So, I spent a lot of money to get a Kanilea Tenor Ukulele. It’s made of koa. I’ve been talking about it with the maker for some time now and it’s finally here. All the way from Hawaii.


thoughts escaping my mind
Our last day in Sulawesi found me starting it off with another pisang goreng and then heading off toward Bitung.
Here is the map of our route.

In the early part of the day, we headed to the Jengji Market and finally found the Manado coffee beans that I’ve been searching for.
There is one thing worth mentioning here in Manado, and it’s the goreng pisang, or as the locals say it, pisang goreng.
I like the way they cut the banana and fan it out. The ratio of crust to banana is that much better. I can imagine a very ripened and sweet banana cooked this way. Crust and sweet. Heaven.

Today gave us clear bright blue skies, heat and humidity.
Yesterday, when we visited the Hill of Prayer, when it rained, the mist rose up the mountains and it got so cold, it felt like we were in some other country in winter.
We basically covered the same area. Today, I have a more accurate map.

We went further than yesterday and visited Lake Linow, the traditional houses of Minahasa, looked into some Japanese caves, snacked on local pau at Kawang Koan, visited the Hill of Mercy which is set up to represent all 5 religious groups, etc etc.
Yes, I’ve not even finished updating my travel logs on the USA and I’m now here in Manado, a city in the northern finger of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.