Mencari Maria di Manado.

Salam!

I just got back from a 4 days Conference in Manado,North Sulawesi last night:) But before i share my colourful experience in Manado i would like to thank each of you who for the wishes  and prayers for my Anniversary. Truly appreciate all of it,lots of loves to all:)

I am still tired and berhutang few recipes and soalan tak berjawab from some of you:(:( will try to attend later, just let me share my journey now while i m still in the mood:)

Manado is a very small town, in North Sulawesi,Indonesia, there's nothing much in the city,it looks like Rembau/Kuala Pilah towns in the old days but the islands surrounding it are very beautiful,one of the most beautiful place in the world to go for scuba diving .For flight you can either go through Jakarta (Garuda Airlines-transit Jakarta) or like my case I took SilkAir : KL-Singapore-Manado. The journey from Singapore to Manado is 3 hrs 45 minutes. SilkAir is a regional wings of Singapore Airlines, the flight and service is very good.

Okay lets go Manado and find Maria (Menado:):)

Cafe Barbara is my usual breakfast place at KLIA.The beef pie is recommended- very nice:)

I reached Manado at 1350 and was greeted by the organiser at the Aiport:) The Airport was really small- there's only one door to the arrival hall.Without the participants from all over the world to attend the Conference i guess the airport is very quite.I can't see any other plane except ours. The coach took me and other participants to our Hotel- Swissbel and we were served with "air sawi"- he he anybody fancy air sawi? Healthy but a bit erkkkkk..isn't it?:)

Swissbell is a 4 stars hotel and the room was very comfortable:) good bed and spacious.

So this is going to be my place for 4 days.

I requested for a room with a view and i got one:) Forgot to mention that people of Manado is very very nice- they welcome,respect and attend to all your need.

This is a Manado- small and lil bit mysterious:)

Awesome view- there's many active volcanoes around Manado town;);)

Manado has nice temperature- if it is not raining the temperature reads at 29 degrees cel.

View from my hotel window.

Manado is very traditional- there's many small shops around, majority is the Christians with 30 or 40 percent of Muslims,there's many church around but my hotel is very near to the mosque i can hear azan clearly.Night starts early too, by 5.45 it will be dark  and maghrib is at 6.00pm. Subuh if you lambat jaga that's it as it starts at 4.45 and by 6.25 it's already very bright;)

One shop that caught my attention opposite the hotel.

After i settled down it was still early like 5.30 like that- I took opportunity to pamper my body here- and i called massage to the room;) Here is cheaper compared to bangkok- so i had massage and facial in the room:) It was heaven:)

After the good massage i called for room service and this is my first experience of Manado food.

Ayam Muda bakar bersama saus berberkue:) sedap.

Their ceaser salad was one of the best that i ve ever tasted- i makan sampai licin:)

I had a good night sleep and woke up to this wonderful view.

As usual; since i am alone- took one perasan picture:)

Ready to go to breakfast and naik bus to the Conference centre.

The super sedap egg noodles sup at the hotel- the chilies and lime buat the soup so umphhh!

Bubur Manado the local delicacies- sedap, bubur yang di tabur sambal ikan roa, bawang goreng dan banyak bahan2 yang lain- i makan tiap2 pagi:)

This is my first time attending Asia Media Summit- this is more to the new tasks that i am handling now. There's many participants i.e 400 plus.

Next year the Asia Media Summit will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia- kalau ada rezeki boleh lah buat umrah:)

Unlike my Copyright seminar i tak kenal orang kat sini- i sat next to another participant from our organisation.Azhar Borhan was invited as one of the speaker.

The first day was a very long day, lunch was provided and we didn't go back to hotel at all until 6.00 a clock.Our hotel was 40 minutes journey from the conference centre. 7.30 we went to the welcome dinner at the seafood restaurant by the sea.

The Minahasa food.

During the dinner barulah jumpa orang2 Malaysia.I met Dato Rozalila Chief marketing Officer from Telekom,Su from Peroda and few other people.

Balik hotel we singgah Swiss bakery at the hotel lobby.

Ini lah tart paling popular seluruh manado- nama dia "Klapertart atau pun coconut tart" kelakar kan Klapper/Kelapa:)

I bought few tubes of Giant macaroons to be brought back home- super duper cheap here and it's nice too.

The next day after conference we went jalan2 in manado, we took the local transport called 'bluebird" macam tut2 di Thailand- it was so cheap- 6 orang 6 ringgit.

Jalan2 kecik di manado.

Church every few kilometres.

We with Bluebird:)

Me and Su from Perodua.

With Dato Rozalila:)

After mengukur malls dan hampa sebab tak ada benda nak dibeli satu pun (yuppp manado is not a place for shopping- tempat jimat duit sini) we took a break at local "starbucks" shop.The place is called Excelso.This crunchy and creamy dessert is sedap:) basically semua food sedap di manado.

Our bodyguards trying Alpucat with vanilla ice cream.

balik hotel we headed straight for dinner at the restaurant as the two ladies told me that i must try "sup bontot bakar" sangat enak kabarnya:)

The grilled oxtails with separate soup:)

memang totally awesome- the oxtails were tender and juicy at the same time- enakkkkkk banget:)

After makan we singgah lagi kat bakery:)

The two sweet manado girls at the bakery.

Yesterday i said goodbye to manado;) Tukar duit Malaysia tak sampai Rm2000 to Rupian tapi RM400 pun tak habis- huishhh totally good datang Manado ni:) I cant buy anything- tak der benda nak di beli except bumbu nak goreng ayam,teh,sos pecal,ground coffee dan sambal ikan.nasib baik the last day i nampak kedai toy yang besar not far from hotel while waiting for bus to aiport i sempat beli dolls and 2 dresses for my girls. Jadi 4 hari duduk situ hanya tak sampai RM400 berbelanja:) sangat bagus.

BUT i bought few things at Changi Aiport after that:)

I didnt buy anything for myself but i tak tahan tengok toys untuk girls yang sangat happening kat Singapore- this jelly and tart set ni macam betul2,kat dalam dia ada piping bag with nozzles and cream,boleh pipe out buat dessert...sangat awesome- sebab masa i kecik dulu tak ada,so i pun beli for my girls and boleh tumpang happy sekali:)

Today the girls had fun making jellies and tarts:) They had nice tea party with their "friends"

Looks so nice kan..the icing tu i tolong pipe kan keliling the tart and jelly and they both hiaskan with cherry,banana etc- after sometimes the icing tu pun keras dan dah jadi toy betul2:)

Strawberry shortcakes is super duper cheap in manado- hanya RM8 each!!

The sweet party dresses pun i beli around Rm50 each.

Alhamdulillah pagi tadi dah back to the routine- dah buat nasi goreng pakai bumbu manado:)

Evening we took uwan out for lovely Tea at The Italiane kitchen at Sunway Giza, uwan suka makan creamy soup:) She had seafood chowder and Earl Grey Tea.The Bruschetta platter is super duper awesome here:);)

That's the story- i didn't find Maria but i found the little paradise with lovely people at North Sulawesi!

Nite nite all..zzzzzzzz.

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