Manado: Shopping Area and Starting-Point for Tours

(Last update: 06-06-2009)

To Internet café and Shopping Center of Manado

Since there was no conventional telephone network on Bunaken, we had to go by boat to Manado at least once per week to receive or send our e-mails in an Internet café.

Our standard route until 2004 went from the harbour to the main street Jl. Sam Ratulangi in the centre. Within approx. 15 minutes we reached the department store "MATA HARI", to be recognized easily by its size. Obliquely opposite the post office was located. Since the new shopping centre "MEGA MALL"was opened, the Mata Hari has lost its preferential meaning, however.

There is the new Internet café GATAWAY since 2008. It is 50 m northeastern of MEGA MALL in a little minor road (N 1.48498 °, O 124.83489 °). The connection was very slow like everywhere in Manado. But already something faster than in the previous years. It could happen around the lunchtime that it got extremely slow. Sometimes foreign web pages could not be reached any more at all. One also should be never surprised when the internet connection is broken completely on a day. The Dutch owner Rob is very helpful and also puts a Wi-Fi connection for you here. It is a very pleasant atmosphere there, quiet and primarily without computer playing teenagers .

Hotels and Restaurants in Manado

Following the Jl. Sam Ratulang from the "Mata Hari" to the south you get to the "VICTORY INN " . it is a reasonably priced little hotel, just recently with a little Internet café. It serves many newcomers as a good address to receive useful information and is an alternative to the no longer quite so cheap "CELEBES" directly at the harbour. It is often claimed there to the incoming guest that the cheap rooms are already occupied. If we had to spend a night in Manado this year we regularly spent it in the "MINAHASA HOTEL"(picture on the left). The rooms are situated as single buildings on a slop to the right and left of a stair and cost around 250,000 Rp.

Before 2008 we often dined at a reasonable price in the Chinese restaurant "GREEN GARDEN" just besides the Victory Inn. The menu was miscellaneous and the service very friendly. A friend who lives in Manado then recommended us the RAJA SATE (N 1.482266 °, O 124.835169 °) last year. This restaurant was our favourite haunt from then on. One can eat very well and good value for money also in the La TERRACE (N 1.48764 °, O 124.83473 °). Moreover, one has a lovely view over the sea from there (photo below)

Who is in the mood for a breakfast will find very delicious pastries near the entrance of the MEGA MALL. One can watch the making behind a glass plate and can hardly resist the smell arising in this process. In the café BAMBU EXPRESS (the name could have changed by now again, though) nearby at the ground floor you can sit down and enjoy a good cappuccino then.

Many times we paid a visit to the small restaurant "MM" nearby the harbour on our way back. Stenly, the son of the owner operates a small computer shop (open at 11 a.m.) at the same place. The extremely kind and helpful man was always pleased about our visit and used to join us drinking a bootle of "Bir Bintag". His nasi groreng and Bami goreng can can be very much recommended . If you however desire for something quite special once, then you should order "Sate " (marinated meat on skewers , delicious cooked on the grill, with peanut sauce).... on recommendation of Papa Klaus.

Pictures of Manado

With the following photos I would like to convey you an impression of my experiences of the last years on Bunaken:


After 45 minutes from Bunaken the boat reaches the mouth of a river at the harbour of Manado ...	...and ties up at the wall. Don't forget to ask the captain now, what time the boat returns to Bunaken in the afternoon.	If you don't have to do anything in the harbour area absolutely, you will escape the smell and home in on the city of Manado as fast as possible.


We sometimes used horse drawn carrages the last couple of hundred metres on the way back to the harbour when we were to exhausted to carry our heavy purchases.		On the Jl. Sam Ratulang the blue "Mikrolets" are the predominant means of public transport. As a pedestrian one has a hard time: A pavement always becomes repaired or rebuilt someplace. Caution is always advisable: Firstly, the many places in which the pavement has broken in are not protected. If one does not permanently keep the eyes open, one can fall in a deep hole and hurt himself seriously . Within the last few years the situation has improved a little, however.


	One also must be permanent on the watch to not rumble with the head against the roofs of the stalls standing on the pavement. On the right lies the restaurant " GREEN GARDEN " and the hotel "VICTORY INN " besides each other.		Look at the starter in the "LA TERRACE". During the day the young staff sometimes turns up the music too modern and too loud. If you don't like that, you must only tell them. It is also possible traditional and quiet.		On the day there only are few guests in the La Terrace so that you can make your choice and get easily a table with a view over the sea. If somebody was going to obstruct my view by parking his car in front of the restaurant, I ask him friendly to move to somewhere else.


On the boulevard near the sea you can reach the new shopping centre with the 4-storied MEGA MALL by walking or in a few minutes with one of the many microlets.	The modern air-conditioned supermarket	When you enter MEGA MALL, you pass near the entrance a modern bakery. There you cannnot but buy exquisite pastries in order to ....

Look at the harbour out of hotel CELEBES

...enjoy them in the café BAMBOO EXPRESS with a good cappuccino (a couple of steps further). Here you can get by the way free internet access (Wi-Fi) Though you must register before and accept annoying advertising.

Look at the harbour out of the restaurant of the hotel CELEBES in the direction of the islands of Bunaken and Manado Tua. The big ferries start from here to the Sangihe and Talaud islands.

We particularly appreciated the hospitality of Stenly in the restaurant "MM" near the harbour. The humorous and open-minded Chinese did not only provide us with palatable nasi Goreng, but also with valuable tips and advice at all imaginable problems.

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