sOleiLian

From a Malaysian perspective, North Sulawesi could be a pretty extraordinary destination, a place that never ceases in sending culture shocks to the unsuspecting tourists. The province is quintessentially Indonesian, yet it doesn’t take long for first-time visitors to notice that it’s not really the Indonesia that has been etched in our minds since young.

The predominant cultural and religious landscape of this region is strikingly different from the rest of the archipelago. It is the manifestation of multifaceted Christianity, the faith of about 70% of North Sulawesi’s population, that gives rise to a lot of quirky and surprising scenes that an ordinary Malaysian tourist would never expect to see back in Malaysia. And like what I’d mentioned in this entry, it is somewhat unimaginable to be in Indonesia when the people and their traditions remind you more of the Philippines.

Of course not every bizarre encounter I met was religious in nature. So here are the 12 surprises in North Sulawesi that I managed to observe through my Malaysian eyes:

1. Public proclamation of the Christian faith

• Undeniably, religion is a powerful force in Sulut. Yet people here take such great pride in their faith that they take a step further to proclaim it to the whole world. Jesus is everywhere on the streets of North Sulawesi. And for once, is this really Muslim Indonesia?

A mikrolet with a huge Jesus car sticker

Yes, God bless you too! ;)

Gosh… Jesus was even put up for sale! Not for thirty pieces of silver, I hope? :O

2. Allah to denote the Christian God

• Well, this is a very sensitive and contentious issue in Malaysia, where non-Muslims are barred from using the term to denote their deity as it is deemed exclusive to Islam (which is painfully ironic when believers of the Abrahamic faiths ~ Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike have been using it for millennia without problems in the Islamic heartlands of the Middle East). In North Sulawesi, these are the unthinkable scenes in public that Malaysians would never ever live to see in our country:

When Allah – oops… I mean God – weeps

Christian or Islamic? Go figure…

3. Christmas bazaar

• I’ve seen a lot of Ramadan bazaars. But a Christmas bazaar? That was my first.

4. Halal and non-halal stalls side by side

• A situation like this would instantly enrage the whole Muslim community in Malaysia, but not in the world’s most populous Muslim country! The extent of tolerance and respect between creeds and faiths in this region is truly something I’d never seen before in my life, definitely not in Malaysia.

On the inside is the section for pork and dog meat (yes, dogs!) stalls while on the outside, a Muslim vegetable vendor waited patiently for customers to patronize his lonely stall

5. Exotic food paradise

• The province’s largest ethnic group, the Minahasans, have a bizarre obsession for exotic food. Every species of living creature found in this region could be turned into a prized local delicacy. This is definitely not a paradise for the animal lovers nor the faint-hearted!

Rintek wuuk (abbreviated as RW), your pet dog marinated in sauce and herbs

6. Chillies in every food imaginable

• North Sulawesi’s food is renowned for its spiciness. Well, can you imagine they even stuff their kue (kuih; traditional cakes) with whole chillies?

Funny, yummy, spicy? :D

7. Firecrackers are apparently, a legal affair

• Malaysians must have missed these so much. We used to play it during the festive seasons when young, but not anymore now ever since a nationwide ban has been imposed on its sale. Some would resort to buying smuggled goods from neighbouring Thailand. But here in North Sulawesi, firecrackers are openly sold in supermarkets! Damn.

Firecrackers filled to the top of the racks! :O

8. Interesting crown of a mosque

• The conventional mosques that we’re familiar with are usually topped with a bulbous onion dome or a series of domes, but this Masjid Firdaus in Manado caught my attention with its extraordinary crown ~ the inscription of Allah.

9. Eiffel Tower’s sibling

• North Sulawesi is certainly one of the last places you would think of seeing a scaled replica of the famous steel structure. I’d shown it in this entry before, remember? ;)

An international airport with stained glass windows! Now that’s churchy. :D

So that’s 12 surprising sightings in North Sulawesi from yours truly! And I realized that I haven’t been blogging much about the regional food. Let’s see…

Tinutuan (bubur Manado) again! This dish was so nice that I insisted on having one last time before we left North Sulawesi till God knows when. Gotta miss the place!

Klappertaart, a coconut-based traditional dessert that became so synonymous with the province since the days of the Dutch colonial era, hence the Dutch-like name. I didn’t get to try this as they seemed to be selling it in whole rather than in slices.

Once again, that’s a wrappp! Woohoo! If the last travel series took me 6 months to complete, this took me almost 2 years! Muahaha… I’m the epitome of a super inefficient blogger! Anyone up for a challenge? :P

So what shall be my next travel series? ;)

One thousand kilometres on the road. Half a dozen mighty volcanoes. Two world famous UNESCO-listed ancient wonders. And one absolutely breathtaking journey. This is by far my most amazing trip ever and I just can’t wait to share it all with you! :D

Here’s the complete compilation of MANADO & NORTH SULAWESI TRIP 2009

• PART I    : The forgotten frontiers: Tales from Manado and North Sulawesi
• PART II    : Great churches of Manado
• PART III : In the shadows of volcanoes: Manado Bay and its harbour
• PART IV    : Off to Bunaken
• PART V     : Livin’ la vida Bunaken’s way
• PART VI   : Bunaken’s blue, blue seas
• PART VII  : Christ Blessing and the Waruga
• PART VIII : The lakes of Sulut: Danau Tondano and Linow
• PART IX    : Bukit Kasih: Where faiths come together
• PART X     : Flowers of Tomohon
• PART XI    : Mt. Mahawu: Scaling my first volcano
• PART XII  : In search of North Sulawesi’s hidden falls
• PART XIII : The klenteng of Manado: A Chinese legacy
• PART XIV: Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve: Double disappointments
• PART XV   : A walk at Manado’s wet market
• PART XVI  : 12 surprises in North Sulawesi

c a t e g o r y | passport to nowhere . yummylicious
f l u f f e r p u f f | food . indonesia . mosques & minarets . religions & spirituality . society . sulawesi . travels

25 sOleiLians

I’m not particularly fond of Asian wet markets, not so when most of them are – like the name implies – wet, slippery, dirty, and worst off, smelly! I just can’t get myself to tolerate the strong, nauseating stench of the fresh, bloodied slabs of meat hanging from the hooks or the daily catch piled up high at a corner. That’s a no-entry zone for me. I guess I now understand why I turned vegetarian in the first place. It was all predestined! Haha.

Having said that, markets are where you can truly feel the authentic culture of the place that you’re visiting, and not just some fancy tourist spots created to entice the ordinary visitor. Seeing the rationality of this, I jumped at the offer of touring a local market with our driver on our last day in North Sulawesi. I couldn’t help wondering how different the wet market scene in this region would be from the usual Malaysian ones.

Local snacks for breakfast. We can easily find these at Malaysian kuih-muih stalls too!

A hawker centre filled with hungry patrons

How about a round of chess game? :D

A Chinese herbal medicine store sans the typical signage in Chinese characters. Welcome to Indonesia, friends!

The wet market we visited is located near the beautiful Manado Harbour. Just like we expected, the place was bustling with people and teeming with an array of sounds and smell. A good sign indeed! Besides the usual meat and vegetable stalls, I also had the chance to see some interesting marine catch which could only be found in abundance in this region.

All built on reclaimed land!

The wet market

A variety of grains

Vegetable or fruit?

Peanut-like beans

Stalls selling greens

Waiting to be slaughtered? :(

The most famous fish in North Sulawesi ~ cakalang (skipjack tuna)! You’ll see this on almost every restaurant menu in the region.

What a huge chunk of fish meat!

Cakalang fufu (grilled skipjack tuna), a popular delicacy in this region

Lobsters? Where are the claws?

More fish…

Bucketful of red hot chillies. Yum!

All my favourite ingredients! :D

Eggs

Horses were everywhere in this part of Manado! We even took a carriage ride around the area after our market tour. Nice!

Compilation of MANADO & NORTH SULAWESI TRIP 2009

• PART I    : The forgotten frontiers: Tales from Manado and North Sulawesi
• PART II    : Great churches of Manado
• PART III : In the shadows of volcanoes: Manado Bay and its harbour
• PART IV    : Off to Bunaken
• PART V     : Livin’ la vida Bunaken’s way
• PART VI   : Bunaken’s blue, blue seas
• PART VII  : Christ Blessing and the Waruga
• PART VIII : The lakes of Sulut: Danau Tondano and Linow
• PART IX    : Bukit Kasih: Where faiths come together
• PART X     : Flowers of Tomohon
• PART XI    : Mt. Mahawu: Scaling my first volcano
• PART XII  : In search of North Sulawesi’s hidden falls
• PART XIII : The klenteng of Manado: A Chinese legacy
• PART XIV: Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve: Double disappointments

c a t e g o r y | passport to nowhere . yummylicious
f l u f f e r p u f f | food . indonesia . sulawesi . travels

14 sOleiLians