Backpacking & Diving @Manado, Sulawesi Indonesia

30th Jan 2009 –
Reached LCCT pretty early at 3:30am to catch the 6:20am flight to Manado. I am little nervous on the budget that I had research and really don’t know how true is all the figure extract from Internet research. Anyway adventure backpack is always full of challenges and surprises. So reached Manado at 10:20am and the journey start off with the bargaining cabby to town. I had budgeted RP50.000 but it was RP80.000 and now you know what I worry. I guess we have to keep bargain all the way. Once we reach Manado town then we walk straight to a shopping center call ‘Mega Mall’ for a simple lunch and then walk directly to the jetty to cross over to Pulau Bunaken. I had plan to stay 2 night at Bunaken island for diving.



Once we reach the jetty then there is bargaining time again for boat to Bunaken. Anyway I have checked that there is public boat to Bunaken cost around RP25.000 per person but I got a private charter boat for only RP35.000 instead better than the public boat I guess. It took us 45 min to reach Pangalisang beach from Manado.



I had prepare to stay at Bunaken village for EURO 25 per pax but I insist to search for chalet once we reach the island. I have few option and the boatman also recommend Daniel Homestay that I wanted to search too which cost only RP175.000 per person. This is lots more cheaper than Bunaken village but of course Bunaken village are more high end and comfy with that price and service. I am satisfy with Daniel with that price range. Cheers.



31st Jan 2009 –
Second day at Manado and Bunaken Island was a full day wall diving trip. Am excited with the wall dive over here and my 1st dive site at Bunaken was Lekuan 3. It wasn’t great about my 1st dive.




Excitement come with 2nd dive site which is Lekuan 1 wall dive where there are full of butterfly fish all over the place. Something specials that I experience for a little leisure dive.



After lunch, we head off to the 3rd dive to Timur wall dive and the last dive is really a deep dive but I couldn’t meet any BIG creature like manta or whale shark. Anyway it was a good dive and diving at Manado is slightly expensive where it cost EURO 25 per dive.

1st Feb 2009 –
Checkout 10am and took the boat back to Manado at 10:30am as today is Sunday and everyone at Manado has to go to church and it cost slightly higher to get a charter boat. So we took back the same boatman and it cost us RP175.000 charter boat back to Manado town. Reach Manado at noon and then take a light lunch. The second parts of the adventure to highland Tomohon continue thereafter. We took a cab for about RP90.000 to reach Tomohon and it took us about 1 hour to reach and the city is on top of a hill and little chilling with the view of 2 volcano mountain, Gunung Lokon and Gunung Mahawu. We stay at Lokon Boutique Resort and it is a beautiful resort looking directly Lokon Mountain. Fantastic!!!





After check in, we hire a kijang to visit Linow Lake, sulphur lake that changes color depend on the sun and Lake Tondanau which is the largest lake at Manado for a superb hot & spicy dinner. Trips end with a light shopping at Tomohon city of flowers.



2nd Feb 2009 –
The next morning was a great day at Lokon with a great view of Lokon Mountain. We start off we a hike to the swimming pool which is not so nice afterall. Then we took the blue Microlet to the Tomohon morning tradisional market with only RP2.000 one way and is cool. Guess what? I saw bat, dog hanging in the market. WOW!! Amazing!

Then check out at 10am and we hire the kijang again to visit Bukit Kasih, something special but not very fascinating. Bukit Kasih is a hill near volcanic area with hot sulphur lake and also statue of many religion displays. The most important is a little hiking and relaxing at the hill and scenery but there wasn’t any maintenance but of cause they need many donation for that.



After Bukit Kasih, we move straight back to Manado town to stay at Manado Central budget hotel for the last night. So it will be a city life with public bus microlet and also walk along Boulevard road at Manado.



3rd Feb 2009 –
Before we leave, we had a very tradisional manado food near wakeke road where all the local food are located. We try bubur manado which is vegetable porridge serve at wakeke. Something special but is weird having lots of pumpkin and mint at the porridge. But it was a good adventure trying lots of weird experience. We took the flight 11:05am from Manado back to LCCT.

FAREWELL 2008 & WELCOME 2009

This year 2008 I had dive at Similan and Perhentian Island. I had climbed Mount Kinabalu for the second time with a bunch of adventure people and also try my first experience on gunung above 2000m call 'Gunung Batu Putih' at peninsula. It was a great adventure and exciting journey through 2008.

Before the year end, I guess my most interesting trip would be my backpacking trip at Guilin, China.

Time flies and age catching up BUT adventure still carry on through the new year 2009. I can't wait to welcome the new year as I have 2 planned trip to Manado and Chiangmai. It would be a very exciting backpacking trip as well with diving and adventure.

Stay tune.

Adventure Backpacking @ Guilin, China

We had planned this trip 4 months ago when Air Asia opens its new route to Guilin, China and it is also my first trip to China. I choose Guilin as my first destination to China is because Guilin has the most beautiful scenery that I love very much. We booked a 1 week backpacking trip for Guilin from 5th November to 12th November 2008. It was an exciting adventure with some trekking and cycling around Guilin.

Here is my Guilin Travelogue:

5th Nov – We took a early flight at 6:20am to guilin and reach Guilin at around 10am. It was not that cold at Guilin when we reach where the temperature is around 18 to 20 degree but the worst is the rain. Its rain the whole day since we reach Guilin and it was a wet day for our first day at Guilin. I didn’t have a umbrella and raincoat with me. The rain and wind chill make us cold and I brought a RMB5 umbrella for a little rain protection. Trust me!! A umbrella or raincoat are very handy during the rainy season for backpacking trips.



We stay at Guilin Riverside Hostel that cost us USD$9 per person per night and the room are clean and average but you can get cheaper room at Guilin easily. Our first day are just a Guilin city tour.


6th Nov – Second day at Guilin will be a adventure route as we will be heading to Yangshuo by local bus transport. Bus terminal are all in Chinese character and lucky I have 2 friends that can read and the others are English educated. So we brought a bus ticket that cost us RMB15 to reach Yangshuo. The journey took us about 1 hour to reach the beautiful town of Yangshuo that surrounded by hills and rivers. After struggling looking for hostel at Yangshuo with some sweats and research.



Finally we choose 7th Heaven hostel for a night stay for RMB100. I would rate this hostel a very good hospitality and also very friendly with clean room as well. Warning!! the balcony room might flood during the rainy season. We took our quick lunch without wasting time as we are rushing for some cycling adventure because it was a beautiful sunny day for our second day trip.



We cycle to Moon hill and visited Big Banyan tree. It was a very adventure cycling for our second day at Yangshuo. At night, we try a weird dish beer fish and also had a little shopping at West street. Overall food experience at Guilin are not that great.



7th Nov – It was raining in the morning on our third day. We can’t do any cycling for today and there will be some changes to our itinerary. We will be heading to visit Xingping town and try our first bamboo boat along the Li river. It suppose to be a beautiful cruise with beautiful scenery but the rain cause the whole mess. The best part of the adventure are cruising Li river with rain and cold wind chill without any beautiful scenery. Rainy day are really enough to end the day as we head home to Yangshuo. We change to a new hostel Ji Jing Ge Hostel that cost RMB60 per night and is was a good deal and I really like this hostel with basic and clean room.



8th Nov – We decided to visit Longsheng on our 4th day. We took a 3 hour LONG journey to Longsheng. We love Longsheng very much as it has a beautiful rice terrace scenery and also good food at Longsheng. We suppose to plan to stay a night a longsheng but there wasn’t any good information on the accommodation at Longsheng that make us worry.

After visiting Longsheng and there are plenty of backpackers hostel at Longsheng.

9th Nov – Our fifth day are the most exciting, adventure and beautiful highlight of the trips. There is no rain and it was a beautiful sunny day and it is really good for a whole day cycling trip down the country side of Yangshuo. We cycle toward the dragon bridge into the village and it was a really fascinating view and amazing scenery. Every stop ended with a “WOW”. We took a 2 hour bamboo rafting journey along Yulong river with our bicycle to enjoy the beautiful scenery at Yangshuo. We ended our Yongshuo trips with no regret as the last day was the most beautiful of the trip.





10th Nov – We head back to Guilin city and make our way to a cheap hotel for RMB80 for a night. We haven’t visit all the beautiful hill at Guilin. So we quickly took our lunch and visit Elephant Hill.

We spend the whole afternoon at elephant hill and enjoy the sunset and have a little snack at the river. Then we visited the beautiful pagoda at the river. As usual every night we will end up with night shopping and buying souvenir.

11th Nov – Final day of Guilin. We visited Fubo hill. We walk to Fubo hill for about 30 – 45 minutes through the morning park at Guilin. We saw many old folks dancing and doing tai chi at the park. Sometimes walking is also good to see something difference within the city. We climb to the peak of Fubo hill and finally we can see the whole Guilin city, Diecai hill and Solitary beauty peak.

After Fubo, we proceed to Red Flute Cave by little tuk tuk. The entrance to Red flute cave cost us RMB60 per person and it was not that beautiful after all except the brilliant use of lighting to light up the whole cave with different colors.

12th Nov – We reach back Kuala Lumpur at around 3:30pm.

Visiting Langkawi @October 2008

Langkawi Updates....

I visited Pulau Langkawi during October from 10th to 12th. I had not visit Langkawi for a very long time and this time going back was not a total stranger as there are not much changes at Langkawi.

I took a boat from Kuala Kedah to Langkawi and the journey took us 1.5 hours to reach the destination. We rented a Nissan Sentra for our 2 day trip for a cost of RM150 (I think it is a good deal ;)...). Then we spend our 2 night at CHOGM villa.

There are 2 highlight and attractive place that I would like to recommend:-

First, I had a wonderful dinner at the 'Lighthouse' near pantai cenang. We have the dinner beside the beach. This is a really nice beautiful restaurant at Langkawi.

Secondly, the other best place at Langkawi would be the Oriental Village where we took the cable car to Mount Mat Cincang near pantai kok. The scenery from the peak are beautiful.

Here are just my summary tips for Langkawi that I would like to share with you.

Adventure Bravo.

Highest mountain in Peninsula Malaysia

Here are the 8 highest mountain in Peninsula Malaysia (FYR) :-

1 Gunung Tahan 2,187 Malaysia, Pahang
2 Gunung Korbu 2,183 Malaysia, Perak
3 Gunung Yong Belar 2,181 Malaysia, Perak
4 Gunung Gayong 2,173 Malaysia, Perak
5 Gunung Chamah 2,171 Malaysia, Kelantan
6 Gunung Yong Yap 2,168 Malaysia, Perak
7 Gunung Ulu Sepat 2,161 Malaysia, Perak/Kelantan
8 Gunung Batu Putih 2,131 Malaysia, Perak (Tapah)

Climbing Gunung Batu Putih, Peninsula 8th highest

Finally I get to climbed one of the mountain above 2000m in Peninisula Malaysia called Gunung Batu Putih, which is the 8th highest mountain in Peninsula Malaysia.

Here are my trip itineraries (actual climbing during merdeka holiday) :-

We rush to tapah on 29th August at 11pm and reached tapah at around 1:30am. Crazy !! just rest a while and then we had our breakfast at 7am on the 30th, then reached the mountain entrance at around 8:30am and then all climbers gear up and start climbing at 9am.

The whole climbing took 3 day and 2 night camping. The whole climbing are tough especially on the first day where we climb almost 6-7 hours to reach the cave campsite. I am not really that fit especially with the heavy backpack carrying tents, utensil and foods. No Kidding !!!

Then second day suppose to be another climbing to the peak and camping at the peak. The third day would be the descending.

It is a really great experience.....

Adventure @ My Gopeng Resort aka MGR

Gopeng is a gateway to great adventure like water rafting and adventure caving. But there are not much resort situated at gopeng except My Gopeng Resort and another few adventure resort nearby MGR. Is a recommended place for family and company event that need a break from the busy city stress.





My Gopeng Resort have interesting chalet like kampong chalet, dusun chalet etc for option to adventure seeker. There are good facility like hall, cafeteria and good services from the management of MGR.


We visited the resort on 26th July for a 2 day 1 night trip to explore the actual MGR adventure. We were given kampong chalet and also a cost of RM100 pax for a 2 day 1 night trip including 1 lunch, 1 tea break, 1 dinner and 1 breakfast. Surprise for durian lovers!! there are plenty of durians for desert and tea time all day long.


There are lots of activity provided by MGR like water rafting, body rafting, climbing, trekking, caving etc for group event where all are centralize and easy access without any trouble.

We just have a trial on MGR for just a night to checkout MGR.