggage and weight already! But on a whim, we decided to take it anyway. Our first two months in Dahab, Egypt we didn’t use it at all as we could borrow a pram with air tires, which worked very well on the beach and sandy roads. But from the moment we arrived in Indonesia, our first destination in South East Asia, we’ve used the Manduca almost every day. I think we qualify as experts by experience!

Baby carriers: ideal for air travel

Have you ever tried boarding a plane carrying maximum sized carry-on luggage and your baby or infant at the same time? Or handling a toddler who’s just started to walk, while at the same time pushing or carrying your suitcase? With budget airlines you often have to walk a bit across the tarmac to enter the plane by a staircase, or take a bus to the airplane first. At 2 years old our son weighed a healthy 12 kgs and he was definitely getting too heavy to carry in my arms for longer periods. Carrying him on my back was a piece of cake though! I also found it quite reassuring to have him close-by and safe while in busy airports. It’s only too easy for a little one to wander off and get lost in unfamiliar places. While you can usually take your stroller all the way to the airplane, very often you have to pick it up at the baggage claim at the other end. Sometimes the airline offers complimentary strollers, but in our experience there usually aren’t any when you need them. With a baby carrier you don’t have this issue.

Hiking and visiting busy places

Baby carriers are ideal in any situation where you want to keep your little one close. Even when they start to walk by themselves kids can tire easily and a baby carrier is an ideal way to carry your child for long periods of time. Crowds can be quite scary (for both kids and parents!). We visited many busy (night) markets with our little boy and never had any issues. He’d snuggle safely on my back and had fun looking around. Sometimes he’d even fall asleep. Also, if you enjoy hikes, a baby carrier is the way to go. Our little one liked to practice walking whenever he had the chance and whenever possible we’d let him walk, but very often hikes were just too long or too difficult. We visited many waterfalls and did a lot of walks that wouldn’t have been possible without the carrier.

Motorbike rides with a baby carrier

The Manduca carrier also allowed us to take our little one on the motorbike. A very practical means of transportation when you’re traveling around Asia. I’m not sure if this is what Manduca had in mind when they designed the carrier, but we loved it We definitely would not have seen as much of the places we stayed without the bike and I definitely would not have felt safe driving around with our little one without the carrier. The locals thought it very funny that I carried our boy on my back and kept waving and taking pictures of us when we were driving around. Still it seemed a lot more safe than the way they transport their kids, the little ones standing between their parents’ legs or sitting in front of the parents on the seat holding themselves steady with their feet on the dashboard. Now that’s a sight! Our little one really enjoyed himself on the bike and would often spread his little hands Titanic-style, trying to catch the wind while sitting comfortably on my back.

Manduca baby carrier: our verdict

From the above it’s not hard to conclude that we are very happy with our Manduca and would recommend it to all families that travel with small kids. Our baby carrier easily survived 8 months of very intense use. We’ve washed it a few times, but even with being in the sun all day every day the colors have only faded a tiny bit. The Manduca is very well made and the material is incredibly sturdy. I was a bit worried the plastic clips would be the weakest part, but they’re not showing any signs of wear. We payed €89.90 for our Manduca when our son was just born. It seemed a lot of money at the time, but considering that we’ve used our Manduca until our son was 2,5 years old it’s actually really good value for money. And it’s so sturdy that it can easily go another round.

At 2,5 years old our little world traveler had definitely outgrown the Manduca, his legs were no longer supported properly. But by then he could easily walk longer stretches by himself. A great option however, is to buy the Manduca ExTend, which will enlarge the seat from the usual 32cm till 50cm, allowing you to carry your child in the carrier even longer. We didn’t buy this, but it’s a terrific idea. We tried the Tula Toddler carrier and it was great, but this solution is much cheaper than having to buy a toddler carrier. We’d love to hear from people who’ve tried the Manduca ExTend!

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Totseat: ideal high chair for traveling

We had a simple IKEA high chair at home, but when we started traveling we took the Totseat everywhere we went. This award-winning, portable high chair folds up to a small package and it’s very light, so we always had it in our daypack. On rare occasions, we would get lucky and there would be a ‘normal’ high chair for our son, but mostly we used the Totseat. We used this travel high chair every day and were so glad we bought it!

What is the Totseat?

So what is it? Basically, the Totseat is a fabric chair harness that allows you to turn any normal chair into a high chair. It will fit any type and any size chair, so it’s extremely practical and versatile. It folds into a small package that you can just put in your diaper bag, backpack or whatever kind of bag you carry. Another big plus is that it’s machine-washable. I don’t know about other kids, but ours wanted to do everything ‘by himself’, including eating. So obviously things could get a bit messy. The Totseat website says it’s suitable for children of 6-30 months. We used it til about 25 months. After that, he figured out how to get himself out of it by standing up

The Totseat is durable

This fold-up fabric high chair is a well-made product that’s very sturdy and durable. We’ve used it every day for about 5 months and no wear and tear. The colors faded a bit, but this didn’t affect the safety at all. And a great thing is that Totseat offers a lifetime guarantee for the products that were bought directly from them. It shows how sure they are of the quality of their products. Actually, when our little one grew out of it, we gave our Totseat away to another traveling family. It could easily go another round… or two.

The Totseat is safe

Unlike some other types we saw, this travel high chair is made of very sturdy material and it’s well-made with great attention to detail. And still, at 260 grams, it’s very lightweight. It fits almost all types of chairs. You do have to make sure that the chair itself is on a stable ground (which can sometimes be a bit of a challenge in Asia). The Totseat complies with all required international safety standards and even some that aren’t required. Just to make sure it’s extra safe for your child. Of course, like any high chair, it’s never safe to leave your child unattended.

The Totseat is versatile

When you’re traveling, and especially when you’re traveling long-term and/or on a budget, you don’t have all the ‘luxuries’ that you have back home. No playpen, no high chair… We didn’t only use our Totseat for going out to lunch and dinner, but also around the house. It was great to have him secure in his chair when we were in the kitchen making breakfast (when we occasionally rented an apartment), when we were cleaning or when he was watching tv. The only downside we found is that because the Totseat uses a normal dining chair, your child sits quite low. It isn’t easy for your little one to eat when the table is at eye level. That doesn’t outweigh the advantages though and it helps if you just place a pillow under their bum.

Of course it’s much easier to show you how it works than tell you. Here’s a short video that demonstrates the use:

Summary

To summarize the above we made an easy pros and cons list.

Pros of the Totseat

[check_list]

• Lightweight & folds to a small package
• Complies with international safety standards
• Can be machine or hand washed
• Sturdy material, suitable for everyday use while traveling
• Turns just about any chair into a high chair

[/check_list]

Cons of the Totseat

[delete_list]

• It’s not a real ‘high’ chair, your child sits quite low
• Although the website says ‘suitable til 30 months, I’d say 22-25 is more realistic

[/delete_list]

Our recommendation

Rating:

Would we recommend the Totseat to traveling parents? Yes, definitely! The Totseat is easy to use, small enough to fit in your bag and it ensures that your little one always has a safe and comfortable place to sit. Funny enough in our case it also turned out to be a great conversation starter! Lots of people had never seen such a product and were curious about it. The perfect icebreaker

Check prices and availability of the Totseat travel high chair on Amazon >>


 

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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, born and raised on Bunaken, and his Dutch wife Willeke. They live on the premises with their two kids. The resort has only five bungalows, so each guest gets a lot of personal attention from the owners and staff… if they want to.

Getting there

It’s very easy to reach the resort. From the airport get a taxi to Manado harbour and for an added fee Willeke can arrange a transfer directly to the resort. You can get there by public ferry too, but you get dropped off at the village and have to make your way to the resort yourself by motorbike taxi. There are no cars on Bunaken.

The accommodation

The bungalows are quite basic, with only a ceiling fan and no air conditioning. But they are spacious and comfortable, and each bungalow has a balcony with an unobstructed, breathtaking view of the ocean. We had a bungalow with a double and a single bed, so perfect for the three of us. The bathrooms are large too, with running water, a western toilet and a shower. The only downside is that there is only cold water.

Electricity and WiFi

All electricity on Bunaken island is generated by solar panels during the day and diesel generators at night and electricity cuts happen often. When we were there they never lasted very long though. And of course the resort has a back up generator in case of longer power cuts. Happy Gecko Dive Resort has a very decent internet connection with free wifi in the restaurant area. We stayed in the first bungalow and also had wifi on our balcony (which we were very happy about, because our son was still napping after lunch and one of us stayed at the bungalow when he was sleeping).

Food and drinks

Included in the price at Happy Gecko Dive Resort are three meals a day and unlimited drinking water, tea and coffee. Soft drinks and beers are available at very reasonable prices. Breakfast is ‘western’, with bread and eggs and both lunch and dinner are hot meals. The food is really nice, different Indonesian dishes every day with chicken, fish, veggies, fresh fruit and of course rice. The meals are served in the restaurant area at set times in the afternoon and evening. Every bungalow has their own table, but because you’re all eating at the same time this is a great opportunity to meet the other guests.

World class diving

Bunaken National Marine Park is among the top diving destinations in the world, one of the reasons we really wanted to go there. It offers amazing biodiversity that rivals Komodo and Similan (West Thailand). A big plus is that it’s possible to dive all year round with sea temperatures of 29 – 30 degrees Celsius and great visibility (20 – 30 meters). The dry season is May til October. Most dive sites are wall dives and we saw the most amazing critters there. Happy Gecko offers an on-site dive center, located on the ground floor. So it’s extremely easy to organise some great divg. Jimmy, the local guide at Happy Gecko was a genius at finding lots of exciting macro stuff. Check out some of our underwater pictures of Bunaken.

Liang Beach

There are two major beach areas on Bunaken, Pangalisang Beach and Liang Beach. Happy Gecko Dive Resort is located at Liang Beach. It’s situated on a pretty steep hill, so each bungalow has an unobstructed view of the ocean. It’s a bit of a climb to get to the bungalows, but there are well maintained concrete steps everywhere in the small resort. Liang Beach isn’t a sandy beach suited for sunbathing. When the tide is high the water comes all the way to the front of the resort and there’s a long shallow stretch which is perfect for kids to swim. At low tide you have to walk a fair bit to reach the water, but it’s much easier to get to the snorkel sites. The travel guides mention that Liang Beach has a rubbish problem, but sadly that’s the case with all of Bunaken. Rubbish from the mainland washes to shore on either of the beaches when the winds and the currents are unfavourable.

How family friendly is Happy Gecko Dive Resort?

Of course, our most important requirement was that the resort was suitable for our two-year-old. On beforehand we talked via e-mail with Willeke, the owner, and she assured us it was safe for him. The steep steps obviously aren’t safe for a toddler to wander around on his own, but the restaurant area was big enough to keep him occupied. He also loved swimming with us in the shallow water right in front of the resort. If your kids are a bit older and know how to swim they can easily entertain themselves there at hight tide. The water only comes to mid thigh and you have to walk quite far for it to get deeper.

Our child is not a fussy eater and he loved the food at Happy Gecko. We did bring some crackers to tie him over, as he was still used to eating five times a day instead of three. The kitchen staff were really sweet and gave him some fruit when he was hungry too. I think most if not all resorts are all inclusive on Bunaken and there aren’t too many stores to buy stuff. All supplies come from the mainland. So if your child requires anything special (diapers, formula, any kind of special food) I would bring it with you. There’s a large supermarket close to the harbour in Manado.

The owners have a four-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter, both are really sweet and polite. They enjoyed playing with Jace. Jace was at ease at Happy Gecko from the moment we arrived and Willeke even offered to babysit him two mornings so that we could go diving together. We wouldn’t normally leave him with a stranger, but we immediately liked Willeke and Jace did too. He was happy to stay with her and we were very happy we got the chance to dive together for the first time in over three years. It was incredibly thoughtful of her to offer this of her own accord, we didn’t even think to inquire if babysitting was an option.

Our judgement of Happy Gecko Dive Resort

Everything you need is at the resort, so you can spend your days relaxing, swimming, diving or snorkelling and enjoying the stunning views. If you’re not into diving, the resort also offers dolphin watching tours and trips to Siladen Island. Compared to many of the other options on Bunaken Island Happy Gecko is very affordable. We paid €24 per person (August 2015) for two adults and we didn’t have to pay for Jace (who was just over 2 years old at the time), even though we had three beds and the food was plenty for the three of us. The resort is small, not because they can’t afford to expand, but because they don’t necessarily want to. Willeke and Jerry are lovely people, who go to great lengths to make sure their guests have a fantastic stay. All in all we would really recommend a stay at Happy Gecko, for families as well as couples or groups of friends.

http://www.happygeckoresort.com

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Our first plan was to go to Dumaguete and dive from there, but people told us Dumaguete wasn’t such a nice city (turned out later we quite liked it…). Also if we wanted to dive Apo Island it made more sense to go to Dauin, a town about half an hour from Dumagete and stay there. So while researching Dauin resorts and especially Dauin beach resorts, I came across Liquid Dumaguete’s website, which looks quite professional and very inviting. Of course as a diver you’ve got to love their slogan ‘Eat, sleep, dive… live’!

Liquid Dumaguete dive resort

I was lured in by the phrase that they are a budget resort for flash packers. ‘Comfort on a budget’ is what their website promises. This made me believe that the pricing, even if a bit higher ranged, would still be within our budget limits. Turns out that wasn’t quite the case, but more about that later.

Update: Liquid have changed their website since we stayed there. It now reads ’boutique dive resort’, which is much more fitting (but would have probably meant we wouldn’t have gone there…) and they’ve added a number of more luxury cabins with aircon, hot water showers and cable TV. They’ve even added a massage cottage with a hot spring bath (with water from their own hot spring!). The only luxury facility missing is a hydrotherapy spa

Comfortable cabins, great atmosphere

The resort is amazing, very nicely landscaped area, beautiful bamboo huts and buildings, great pool and great atmosphere. Very relaxed and tranquil, lovely owners and the staff are all very professional. They really take good care of you. Even though the huts only have a fan and no a/c they were comfortable enough for our son’s naps during the day, with a nice balcony to sit outside for us. Almost all the buildings are either fully made out of bamboo or have bamboo finishing, very nice use of materials. And our little one absolutely adored the pool. He was in there at least 4 hours every day and never wanted to get out of the water. Which was good for us too, because it was easy for one of us to entertain him while the other went diving

Update: the Liquid Dumaguete website now says that the ‘basic’ cabins have only cold water showers. This wasn’t the case while we were there. They’ve also updated the price. We paid Php1600 when we were there, but they’re now Php2000 per night. Baby cots are still free of charge!

Well trained dive crew at Liquid Dumaguete

The diving was managed very well too. They have a big bangka boat, with enough seating space and even a toilet. Dive staff takes care of everything, from putting your equipment on the boat and setting it up to taking if off the boat after the dive and rinsing it for you. All you have to do is listen to the briefing, get on the boat, gear up and enjoy your dive. And unlike some other places where we’ve dived the boat crew are well trained to help you get out of the water too, should you need any assistance. What we really appreciated was that, since Mau had some health issues when diving earlier, they said not to take any chances and gave him nitrox at cost price. My only comment is that even though there is water, tea and coffee on the boat, you only get offered one cup and need to ask if you want more. I think on a dive boat, the crew should encourage you to hydrate, since it’s both important for diving and to avoid sea sickness.

Great diving, but quite expensive

Unfortunately diving in this area can get quite expensive. The base price that Liquid Dumaguete charges (1500 pesos per dive while we were there, lowering to 1300 after 6 or more dives) is not the highest we’ve seen (definitely not the lowest either….), but with the government imposed marine fees, camera fee and Liquid’s own add ons for day trips, a day of diving at Apo or Siquijor can get quite costly. Of course this isn’t such an issue if you’re on holiday, but can take a big chunk out of your budget if you’re traveling long term like us. But diving tends to do that anyway That being said we actually enjoyed diving the Dauin coast more than going to Apo Island, lots of weird critters and heaven for macro fans (see pictures in our post Diving in Dauin). So we could have saved ourselves the 600 pesos for the day trip there. But of course we had to see for ourselves to know that and Apo was still nice.

Overpriced food

Now for the costs and this is why we weren’t completely happy with our stay. The cabins are fairly priced for what you get, we paid 1600 pesos for our nice fan hut, with a free child’s cot. Of course that also gave us access to the great pool, so no complaints there. But the one thing that got to us were the restaurant prices. They serve great food, very tasty and freshly made. But… it’s expensive. We loved the idea of a family style dinner, but not at 350 pesos pp or more. On pizza night I think it was even 450 for a pizza and desert, wow… A refill for a 1 liter bottle of water was 25 pesos (compared to 4 pesos in the city at a filling machine in the street).

Fairer priced options on the bar menu

We did figure out, and other people who stayed there longer did too, that there were a few items on the bar menu that were a bit fairer priced and could serve as a meal, such as the quesadillas for 195 pesos and the nasi goreng for 150. But eating the same every day gets a bit boring. One other thing is that the portions weren’t the same each time, so one day we would get a big glass of fresh juice in the morning, the other day it was a smaller glass. And the same for the food portions. The selection was really good though and we loved the home made cakes and muffins that were available in the restaurant. But for a resort that claims to be ‘budget’ the prices really were too high.

Other options for dinner

Of course the high prices are what happens when there is no competition from other places to eat nearby. If you wanted to go outside the resort for dinner, you first had to walk 10 minutes on a dirt road before getting to the main street and from there you could catch a jeepney or tricycle to either Dauin (we didn’t try this) or to Dumaguete. Of course if you’re not traveling with a child it’s a bit easier to do. One more thing to note is that even though the resort is right on the beach, swimming in the ocean (or snorkelling in front of the resort) isn’t free. There is a government fee of 50 pesos per person. This isn’t Liquid’s fault, but we didn’t know this on beforehand and were quite disappointed when we found out.

Review Liquid Dumaguete – our verdict

All in all we would recommend a stay at Liquid Dumaguete and wouldn’t hesitate to return. Jace was clearly at ease from the minute we entered the resort and loved to play in the pool. We had a really good time there. Everyone at Liquid was incredibly friendly and professional, the atmosphere was really good and the diving, especially at the Dauin coast sites, was excellent. Just be prepared for the high food prices, which, if you’re on a vacation instead of traveling long term like us, might not be an issue for you.

Interested? Check availability & rates of Liquid Dive Resort.

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Of course, there are fantastic high-end beach resorts with swimming pools and attached dive centers in Moalboal, Philippines. Sisters Inn doesn’t have any of that. What it does have is a very nice Dutch owner, lovely and very accommodating staff and good sized rooms with hot and cold shower at a very reasonable price. Check latest prices.

Prices at Hotel Sisters Inn Moalboal

The first night we spend in a fan room for 750 pesos, because a/c was not available. The fan room was good and cool enough at night, but because Jace still naps in the afternoon, we moved to an aircon room the next day. For the room with airconditioning and a nice balcony we paid 1000 pesos a night. Actually, we were out diving and the staff moved our stuff for us to our new room. Great service.

Location of Sisters Inn: close but not too close

The hotel isn’t on the sea-front, but only about 8-10 mins walk to the area where the restaurants are (Panagsama). You can also walk to the main road (about 3 minutes) and catch a tricycle to the other side of Panagsama from there for about 20 pesos. It’s not far away from the action, but just far enough to not be bothered by it at night. Moalboal city center is only a short tricycle ride away and will cost you about 50 pesos. You can rent a motorbike at the hotel for only 350 pesos a day. That’s one of the cheapest we’ve seen so far, and they are good and pretty new bikes.

Great flexibility and service

What we really liked about Sisters Inn was that they were very flexible. A mattress on the floor to put Jace’s travel bed on was no problem whatsoever. They didn’t charge us extra for it. Twice we wanted to stay another night, no problem. Leave our stuff in the fridge? No problem. Refill our water bottle from the big tank? No problem and we didn’t even have to pay for it.

Nice communal area to relax

We did feel that at 195 pesos the breakfast was a little bit overpriced, but it was a nice breakfast and we didn’t pay for our drinking water, so that kinda evened it out. A cup of tea was only 20 pesos, so we often went out for dinner and then had a tea back at the hotel. There’s a nice communal area where you can sit and relax and talk to the other guests if you feel like it. The staff loved to play with Jace and usually kept him entertained the whole time we were downstairs with him.

Pretty good wifi for the Philippines

If you’re in the aircon room with the balcony upstairs, like we were, you sometimes have a really weak wifi signal in the room (only on our laptop, not on our phones). More often you don’t have a connection at all. But in the communal area it’s usually pretty good, except when someone is watching an online movie or downloading a big file. Don’t expect high speed internet, but for the area it really isn’t bad.

Booking a room at Sisters Inn Moalboal

We tried to book a room through the Sisters Inn website, but although we received an automated email confirmation that they had received our request and would respond to it, somehow our request never made it through and we ended up having to call them. If you want to be sure of a room, give them a call or book a room at Sisters Inn through Booking.com.

All in all we would definitely recommend Sisters Inn if you’re planning a trip to Moalboal!

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We’re loving Indonesia, but Makassar was a huge disappointment, so we were ready for a good experience again. And Sendowan Baru and its Dutch owners Lut and Frank came through for us. From the first warm welcome to the moment they helped us carry our luggage to the street to find a taxi when we left, we felt really at home there.

Sendowan Baru, North-Sulawewesi, Indonesia

Sendowan Baru is a property near Amurang that was built in 1995 by a Dutch guy. He intended for two families to live there, which shows in the design. At some point, he sold the property and now Frank and his brother Paul from The Netherlands own the place, together with their wives Lut and Lisette. They started renting out rooms in 2012, at very reasonable prices. Overall we found it really good value for money and the included breakfast, while basic, was a big plus. It’s a great alternative for an impersonal hotel. Frank and Paul are both part Indonesian, with ancestors from this area of Sulawesi.

Check out the latest prices for Sendowan Baru >>

Luxury rooms at Sendowan Baru

At first we inquired about the cottage that is set apart from the main house, at the front of the garden. But since that was already booked for the dates we wanted, Lut suggested the luxury rooms to us. These consisted of a huge living room, private bathroom, and a bedroom. Perfect for us. The property is huge, with lots of space for Jace to run around, a nice garden and a big swimming pool. Coming from a nondescript hotel in busy Makassar, this lovely guesthouse in Amurang, North-Sulawesi was the perfect place for us to unwind after the hassles of the big city. We even celebrated Jace’s second birthday there.

Relaxed time at Sendowan Baru

We actually didn’t leave the property very often. The property is huge and you can easily fill your days swimming, sun bathing, reading a book, playing football, feeding the fish or just relaxing. There’s a beach right outside the gate and with the swimming pool, two hammocks and an open air living room with three comfortable rocking chairs there is more than enough space to chill. The pool has a shallow kiddie area, so our little one could play in the water by himself.

Excursions

Amurang is the closest city to this lovely pension. We went there two times, once for dinner on the second night and once during the day. To get to Amurang you take one of the little blue buses, called mikrolets. There’s no official bus stop, they just stop to pick you up when you wait at the side of the road. Very convenient. A one way trip to Amurang is IDR 4.000. At night the village is pretty much deserted and it wasn’t easy to find a place to eat. On our visit during the day we stopped at a local market but left when people started touching Jace again, so it was a very brief visit. The owners of Sendowan Baru provide a great selection of guide books and information about excursions in the area. We just found the place to relaxing, we didn’t go out much.

You don’t have to go out for food

The Indonesian couple Lydia and Alfrett take care of the property. They are incredibly nice people and very competent. Lydia even speaks Dutch, so that was easy for Jace too. It took him a day or so to warm up to her (I think it was weird for him to have someone so obviously Indonesian speak Dutch to him instead of English), but after a while he constantly looked for her in the kitchen. Haha, food really was the way to his little heart Lydia is a great cook and lunch and dinner are offered for 35k and 50k respectively. Since we didn’t have to pay for Jace, it was a pretty good deal for us. We also got take away lunch a few times from the warung next door for 45k for two people, which was both cheap and tasty.

We even stayed longer…

We booked for three nights, but ended up adding another three. All three of us had a cold from the aircon in Makassar and we needed to be fit before going to Bunaken for diving, but also because we felt at home and liked the peace and quiet at Sendowan Baru so much. After a suggestion from Lut and some online research we decided that before going to Bunaken we would make a trip to Tangkoko National Park to stay there for a few days. So that was our next destination after Sendowan Baru.

How to get to Amurang

Sendowan Baru is located in North Sulawesi, about 2 hours from Sam Ratulangi Manado International Airport. Since it was the day before Jace’s birthday and we just wanted some peace and quiet, we chose to take a private car to get from the airport to the guesthouse. The owners arranged the car for us. At 500k it was quite expensive, but also the easiest way to get there. There is also a bus from Manado to Amurang. At 35k per person, it’s a much cheaper option. Then from Amurang you take one of the blue mikrolets to get to Sendowan Baru. The downside is that the bus on the route Manado Airport – Amurang only goes 2 times a day, so the timing has to be right. According to this bus schedule (in Indonesian) the bus from Manado Airport to Amurang leaves at 07:00 and 15:00.

Sendowan Baru: our verdict

I don’t think I need to repeat that we had a really good time at Sendowan Baru. The owners are lovely, and so are the caretakers. The Indonesian couple Lydia and Alfrett take very good care of the guests. Sendowan Baru is a great place to relax and recharge. You can visit places in the area, but you don’t have to. You can easily spend your days relaxing at the pool. We would go to Sendowan Baru again in a heart beat. If you’re going to North-Sulawesi, we can definitely recommend a stay at Sendowan Baru. You won’t regret it!

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We started off on the wrong foot with Nusa Lembongan. As you can read in our review of Shipwrecks Beach Resort (spoiler: don’t stay there!) we didn’t have such a great first night. So right away we looked for a new place to stay. We looked up Taos House and since we were in a bit of a hurry to find a new accommodation we called them. They actually picked up the phone (big improvement!). After telling us they only had a room for two nights instead of the four we wanted, they apparently made some arrangements because a few minutes later they texted us we could stay the 4 nights we needed. Great service!

Getting to Taos House Nusa Lembongan

If you’re thinking of going to Nusa Lembongan, read our post about the cheapest way to get there from Bali. Since we were on Nusa Lembongan already, the owner of Taos House agreed to pick us up free of charge. Free harbor pick up is included if you stay at Taos House. So when you arrive by ferry, the Taos House staff can pick you up, or, depending on your ticket, you get dropped off by the boat crew. After our pick up in the morning, we arrived at their lovely hotel in the Mushroom Bay area. The owners (the father, his son and his daughter) were very nice and we were welcomed with fresh orange juice while we waited for our room to be cleaned. Taos House was a bit more expensive than the place we’d previously selected, but a hundred times better.

The amenities at Taos House

Taos House has a really nice garden in front of the rooms and a lovely swimming pool to cool down on the hot days. Jace really loved the place too. Partly because of the pool, but also because there were two little kids and a four-week-old puppy for him to play with. The staff gave us great information about what to do and where to go. The rooms were comfy and clean, and we appreciated the mosquito nets over the bed. The rooms are located in bungalow type buildings, each with their own terrace.

Location of Taos House

Taos House is located in the Mushroom Bay area. It’s not on the beach, which we initially wanted. But you can easily walk to Mushroom beach. We rented a motorbike, which is a great option to get around the island.

Food at Taos House

Breakfast at Taos House was included, which for us as budget travelers is always a good thing. It wasn’t a huge breakfast, but well made and enough for us to start the day. The restaurant also serves lunch and dinner. Taos House is a lovely family owned accommodation, it’s not a large hotel, so food options are limited.

Conclusion

Pros:
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• friendly staff
• owned and operated by a local family
• big swimming pool
• nice garden with good atmosphere
• decent breakfast
• clean and good sized room

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Cons:
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• the hot shower didn’t work very well (the staff did their best to fix it and finally managed to on day 3)
• not on the beach
• a bit above our budget

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Check the price and availability of Taos House on Booking.com >>

Check out more places to stay on Nusa Lembongan

Booking.com

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Somehow the owner of the accommodation we booked thought that Shipwrecks Beach Resort sounded more fancy then the original name of Shipwrecks Surf Retreat (which was already quite pretentious) so this is what he called the place on booking.com. Obviously he forgot to update everyone that he changed the name though, so no one knew of a place called Shipwrecks Beach Resort. The guy who arranged the drop offs from the boat didn’t know, no one in the streets in the Shipwreck Beach area knew… On top of that they didn’t pick up the phone at the number that booking.com send us. All in all it took us a good 1,5 hours to find the place from Tropica Shipwreck where we were mistakenly dropped off. Even though it was only about 5 minutes away.

So already in a pretty foul mood and with a little one who was seriously tired, we were shown our room. Since Jace really needed to sleep we didn’t want to argue, but what a dump. The only good thing about it was that it was quite spacious, but the paint came of the bedroom wall which looked extremely dirty, the bathroom didn’t look too clean either, there was no mosquito net, the shower had no water pressure, everything felt damp…

We later found out that there were actually rooms that were a bit nicer, but sometimes you just don’t feel the love for a place. Especially since it wasn’t a cheap room either, it was advertised on booking.com for €32,- per night. We actually felt a bit uncomfortable and started our search for a new place to stay as soon as we got there. And we weren’t the only ones. A German couple that we met there also decided to leave much earlier than the two weeks they’d originally booked to stay.

The one thing this accommodation did have was a great location, it was right on a nice sandy beach. And in the end we ended up paying only IDR400.000 (about €27,-) for the one night we stayed there. The owner was very flexible when we told him we only wanted to stay the one night.

Weirdly enough this place got a pretty good score on booking.com. If you do end up going there, don’t stay in the first room on the right when you enter the premises, take one that’s more in the back.

So, to sum it up:

Pros:

• great location on a sandy beach
• good size room
• small but very nice banana pancake for breakfast

Cons:

• room felt damp
• no water pressure
• no mosquito net
• paint comes of the walls
• personnel hardly speaks any English
• not a great atmosphere

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There are many cooking classes in Ubud Indonesia. Since Ubud itself is very busy, we chose to stay in a village outside of Ubud in a lovely family homestay called Kas Komala.  There was a cooking class down the road, only about 5 mins away. After looking it up on TripAdvisor it turned out people were really happy about it, so I decided to book a morning class with them.

The start of my Bali cooking class

There were 12 people in my cooking class, all ages and from all over the world. Pilled in two cars, we drove to the market for ingredients. Actually, we didn’t buy a lot, just some spices, but it was nice to visit a local market. We’d already been to a few, but I guess for most short-term tourists it would be quite an experience. Of course, local markets always offer great photo opportunities!

Back to the family compound for cooking

After the market, we went to the family compound for the cooking class. We were welcomed with a nice drink of young coconut and shown the kitchen and dining tables. Very professional setup. It was obvious they had a lot of experience teaching the classes because even with 12 participants things ran very smoothly. No time for relaxation, it was time to work! The gender bias was quite clear, the boys had to do the hard work of pounding and grinding the meats and spices and the girls did all the cutting.

Fun Balinese cooking class

Of course, the class was also meant to be fun. While we were cooking there was time for jokes and sharing stories as well. We had a very diverse and international group with Canadians, Australians, Czech, Germans, Norwegians and English of all ages and it was nice to hear what everybody was up to. For instance the couple from the Czech Republic was in Bali on their two week honeymoon. He was a marine captain who works in Nigeria for a Dutch dredging company, 6 weeks on/6 weeks off. Unfortunately, his wife didn’t speak English, but we managed to communicate any way. One of the Germans was actually Czech by birth and did sales for a company selling Czech steel in Germany and the Norwegian girl had just been in Australia for a year on a working holiday visa.

Best cooking class in Ubud

The dishes we made were absolutely delicious! And with such basic ingredients, amazing. We made a clear mushroom soup that was absolutely to die for, homemade peanut sauce, basic yellow sauce (that has sooo many uses), chicken curry, sate lilit (lollipop sate, with ground chicken), gado gado, Balinese lawar (salad), pepes ikon (fish in banana leaf) and fried tempe manis. I really hope I can find all the ingredients when we’re back in Holland, because these are dishes I would love to be able to make at home!

I’m not sure if it’s the best cooking class in Ubud, but I would definitely recommend the Jambangan cooking class! It’s run by a lovely family, the setup is very professional, things run smoothly and I learned a lot about Balinese cooking. And, not unimportant, it was fun!.

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We weren’t even sure if we were going to bring it, since we had too much luggage and weight already. But on a whim we decided to take it anyway. Our first two months in Egypt we didn’t use it at all as we could borrow a pram with air tires, which was a lot more practical and less warm for all of us. But since being in Indonesia we’ve used the Manduca almost every day.

It allows us to take our little one on the motorbike. A very practical means of transportation when you’re traveling around Asia. I’m not sure if this is what they had in mind when they designed the carrier, but we love it The locals think it’s very funny and keep waving and taking pictures of us when we’re driving around. Still it seems a lot more safe than the way they transport their kids, the little ones standing between their legs or sitting in front of the parents on the seat holding themselves steady with their feet on the dashboard. Now that’s a sight!

Anyway, back to the Manduca. I didn’t use it a lot when Jace was younger because I wanted to carry him on my front and my shoulders were too narrow to use the Manduca. It kept sliding off. Now that he’s older and heavier and I’m comfortable carrying him on my back I don’t have that problem anymore. He sits very comfortably and sometimes even falls asleep while in the carrier. We mainly use it on the motorbike, but also while hiking.

Our little one weighs over 12 kilo’s now, but with the Manduca I can easily carry him on my back. It’s made of very sturdy, but breathing, material, with clips that secure very well. I would actually prefer to have metal clips instead of plastic, to make them even more strong, but I guess that would bring both weight and price up. The €89.90 that we spend on it seemed a lot of money at the time, but considering that our son is now almost two years old, it’s actually pretty good value for money. And I’m sure we can sell it again when we’re done with it, it’s great quality.

For more info, check out Manduca’s official website

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