Do you dream of tropical beaches? Do not go to Tawau! People are nice, but this Malaysian city in northeastern Borneo is a mochissime. Its only attraction is to be the entry point to Indonesia ...
Reef Seen Dive Center in Pemuteran hosts children's dance classes. Adorable little girls Balinese dancers ...
Here is Learning Indonesian: podcasts to learn the basics of bahasa indonesia, the Indonesian language, close to bahasa melayu, spoken in Malaysia.
I finally decided the stages for my Malaysian-Indonesian trip of July: Perhentian, Mabul (Sipadan), Derawan. Nothing but islands! These holidays will be insular and aquatic.
I dream of it, I want to see them, the mantas of Sangalaki. Will they be there? Will I have the chance to meet them, to admire the graceful underwater ballet of these harmless giant?
I'm leaving for Malaysia in July, and I still do not know what my route will be. Only certainty: I go back to Borneo, dive to Sipadan.
I suck at self-promotional teasing! I should have talked about it earlier here: two of my articles were published on February 15, 2009 in dimanche Ouest-France. They are two subjects inspired by trips I've already told you about, to the Dominican Republic and Bali.
The Indonesian look-alike of Obama is Ilham Anas. He is a photographer in Jakarta and has become a celebrity in Asia.
Everyone is scared of sharks. It's silly. There is more danger for divers: the olive ballista, also called titan ballista.
The election of Barack Obama is the pride of a school in the district of Menteng, Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, where he was in class, child.
In Bali, all people seem to have the same name. You cross three Nyoman and five Wayan during the day. Bizarre. A joke made to tourists? But no !
This is one of the strangest dives I've done. Feel the earth tremble ... under water, it's really a funny thing. It was in Indonesia, in Sulawesi, in July 2007. In the Togian Islands, exactly.
Balinese coffee, or kopi Bali, is tasty and full-bodied. Every morning, since my return, I finish waking up in front of a cup of kopi Bali.
Yes, I bring you (again) under the surface ... To finish with the wreck of the Liberty in Bali, I propose below a small series of underwater photos.
The Liberty is Bali's best-known (and most popular) wreck. It is located in Tulamben, near Amed, on the northeastern coast of the island.
I'll take you back a few weeks in July 2008. Not quite in Bali, but right next door. A little further southeast, on the small island of Nusa Lembongan. A place I loved, where almost all the inhabitants are seaweed growers.
In Kuta (Bali), people are photographed in front of the monument to the Bali bombings of October 12, 2002.
I can not resist the pleasure of showing you on video the dance of the mola-mola (and, of course, the mola-mola), after having (finally) met this big moon fish in the waters of Nusa Penida.
I'm taking you back to Bali, Indonesia. Amed, exactly, on the northeast coast of the island. Despite the development of tourism in the region, there are still some salt marshes and saunas here.
Among my most beautiful memories of Bali: the sunsets on the Agung volcano in Amed and the molas-molas, gigantic moon-fishes crossed off Nusa Penida ...
To fight the spleen of the return, I walk on the beach again. The one in Kuta-Legian-Seminyak, known as Kuta Beach. An immense and splendid tongue of grey sand, well packed as it should be, which I love to walk in one direction, then in the other, until the time of the fabulous sunset.
I'm in a melancholy mood tonight. I leave Nusa Lembongan to return to Kuta, Bali. The return is approaching. I console myself with a beautiful sunset on the bay of Jungut Batu ...
Yes, yes, I swear! It's exhausting to walk up and down this beach. From the losmen (small hotel) to the dive-shop (dive shop), then the dive-shop to the restaurant, the restaurant to the bar, then the bar to the losmen ... Crevant, I tell you!
Eh yes ! I am a little lucky. I saw a mola-mola today at Crystal Bay again. One time is not customary this morning: excellent visibility and little current, both for this beautiful first dive, and for the second, Toyah Pakeh Bay.
That's it !!! Finally ! I met him! Today in Crystal Bay. I'm happy, happy, happy! My new friend is called mola-mola, or moon fish.
Four days already, I'm in Nusa Lembongan, a small island southeast of Bali. Atmosphere very peaceful, as I like, not too crowded with tourists ...
Oh dear ! Not yet had the time to tell all my dives in Amed, that already, I attack those of Nusa Lembongan. And no half measure: I take you directly to Manta Point !!!
My stay in Amed, in north-east Bali, ends (sigh). I like this place !!! Here are two souvenir images: a sunset over the Agung volcano and a toad fish photographed in Tulamben.
Let's go for a little motorcycle tour in the Amed region, in the north-east of Bali. On the program: rice fields, temples, markets and... cockfighting!
The Liberty wreck in Tulamben (about 15 km west of Amed) is Bali's most popular dive site in Indonesia. I returned with happiness ... Here are new pictures (photos and video).
Here I am in Amed, all east of Bali. The coast is hemmed in by a series of cute coves of sand and black pebbles, where the bright colors of the junkungs, the small fishing boats with pendulums of the corner, line up.
I remain under the spell of Pemuteran, in northwestern Bali. Between two dives, I even attended dance rehearsals and preparations for a wedding ceremony.
I have been in Pemuteran, a small village in western Bali, since Tuesday. I love it! Here, the entire population is focused on the conservation of the coral reef.
I arrived on Tuesday in Pemuteran, a village on the north coast, just west of Bali. In this area of arid mountains, bordered by black sand beaches, all the activity of the village is turned towards the protection of the coral reef.
This tiny sea horse is hidden in the branches of the sea fans. In Pemuteran (Bali), we see each dive! I do not get tired of photographing them.
I'm reconciled with Lovina Beach! Thanks to two very nice dives, a traditional ceremony facing the sea and a splendid sunset.
Lovina Beach ... The name is nice, but I'm a little mixed about the place. Here, the tourist pressure is certainly less than in Kuta-Legian-Seminyak. Yet I feel to have been more solicited than elsewhere by the indefatigable sellers of sarongs and other trinkets!
I had not been back in Bali for a few years. And here there are a lot of little details that I have great pleasure to find.
Kuta Beach, finally! First and short stage of my Balinese journey. But I run fast on a scooter a little further north, where it's quieter ...
At the moment when you discover this message, I will be in the clouds, towards Asia ... The trip will be a bit long, since I had to juggle the specials of air fares, connections , availability and companies, to fly to Bali at a lower cost.
The Togian dives seemed less spectacular than those of Bunaken or Lembeh, during this July 2007 trip: coral more damaged, life less abundant. Yet, taking his time, we discover a lot of treasures.
Remember: during my stay on the island of Bunaken (north-Sulawesi) in July 2007, I had dive with the Froggies center, directed by the amazing Christiane Muller, who had been there for about fifteen years .
The rest of my trip to Sulawesi (Indonesia) during the summer of 2007 ... On the program: the Togian Islands. A little paradise at the end of the world!
The huge island of Sulawesi (Indonesia) amazed me. I take you to cool off at the Saluopa waterfall buried in the jungle, near Tentena and Lake Poso.
The rest of my trip to Sulawesi !!! We are Saturday, July 14, 2007. Departure from Rantepao, in the heart of the country Toraja at 7am, under a bright sun. Arriving twelve hours later, at night, in heavy rain, at Siuri Beach Cottages, on the west bank of the huge Poso Lake.
I continue the story of my trip to Sulawesi, a trip in July 2007. I will take you back to the Toraja country for a motorcycle ride in the beautiful rice paddies around the village of Batutumonga, north of Rantepao.
I'll take you back to Sulawesi, in the Toraja country, where I spent a few days in the summer of 2007. On the program: a scooter ride from Rantepao, to discover the sites of Ket'e Kesu, Londa and Tilanga.
Continuation of my trip to Sulawesi (Indonesia) in July 2007. Lemo is one of the most famous sites in Toraja country, for its tombs in the cliffs, guarded by the tau-tau, wooden statues representing the deceased.
The photos of the previous trip are not yet sorted, I'm thinking about the next ... And to think better, I've already returned to a little tour in my favorite bookstore in Rennes: Ariane, the travel bookstore.
Yes, I know ... The Sulawesi section has remained stale. At the moment, I had excuses: impossible to find an internet connection in the regions visited!
Today I am back in Manado, where I find the civilization and comfort of the modern world: air conditioning and hot water, shopping malls and club-sandwiches, mobile phone that captures and high-speed internet connections ...
Here I am in Toraja country (Tana Toraja) in Sulawesi. Here again, a very Christian population, and very attached to its traditions. I attended a funeral ceremony at the village of Rembon, near Rantepao. Spectacular introduction to the customs of the country ...
Today I fly to the other end of Sulawesi with Lion Air. Flight Manado-Makassar, departure 7:55, arrival 8:30. The plane is full like an egg. I am the only Westerner.
At 7 o'clock sharp, as expected, Anto is there with his bike. First step of our journey, concocted for us by the guide Yoce: Mount Mahawu. Easy climb, even for a non-walker like me.
Now that I am the queen of the mikrolet, I am embarking without hesitation in the first blue minibus that displays "Karombasan" direction "Wanea". Karombasan is the bus terminal south of Manado.
Back to Manado for a day trip, the time to book my plane tickets to the Toraja Country and organize my trip to the Togian Islands. I'm learning to travel in mikrolet, these blue minibuses that crisscross the city ...
Last day in Lembeh. Time definitely goes too fast! With its rusty freighters and its black sand bottom littered with sediment and rubbish, this strait is really a singular dive spot, far from clichés.
In the Lembeh Strait (Sulawesi, Indonesia), live underwater monsters that delight divers-photographers!
Already my last day in Bunaken! I'm a little sad at the idea of leaving tomorrow ... I'm already starting to take my little habits here. To do with mosquitoes (nyamouk), the fresh and salty shower of mandi, grilled fish-rice of the evening, the fabulous lunch buffet at Froggies, the inexhaustible kindness of the locals.
These first two days in Bunaken have been going at full speed. The dives are up to my expectations: drop-offs covered with a variety of incredible coral. Side fauna, all the tropical panoply colorful is there.
Through the porthole of the plane, I discover Sulawesi, and the island of Bunaken, where I will spend the first five days. Arriving a creepy hair: it is nice over the bay, but a big rainy cloud settled on the airport of Manado.
After my malaise trip from summer 2006 to the northeastern tip of Borneo (Sipadan Island), I feel the urge to return to soak my palms in the sea of Celebes. A little further east, this time: on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
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