Sulawesi - All Info - Manado

[BintanBeer]

Hello All Bros,

Anyone has any info of Manado...I need to know pretty soon as I may be deployed there for work by Sept for 3 to 6 months....of cos info include places of interest, cewek places, KTV, makan area, or more interesting places any of the bros know....

many thanks in advance

[BintanBeer]

PART-1
Manado is a fun town!
The people make the town seem like that. The people of Manado are interesting - generations of mixed bloods and Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, Indian, Chinese and many others, make the local population very different looking from other Asian people. Additional influence comes from the not-far-away Philippines. In some ways, the Manadonese look more Latino than Asian with dark skin, curly hair, brown eyes and choleric characteristics. But they are also an easy-going, emotional, sympathetic and happy people.

80% of the population of Manado is Christian (Protestant). The remaining 20% are, of course, Muslim. Recently, due to the economic crisis, the Muslim community has been quickly increasing, migrating to Manado from South Sulawesi or Java. However, until now these transmigrations are occurring without tensions.

Lifestyles of the Locals
Manado is a rich town. Rich, not in the western way of thinking, even far from the standards of Jakarta, but still rich. The fortunes come from the old coconut, vanilla and clove plantations. But also from rich fishing resources, mining, as well as trade with Central Sulawesi, the Sanghie Islands (a get away for Filipinos) and the Moluccas.

The economic elite are primarily of Chinese origin, just like in many other Asian countries. The only difference with the local Chinese community is that in Manado there are not many racial tensions. All of the communities are quite well integrated. Multiracial families (Chinese and Manadonese) are quite common.

You ask why I think Manado is funny. Well, Manado is funny because here it seems as if time stopped fifty years ago. Business is still based not on contracts but on hand shakes. The bureaucracy is easy bypassed with good personal relations and problems are managed through old respected family chiefs.
Cars, equipment, machinery and banking affairs are more expensive (10% to 15 %) than in Jakarta or Surabaya, but nobody cares. More important to the locals is that coconut oil, rice, fish and chili peppers are not expensive, but are easy to find and buy.

As soon as a little money is in the pocket of most Manadonese, you can be sure that the money will run out in one day. He or she, will run to the local Matahari department store and buy whatever attracts his or her attention. Or if there is a bit more money, it will be spent in restaurants, (there are many), discos, and other forms of nightlife.

The Manadonese guide their lives by stories they hear of the lifestyles in Singapore and Jakarta. Fashions come here a couple of years later than in the rest of the world. For example, recently thousands of hand phones have been sold. 90% of them are not in use anymore, because the owners have used up all their money to pay the phone bills or in many cases even borrow money so that they can show off to their friends that they have a hand phone.

Most middle class people live in town, or live within 5-10 kilometres of the town of Manado. Poorer people live around the river that divides the town in two. Nicer neighborhoods are up in the hills, where the politicians and government officials live.

Most of the middle and upper class Manadonese have relatives in the villages near the plantations. The plantation-based relatives hold most of the family wealth and all Manadonese, from time to time, have to visit their relative's village for money refueling.

[BintanBeer]

PART-2 (This PART 1 and PART 2 info is gathered from an Indo Forum written by an Expat)

Expat Lifestyle
Newly arrived expatriates usually live near the airport, were the golf club is. The airport residential area is about 20 kilometres from town, which is 20 to 30 minutes by car because of the heavy traffic. Expatriates who have been around longer tend to live in town.

There is not much public transportation other than the Kota buses (Micro-lab 6 or 8 seats). Taxis are rare, and often taxi drivers do not want to drive you to destinations outside the town of Manado. Cars are easy to rent and not too expensive. At the local market it is possible to rent a Kijang for Rp 100,000/day (including fuel) or for Rp 2 million/month.

Housing costs are cheap and houses are quite easy to rent. A villa with a garden in the residential area in the hills near the city, with 4/5 rooms, AC and two bathrooms can be rented for Rp 20-30 million per year to expatriates, Rp 15 million to locals. Usually the landlord requests two years rent in advance.
Do not count on buying land. Land prices are not expensive, but it takes a long time to build a house, longer than anyone would expect.

There are only a few cultural activities in Manado. There is one multi-show cinema, no theatres and no concert hall. Most of the activities are organised by churches, so it is quite common to attend a Gospel service on Sunday mornings. More common entertainment for locals are cars races and animal fights. The best activity in Manado is what the locals call "carlotta" which means to talk and talk about each other.

The expatriate community in Manado is not big. There are very few expats, but occasionally you can meet somebody who says they have lived in Manado for years. Most expats are in Manado because of new tourism-related businesses. Most are in the diving field. Others are in the hotel business, as Hotel Managers. Others are in mining, based in Manado, but working in the jungle camps. The rest of the expatriate community, working in different sectors totals not more than 10 people. Australians have the largest segment of the community, but there are also Americans, Singaporeans, Dutch, and French.

Expatriates spend most of their free time on the weekends diving or fishing. The diving is really fantastic, one of the best places I have ever seen. Golf is also a common activity. Tennis, jogging, cycling and climbing the volcanic mountains are also popular.

Night life options are poor. There are Karaoke bars, restaurants, a few night clubs, and a couple of discos. One of the most favoured spots for expats is the Novotel Hotel, in the Boulevard area. Novotel has the best western restaurant, the best accommodations, the best disco, the best swimming pool and the highest prices. Locals move in the evenings from the disco at the Novotel to other discos. The most activity is on Saturday nights, when the night life lovers get drunk and excited by other matters.

Groups of Italian or German tourists can often be seen accompanied by their local guides on a tour of the various night life spots. There is even a music bar which copies Hard Rock Café that is not too bad. Most of the expatriates enjoy going there.

When my family lived in Manado they enjoyed the new adventures, but after a few months they started to be bothered by the frequent water outages (at least twice a week the water supply is cut off), the power cuts (at least one day per week), and the lack of western facilities.

I enjoy living in Manado as life is much simpler. I find Manado uncorrupted, far from what I have experienced elsewhere. Manado may not have a lot of facilities, but the area is really nice. The islands surrounding the area are really a tropical island paradise, with white beaches. Only one hour away from Manado, but really a different world.

But when I need to go into Manado, I find that I really like this funny, different, crazy town.

[BtmMan]

Originally Posted by BintanBeer

Hello All Bros,

Anyone has any info of Manado...I need to know pretty soon as I may be deployed there for work by Sept for 3 to 6 months....of cos info include places of interest, cewek places, KTV, makan area, or more interesting places any of the bros know....

many thanks in advance

I was there not too long ago.
Ok Manado girls are known to be one the most beautiful in Indonesia, but when I was there, most I could see was size of baby...............elephant, and also the nite spots, even though quite a few of them in town, but where I went to was = BORING...
I was told that most if not all, of the real beauties went to places like Jkt, where the real $ is...

[DumbAss]

Why not take a short trip down to Bitung port? Was with the Navy there once and we had quite a handful of fun!

[BtmMan]

Originally Posted by DumbAss

Why not take a short trip down to Bitung port? Was with the Navy there once and we had quite a handful of fun!

I went to Bitung when I was there to look at their fishing industries, it's just a simple village with a port for all the fishing boats, nothing much happening there...

[MrSukapuki]

Hi All,

I'm here for Sail Bunaken in Manado august 2009. Noted most of the info here are rather outdated. Yes, its true most of the juicest have gone to Jakarta. But some of the unpolished gems are still here, but it does take time and effort. There are sma, uni girls, spg ones the lot. even the model-like I was eyeing at a local supermarket suddenly stood in line behind me!

I think we men have different taste for different guys, some say in Bitung are okay. I suppose after a few rounds of beer, a baby elephant will also do, but I dont drink. I've not been to those cafe and clubs mentioned, they are full of expired (to me) divorcees. Yes the best bet are still the cab drivers (hit and miss) and the hotel security guards.

I had one such gem and have been following me all over, Bali, Jakarta, Surabaya, palembang, like a beautiful 2nd wife...tight as hell. What more does a man wants?

[justaboy]

just to give an update..
i came from manado.. but living in singapore for quite sometimes already...

if you guys wanted somebody to call... you have to know a connections..
the gals are not so open like jkt.. there are in fact no such place in manado..
so all e gems are all by calls.. as above me has already mention.. once you touch down manado, and u need somebody to accompany, give some tips to the taxi driver or security guard, they will bring u some.

or u can hang out in score .. one of the biggest club in manado. otherwise, try ur luck to chase a SPG.. SPG in manado mostly will accept it

hope this would help

[justaboy]

just got back from there around 2 weeks ago...
there are slight update on manado...
like new ktv with lady companion...
for example in hotel sintesa... the lady companion there is marvelous.. should try it ...

but if you prefer a FL... i could share some number with u guys.. a uni student. typical manado gal. PM me for some info...

[boyster]

Hi bros,

Any update in Manado or bitung?

I would be stuck here at least for the next 10 days....

[1bbcd5]

Good thread, I always like them.

[KatoeyLover69]

Report from The Jakarta Post dated 23 November 2012 :-

Indonesia suffers setback in fight against AIDS

INDONESIA - A new report published by the United Nations (UN) shows that Indonesia has suffered a setback in its campaign against HIV/AIDS.

In the report, released in conjunction with the 2012 World AIDS Day, the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) records that the rate of new HIV infections in Indonesia, along with several other countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, increased by more than 25 per cent between 2001 and 2011.

The report also said that in Indonesia HIV-prevention programs for males who have sex with males (MSM) stood at less than 25 per cent, or very low.

The coverage of HIV-prevention programs for commercial sex workers in Indonesia and two other countries, Bangladesh and Pakistan, also reached less than 25 per cent.

The prevalence of the HIV infection among people who use drugs by injection in Indonesia has reached more than 35 per cent.

Responding to the report, Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi said on Wednesday that it was "so embarrassing".

"Millions of dollars are spent annually on HIV/AIDS programs to curb the spread of the disease in this country. Yet, there is such a low coverage of HIV-prevention programs. I don't know what mistakes I have made. It [the report] was shocking to me," she told reporters on Wednesday.

"The World AIDS Day Report 2012" launched by UNAIDS on Tuesday reported some significant progress made in recent years.

The report showed that 25 low- and middle-income countries, half of which are in Africa have achieved more than 50 per cent reduction in the rate of new HIV infections.

"I don't know what else we can do to try to change the situation," she said.

Data from the National AIDS Commission (KPA) shows that the prevalence of consistent condom use is still low although it has been associated with lower prevalence of HIV infections and other sexually-transmitted diseases.

"[The consistent use of condoms] among sexual workers reaches only 40 per cent," KPA chairman Kemal Siregar said.

The 2012 UNAIDS report deals another blow to Nafsiah who assumed her post only five months ago.

Soon after she filled the new position, which was left vacant following the death of then health minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Nafsiah enganged in a fierce debate with lawmakers and religious groups accusing her of hatching a plan to distribute free condoms to teenagers.

UNAIDS country coordinator Cho Kah Sin said that Indonesia should not be preoccupied with the numbers presented in the report. The report, he said, outlined statistics which outlined the situation during the 10-year period from 2001 to 2011.

"There is a group of countries in the Asia Pacific region where, by comparing the statistics from baseline data in 2001 to 2011, we see a rise in new HIV infections," he told The Jakarta Post.

The rise in infections in several countries, including Indonesia, comes from the fact that the rapid increase of infection in the country starts later compared to other countries. Cho added that the situation was also caused by the low coverage of HIV-prevention programs despite good intensions.

UNAIDS predicts that there will be an increase of about 76,000 new HIV infections in Indonesia every year.

"I think this is much more important to realise," Cho said.
----- KatoeyNewsNetwork