Tourist's Haven (?)

Minahasa Highlands...I don’t know even where to begin discussing this place. What I can tell you is what I’ve learned about Indonesia…never trust tourists’ recommendations.

We were planning on skipping the highlands in lieu of a less touristy, more remote national park. However, almost every European tourist we ran into commented on how gorgeous and cool the Minahasa Highlands were. They also all mentioned the bizarre market where everything from dog to rats to giant fruit bats are sold.

So resigning into pressure, we decided to see what all the hullabaloo was about. Our plan was to stop in for a day or two, check things out then proceed back into the depths of the jungle (or so we hoped).

Unfortunately, we somehow were time warped into spending 4 nights in the Highlands and seeing very little. Not to mention that we never did find the scenic tourist cottages and instead stayed in a sketchy (but cheap!) drive in hotel on the outskirts of town. I don't know where our affinity of these sort of places comes from, but I hope it ends soon. Yet, this must have been one of the more popular hotels with the locals, because it was the only hotel anyone could think of when we asked around for a place to stay.

The market wasn't even mentionable, though we will leave you with a few pictures (not for the faint of heart nor the doggie lovers).

The only other activity of note was a hairy hike down to a nice waterfall where we got caught in the POURING rain for 1/2 hour with no rain gear and all of our important documents getting wet.

One more thing: If you're ever planning on staying in Minahasa Highlands, may we suggest staying away from the touristy Tomohon and spending the night in the sleepy town of Tondano (which Lonely Planet recommends NOT doing...)